Community on the Make | Arts of Life 2000 – 2025
August 11, 2025 – September 30, 2025
Art for Life, 222 Merchandise Mart Plaza, Chicago
from the Art for Life website: Community on the Make at the Design Museum of Chicago marks another meaningful milestone in claiming our place within the city’s vast creative landscape. Design is about intention—about systems, structures, and the ways people move through the world. Our artists are not only makers of art—they are re-makers of culture. Together, they have designed a new model for what inclusive creative communities can be: one shaped by collective decision-making and rooted in our core values: INSPIRING Artistic Expression BUILDING Community PROMOTING Self-Respect DEVELOPING Independence This group exhibition is a celebration of what we’ve accomplished—but also a provocation. It asks us to reconsider: Who is art for? Who gets to shape culture? And how can design become a tool of liberation? Community on the Make highlights artists, staff, and volunteers both past and present who have shaped our community while also allowing the public to contribute and engage in the exhibition. Community on the Make is not just a reflection on where we’ve been. It’s a declaration of where we’re going.