The CivicLab

09/11/2025

Registration now open! ✨ We're thrilled to partner with the Cleveland Arts Education Consortium and The 100K Project to launch our pilot for CAELII: Community Advocacy!

This new civic leadership program is designed to equip artists, arts administrators, educators, and cultural workers with the skills to campaign and build community at the state and local level.

Be part of a new generation of arts leaders looking to step into political roles and transform public systems through equity and creativity.

Learn more and register via https://linktr.ee/communityartsed

09/10/2025

Thanks to our wildly creative friends at Fractured Atlas -> https://www.instagram.com/p/DOY3oOYDrJY/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

09/07/2025

The 2024 Chicago TIF Illumination Report is out! Record breaking numbers. This is the only place you can see - quickly and clearly - what Tax Increment Financing Districts have been doing to the city! Free registration is required to access the site.

All about Tax Increment Financing

05/18/2025

Join Tom This Saturday!

Remember the Culture Wars?
They Came for the Arts and Got the Country
The story of how the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) had been targeted by a collection of conservative politicians for destruction

College of Complexes - Meetings # 3,819 - Sat, May 24, Saturday at 5:00 PM at Dapper's Restaurant, 2901 W. Addison, Chicago, Free Parking

Tom Tresser, Civic Educator. Public Defender - You may know Tom Tresser (www.tresser.com) as one of the leaders of the No Games Chicago campaign from 2009 (www.nogameschicago.com) that spiked Chicago’s Bid for the 2016 Olympics (which cost the winning city, Rio, $24 billion! You’re welcome).

But over 20 years before that Tom was an organizer for the League of Chicago Theatres fighting to save the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) from destruction (https://lnkd.in/gNWBPWGw). The NEA

had been targeted by a collection of conservative politicians and Far Right evangelical organizations, led by The Christian Coalition. What happened has been called the Culture Wars, and – spoiler alert – we lost. Tom will tell the story of what happened, how the arts in Chicago responded, and what FAILED to happen as the Far Right built its civic muscles.

If you love the arts, freedom of expression, believe in separation of church and state, are repulsed by hate-fueled politics, or are curious as to how the Far Right has taken over this country, you need to attend!

http://www.collegeofcomplexes.org/CoC-Current-Schedule-of-Speakers.html

04/06/2025

Check out this interview from a local political affairs reporter - https://tinyurl.com/Talking-TIFs-4-6-25 - Discussing the defeat of two pro-TIF mayors in recent elections where Tom had been brought to do TIF Illumination town meetings (24:34). The mayors of Orland Park and Aurora were defeated by reformers and in both towns where I had done a TIF town meeting that sparked quite a bit of reporting and conversation. Both challengers were critical of the economic development policies of the incumbents. I think this is a trend you are going to see nationally where mayors have been freewheeling with TIFs. When people see what is happening with their public dollars via TIFs, it triggers many questions and raises contradictions that the incumbents can not explain away or make go away. Bring me to YOUR community to Illuminate the TIFs that are draining your public coffers! [email protected]

04 06 25 Tom Tresser on TIFs and impact on Orland and Aurora electionsRay Hanania on Politics Podcast S8 Ep4 04-06-25Sunday, April 6, 2025, and I am talking ...

04/02/2025

TIFs still suck. Read my latest analysis in The Nonprofit Quarterly ->

Tax increment financing is one of the most common economic development local financing tools around. Unfortunately, its economic and racial justice impacts are highly negative. This must change.

03/19/2025

Watch this interview from this morning with Angela Meleca, creativity champion of the first order, via her podcast ARTS Redefined podcast (30 min) - I lay out my argument for creative professionals and nonprofit leaders to run for local office. I share my analysis of Culture Wars from the early 1990's which we lost and call out the national arts service organizations - please lend an ear and a hand! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54oWg459hwQ [email protected]

How the New Culture Wars Threaten American Arts. Are America's arts once again at risk due to rising cultural conflicts? Join Angela Meleca on ARTS Redefined...

10/25/2024

I just cancelled my subscription to The Washington Post and sent this email to the Publisher, William Lewis:

Mr. Lewis –

I just read of the decision by the Washington Post not to endorse a candidate for President. Are you people delusional? With your mantra being “Democracy Dies in Darkness”? – what a joke. American democracy is being fundamentally threatened by Donald Trump and his captured Republican Party. Our democracy is dying right out in the open, for all to see. What is the point of a free press if it stands by and chronicles the rush to fascism, autocracy, hate-fueled politics, attacks on human and civil rights, denial of fact and science, and a full-throated embracing of Hi**er and white supremacy?

That is what Trump is offering America. Under a Trump dictatorship your ability to publish will be curtailed, and you – yourself – might well be jailed if you displease the new Fuhrer. Trump has been given the powers of a king by his subservient Supreme Court and he will fully use these powers to do everything he has said repeatedly that he will do - namely use the army against us, weaponize the Justice Department against his opponents, deport tens of millions of people, and turn America into a fundamentalist oligarchy that will look more like the America of 1830 that 2025. You claim to seek and preserve independence, but your inaction will end up sacrificing your basic freedoms and mine, as well.

I am beyond frustrated with the incompetence and complicity of America’s media outlets Ito give Donald Trump a pass on his sociopathic and arguably traitorous behaviors and policies. I have canceled my subscription to the Washington Post and deleted the app from my phone and I will urge everyone I know to do the same.

If you feel the same way, let him know-> [email protected]

10/24/2024

WBEZ reported that among the country’s 10 largest metropolitan areas, Chicago has witnessed the second-highest growth in rent prices over the past year, according to data from Zillow.
Landlords in the Chicago area are using real estate software made by a tech company that may be engaging in an illegal price-fixing scheme to drive up rents, according to a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit and a class-action lawsuit filed in federal court.

The best strategy to avoid displacement is ownership, and an even better strategy is shared ownership as a cooperative. Find out more at our COOP 101 Workshop presented by Artists Design the Future, a project sponsored by NNWAC.

IN PERSON Sat Oct 26
https://lnkd.in/gmXa36M9

OR

ZOOM Thurs Oct 24
https://lnkd.in/gDKXTiYa

10/20/2024

I've lost track of The TIF Illumination Project's public meetings - this is, maybem #247? https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567295757574 - Join us for a scary TIF town meeting!

10/14/2024

Going on WVON AM Tuesday at 3:30pm to talk about TIFs and the amazing development that both the leadership of the Chicago Public Schools and the Teachers Union are calling for their end! How about that??!! Listen live at https://www.iheart.com/live/wvon1690am-5304 and call in at 773-591-1690.