The Bronzeville Trail Task Force (BTTF), in partnership with Botanical City and Chicago Public Art Group, invites artists and creatives to apply for participation in the Bronzeville Trail Landscape Initiative, a Mellon Foundation-funded project dedicated to uncovering, interpreting, and celebrating the living history of Bronzeville's Kenwood rail corridor.
The Kenwood Line was constructed by Black workers during the Great Migration. Their names, lives, and contributions remain largely undocumented. This decommissioned rail line runs through one of Chicago's most historically significant communities, and this initiative exists to change the story of who gets remembered and how.
We are building a community-based landscape narrative, guidelines, and tools to shape the future of the Bronzeville Trail. Artists are central to that work.
Who Should Apply
We welcome applications from:
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Visual artists, muralists, and public artists
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Filmmakers and video artists
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Performance artists, choreographers, and musicians
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Oral historians, storytellers, and documentary practitioners
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Landscape and ecological artists
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Interdisciplinary and community-engaged practitioners
Artists at all career stages are encouraged to apply. We are especially interested in artists with ties to Bronzeville and the South Side of Chicago, and artists whose practice engages with Black history, community memory, ecology, or public space.
Eligibility requirements
All applicants, including individual artists and artist teams, must be current residents of the City of Chicago.
What We're Looking For
We are seeking artists, creatives, and interdisciplinary practitioners to contribute to one or more of the following areas of work:
Archival and Lived Stories Research
Collaborate with historians and community members to vividly document and animate the human experiences tied to the Kenwood Line, from the Great Migration through to the present. This may include oral history, visual documentation, community learn-ins, or preservation workshops that center the contributions of Black culture and legacy residents.
Blooming Habitats and Narratives
Produce short interpretive video stories or multimedia works that capture the biological richness, ecological qualities, and spatial character of the trail corridor, exploring how absence, patience, and time have shaped this landscape.
Landscape Interpretation and Public Events
Develop innovative storytelling formats and interactive experiences for public education, helping residents, stakeholders, and visitors engage creatively with the historical and cultural insights of Phase I. This includes proposing ideas for what the future trail and neighborhood could look like.
Landscape Performances
Explore interpretive themes that can be woven into the trail's design and programming through performance, sound, movement, or other live or time-based work, enriching the user experience and the trail's cultural and contextual relevance.
