Illinois arts funding shouldn't be treated as an afterthought
In Illinois, lawmakers debate tax freezes for a state-of-the-art stadium. In Indiana, legislation advances to create the Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority to lure the Bears across state lines. Public officials in both states are assembling incentive packages and long-term financing strategies, with estimates suggesting up to $855 million in indirect public support.
When a professional team signals movement, government responds with urgency.
Across Chicago, a different negotiation is unfolding — quieter but no less important. Small and midsized arts organizations are negotiating leases, absorbing rising costs and operating without permanent infrastructure or predictable public investment.
For years, the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance has convened and supported Latino theater companies across the city. Many operate itinerantly, rehearsing in borrowed or rented spaces. Sets are built to be struck quickly. Seasons are shaped as much by space availability as by artistic intention.
These are professional artists producing year-round work without long-term stability. They employ actors, designers and administrators and serve audiences across neighborhoods — yet they do so without consistent growth in public funding.
The aspiration is not a billion-dollar complex. It is stability: a permanent cultural home where companies can rehearse without watching the clock and productions are not dictated by rental calendars.
There is no interstate bidding war for that vision.
Each year, the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance provides grants ranging from $3,500 to $10,000 to small Latino theater companies participating in Destinos: Chicago International Latino Theater Festival. That support helps cover stipends, rehearsal space and production expenses, stabilizing investments that ensure productions move forward.
But philanthropy cannot carry this alone.
In Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposed 2026–2027 state budget, arts funding remains flat. In an inflationary environment, flat funding amounts to a reduction in real support, as rent, labor and production costs rise. At the federal level, National Endowment for the Arts funding remains modest and politically uncertain.
Decades of economic research suggest publicly financed stadiums rarely deliver the transformative growth often promised. Meanwhile, arts and cultural production contributes more than $1 trillion annually to the U.S. economy — over 4% of gross domestic product, according to federal data.
If public officials can mobilize with such fierce dedication around a stadium, they can do the same for cultural institutions that operate year-round, employ local workers and strengthen neighborhoods.
Culture, too, is infrastructure.
Jorge Valdivia, executive director, Chicago Latino Theater Alliance
Volunteering isn’t a fleeting activity
I didn’t like Jane at first. She was blunt, sarcastic, openly irritated by anyone who approached her with practiced concern. The first time I spoke to her, she didn’t look up. She just said, loud enough for others to hear, "Oh great. Another one."
When I sat beside her, she sighed. "What do you want?" Not, "Can you help me?" Just, "What do you want?"
I was working in a shelter for the unhoused, still new to outreach and still believing that kindness and effort were enough. I thought people pushed help away because they didn’t really want it.
Jane used sarcasm as armor. She had learned how to expose fake compassion and deflate people who came believing they were different. So she tested me.
"Why are you talking to me?" "What makes you think you can help?" "Oh, please — spare me."
Every sentence dared me to leave. What I didn’t understand then was that Jane wasn’t trying to push me away. She was trying to find out if I would stay.
At the time, I still believed helping meant fixing. I thought kindness would be enough. I didn’t yet understand what it meant to sit with someone whose life had taught them not to trust anything that came easily.
One day, after an especially biting comment about "rookies who think they’re saviors," something in me shifted. I didn’t defend myself. I didn’t walk away.
I stayed. Quietly. Steadily.
She looked at me — real eye contact, for the first time — and said, "Huh. Interesting."
From that day on, pieces of Jane surfaced through the cracks: a memory here, a fear she didn’t name, clarity tangled with confusion. She knew when her thoughts weren’t trustworthy. That awareness didn’t empower her — it haunted her.
One day, she told me, "You’re not listening like the others. You’re actually here. You might be good at this ... if you don’t quit."
It wasn’t praise. It was a warning. Jane didn’t soften for me. She didn’t change because of me.
I changed because of her. She taught me that helping isn’t about being liked. It’s about returning the next day after being pushed away the day before. About letting someone challenge your patience without taking it personally. Before you can help, you have to be willing to stay.
Donna Lomelino, Springfield
A ‘special relationship’
The phrase “special relationship” has often been used to describe the relationship between the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
Actually, it is a better fit to describe the relationship between the U.S and Israel.
The U.S. gives more military aid to Israel than any other country. As set by law, annual appropriations amount to $3.8 billion per year. In addition, emergency funds have been allocated far exceeding this amount.
As the military action against Iran illustrates, intelligence-sharing and military cooperation dramatically reveal how closely aligned each country is to each other.
Also, while the Trump administration says it opposes Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, it hasn’t take any steps to curb these incursions that violate international law.
While Trump has often championed the notion of making Canada the 51st state, the “special relationship” between the U.S. and Israel and the fact that the U.S. has been more supportive of Israel than any other country, actually illustrate that Israel is as close to being a state as you can possibly get without a formal process being advocated and implemented.
Larry Vigon, Jefferson Park
Neighborhoods aren’t ‘saved’ with less housing
Chicago’s dire financial position will keep getting worse without drastic action. Making it easier to build homes and expand the city’s tax base is critical to addressing this budget gap. As housing costs continue rising, Chicago must make more homes. Failing to build new homes steals opportunities from families and pushes higher costs of living onto current and future Chicagoans.
The problem is exacerbated by aldermanic prerogative and deference to community groups that rarely reflect the neighborhood’s actual composition. Frustratingly, even when solutions are approved, another issue exists: neighbors filing lawsuits.
On the North Side, two different groups are suing to overturn city zoning decisions. An old adage about litigation says that "If you can’t win on merit, then you try to win on procedure." This fits the lawsuits from the 1660 LaSalle Condominium Association in Old Town and the Edgewater Residents for Responsible Development.
In July, the 1660 LaSalle Condominium Association filed suit against the city and the developer of Old Town Canvas, a 349-home development near multiple CTA stops. Despite three years of community engagement, the lawsuit claims that the city "usurped the community engagement process" — although nearly a dozen public meetings took place and remain viewable online.
In October, the City Council approved the Broadway Land Use Framework, permitting more housing along a busy commercial corridor in Uptown. The plan aims to spur new development nesr four recently modernized CTA stations. During the yearlong community engagement process, Edgewater Residents for Responsible Development formed as opposition to the land use plan, purchased billboards decrying the proposed changes and filed a lawsuit in January, claiming the city “failed to give proper notice” of the zoning changes.
In these cases, each group claims to be "saving" their neighborhoods: Both include the word "save" in their website domains. If Chicago’s recent budget fiasco were any indication, saving our city means growing our tax base.
The plaintiffs may believe they are "saving" their neighborhoods, but their litigation harms Chicago by denying new housing and raising the cost of living. To truly save our neighborhoods, the first step should be dismissing these lawsuits with prejudice. When community groups litigate to block housing, it is a form of generational theft against current and future residents.
Josh Chodor, Urban Planning and Policy graduate student, University of Illinois Chicago
Desk decor
Harry Truman had a sign on his desk that read “The Buck Stops Here.” Donald Trump needs one that reads "The Bull— Starts Here".
Don Kolodziey, Richton Park
Trump’s logic to start war
Wow, my approval rating is way down. What to do? Americans support a wartime president. Who can I invade? Iran looks good. Preapproval by Congress ? Hah! That's a laugh. My people will follow me lock-step. What comes after? I don't care. I can't worry about worldwide chaos. I think I could use a Big Mac.
Philip S. Witt, Northbrook
Tired of Trump
I am tired of waking up every morning wondering what new damage and/or embarrassing action and/or words will come from our president. It is exhausting!
Carole Harrington, Bartlett
Know-nothing Noem
Kristi Noem testified that she knows nothing about Marimar Martinez, the Chicago woman who was shot five times by gun-happy Border Patrol thugs.
Does she read the newspapers? Does she watch television news — even Fox "Phony News?" Is she on the internet? Does she listen to her subordinates?
This is the woman who shot her dog because she was unable to train it. And she was our Homeland Security secretary?!
Dan McGuire, Bensenville
Tips for Ticketmaster
It was 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 20. I was seated at my desk on my computer waiting for Bruce Springsteen tickets at the United Center to go on sale at noon. I was ready. I was quickly notified that I was in a "virtual waiting room." I got excited, hoping to get two, possibly four seats.
The clock struck noon. I was informed that I was number 27,312 in line. The "bots" have won again. Do Ticketmaster officials care? I think not. They also sell after-market tickets from "scalpers" on the Ticketmaster website — another way to pick your pocket.
If they were serious about thwarting bots, here's what they could do, although I am not naive, and I know that they will never do this:
- Offer a maximum of two tickets per order.
- Require ticket purchasers to attend the show with a photo ID.
- Require the purchaser to send ID information of the second person attending the performance during the purchase procedure.
- Require that second person to bring the same ID to gain entrance to the concerts.
These actions would solve many problems. This would frustrate ticket brokers while selling tickets to fans who actually want to go to the concert.
Shame on the performers for not demanding changes. Sadly, it appears as if they don't care who attends their show either.
Jerry Bernacchi, Rolling Meadows
Sun-Times’ Rev. Jesse Jackson coverage informative
Thank you for the daily and extensive coverage of the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s life and impact. I am a Sun-Times newspaper subscriber, so I saved the special Feb. 18 section and have savored every additional article.
Although I am of Jackson's generation and have admired him from the beginning, your coverage helped me learn so much more. I carry an exuberant memory of his speech at the 1984 Democratic National Convention. Thank you. He was somebody!
Kay Whitlock, Lake View East
Chicago institution proves pivotal
Many years ago, I attended a performance by the late 12-string guitarist and vocalist Glen Campbell at Old Town School of Folk Music. It changed my life.
Scott Schada, Glenview