Our Community Initiatives
Helping DuPage Thrive
At DuPage Foundation, we work with our community to launch and support efforts that make life better for everyone in DuPage County. Our goal is to keep DuPage a vibrant place to live, work, and enjoy, today and always.
Arts DuPage
Arts DuPage is a countywide arts council, best known for artsdupage.org, our comprehensive event website for arts and entertainment. Arts DuPage showcases the vibrant local arts community, which generates cultural, economic, and social benefits for DuPage County and its residents.
Mission
Arts DuPage supports, promotes, and advocates for the Arts in DuPage County.
Vision
Arts DuPage showcases and supports the vibrant local arts community, which generates cultural, economic, and social benefits for DuPage County and its residents.
Arts DuPage Values
- Creativity: Encourages creative expression as a way to foster understanding, drive innovation, and enrich our lives.
- Diversity: Celebrates the unique history, identities, and cultures within our community.
- Accessibility: Believes creating, displaying, performing, and experiencing art should be safe, affordable, and available to everyone.
- Collaboration: Aligns artists, arts organizations, community partners, and businesses to cultivate richer cultural experiences for all.
- Engagement: Provides resources necessary to ensure that all residents of all ages and abilities may discover, participate in, and experience DuPage County’s vast artistic and cultural landscape.
Membership Information
Be part of a vibrant arts community while enjoying exclusive perks and helping the arts thrive in DuPage County. Arts DuPage members get access to special tours, event discounts, networking opportunities, and more—all while supporting local artists and arts organizations through promotion, advocacy, and grantmaking.
Member Options
Individual Artist
Arts Orgs & Nonprofits
Corporate
Arts Lovers, Donors & Sponsors
Member Benefits
- Exclusive tours and “behind the scenes” events at local arts venues
- Discounts at events and exhibits at local venues, including the McAninch Arts Center, Wheaton College, and more
- Free or discounted convenings, workshops, and talks that help arts organizations grow
- Inclusion in Arts DuPage Month advertising
- Promotion of your arts organization to our list of 1,600 art partners and 16,000 Facebook followers
- Advocacy for the Arts in DuPage County
- Subscription to the monthly member newsletter
- Newsletter feature in Arts Alive, Arts DuPage‘s monthly guide emailed to 1,600+ art lovers in the region
- Inclusion of all your events on artsdupage.org
For more information, contact Deborah Venezia, director of Arts DuPage, at 630.598.5299 or debbie@dupagefoundation.org.
Bright & Early DuPage
Community by community, Bright & Early DuPage is engaging and uniting local organizations and individuals to build awareness for and facilitate access to early childhood education and support services for DuPage children and their families.
Mission
To build sustainable, coordinated, local early childhood systems that actively work to increase access to quality education and support for children and families with limited resources.
Vision
Every DuPage child will be ready to succeed in kindergarten.
For more information, contact Barb Szczepaniak, vice president for programs at 630.598.5280 or barb@dupagefoundation.org.
MLK Unity Fund
Each year, the DuPage County Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” Unity Breakfast brings our community together to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and inspire continued action toward equality, justice, and unity.
Proceeds from the event support our community’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Unity Fund, a permanently-endowed fund created with support from The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies Inc. and other generous partners. Annual grants from this fund are distributed through our Community Impact grant program to support DuPage nonprofit programs that benefit Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the areas of health, human services, and education.
Advisory Committee
Advisory Committee members meet quarterly. To learn more about the DuPage County Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Advisory Committee, contact Advisory Committee Co-Chair Dan Wagner at dan@dlwagner.com.
For more information, contact Kait Miller Balsewicz, director of donor & community engagement at 630.598.5292 or kait@dupagefoundation.org.
Glen Ellyn Fund
Mission & Vision
By giving together to enhance, sustain, and support Glen Ellyn we can have a greater, more targeted, and more sustainable impact in our community for generations to come.
Established in 2017, the Glen Ellyn Fund Initiative (GEFI) is a partnership between the Village of Glen Ellyn and DuPage Foundation.
For more information, contact Kait Miller Balsewicz, director of donor & community engagement at 630.598.5292 or kait@dupagefoundation.org.
