Avondale family Art walk

our proposal

The Avondale Family Art Walk is a new community event designed to celebrate local creativity, support neighborhood businesses, and provide a free, youth‑centered arts experience along Milwaukee Avenue. The event features a guided chalk‑art class for kids and teens, artist demonstrations, and a walkable route connecting participating storefronts.

This concept focuses on sidewalk activation rather than street closure, keeping the event simple, safe, and accessible. Our goal is to bring families together, highlight Avondale’s creative identity, and raise funds to support advocacy efforts toward establishing a long‑overdue public library in the neighborhood.

Why chicago public library foundation

Avondale needs a library.

A publicly accessible library is essential infrastructure for a thriving neighborhood. Avondale’s growing population includes families, students, seniors, and workers who need reliable access to books, digital resources, study space, and community programming.

Avondale has 35,000+ residents but no library branch.

  • It is considered park‑poor and lacks accessible “third spaces.”

  • A library would provide free educational resources, technology access, and community programming.

    The neighborhood is experiencing gentrification, increasing the need for stable, inclusive public spaces.

    A library is a direct investment in children, teens, and families.

This event helps young artists to create art to help build a space for learning tomorrow.

While a new Chicago Public Library branch requires city and state capital funding, our event will contribute directly to the community advocacy and programming efforts that help bring a library to Avondale. Our goal is to raise $1,000–$3,000 with this event, with all proceeds donated to the Chicago Public Library Foundation or ANA’s library advocacy initiative.

inspire young artists

The primary goal of this event is to inspire Avondale children (recommended ages 6–18) to engage with the arts and their community. Children will be paired—individually or in small groups—with local businesses to create chalk art along Milwaukee Avenue between Central Park and Kimball.

Attendees may support the artists by donating to their favorite chalk piece. All donations collected will be donated to the Chicago Public Library Foundation to support creation of a new Avondale library.

At the end of the event, the top three business–child/group partnerships that raise the most money will receive prizes. We hope local businesses will contribute both to the overall charity and to the children’s prize pool.

Before the event, chosen participants will attend a workshop led by a local chalk artist to learn techniques and develop inspiration for their event artwork.

free chalk art class

Before the event, we will schedule a class for the young artists who have chosen to participate. A local chalk artist will lead the class, teaching chalk art techniques and offering inspiration for their event pieces. We will help them choose their theme, imagery, and keep the content family friendly. This class will take place 1–2 weeks before the event and we will find an artist willing to donate their time and a location, or we will pay an artist a stipend. Avondale Arts Chicago may be willing to donate the Belmont space for this class. By the time the class takes place, each group will be assigned a business, which can help guide the young artists toward a suitable theme for their art.

We will have local artists sell their art down the street alongside the young artists drawing and presenting their work. This would not only allow local artists to sell their items and engage with the community, but inspire young artists to what they could grow up to be!

We would make sure that each artist has insurance, that sidewalk permits are procured, and that each artist is vetted and approved. There could be a total of 20-30 local artists vending their items.

local artists

engage local bussinesses

The Arts Committee will be engaging with local businesses, not just down Milwaukee, but all over Avondale to gauge interest in donating time, money, resources, or to have a pop‑up table at the event.

This event will drive traffic to local businesses and allow them to engage with the community. Locals like the Insect Asylum can have sidewalk pop‑ups to sell items or have small classes on insects.

Local banks at Central Park and Milwaukee will be contacted to see if they can donate to the charity and to the kids prizes. There are possibilities for straight donations, or tiers where businesses can be part of the advertising such as:

  • $100 – Community Supporter
    Name on website + thank‑you post

  • $250 – Chalk Art Sponsor
    Sponsor name on a child’s chalk square + logo on signage

  • $500 – Local Arts Champion
    Logo on all printed materials + booth space + social media spotlight

  • $1,000 – Presenting Sponsor
    Logo on banners, stage signage, website header, and press release

Bussinesses suggested to join event

  • Avondale Neighborhood Association

    avondale neighborhood association

  • Avondale Mutual Aid

    Avondale Mutual Aid

  • Avondale Arts

    AVONDALE ARTS

  • avonddale gardening aliance

    avondale gardening aliance

  • Sipping Turtle

  • Prism Gaming Chicago

  • The Insect Asylum

  • Books4Cause

  • Kone Ranger clothing

  • Hair Pin arts

  • Mothers Ruin

  • Void

  • Loaf Lounge

  • Avondale Dental Studio

  • Rooted Living

  • Record Breakers

  • Uprising Theater & Cafe

  • Gem: A Vintage Collective

  • Giordano's

  • Firefly Fiber arts Studio

  • Three Stars Vintage

  • Monarch Thrift Shop

  • Five Point Holistic Health

  • The Brewed

  • Light Paws

  • The Horror House

  • Friendship Chinese

  • Spicy Taco

  • Legacy Tattoo

    Legacy Tattoo

  • Deep Red Wine

  • Chase Bank

  • US Bank

  • The Alley

  • Elastic

  • Fifth Third Bank

Local musicians

We will feature local musicians and bands performing at Solidarity Triangle and station performers in front of the banks at Central Park and Milwaukee. We are also open to another idea for performance arts at Central Park and Milwaukee.

We will focus on local bands but we are open to reaching out to bands in all of Chicago.

restaraunts and food pop ups

This event will be a great opportunity for restaurants down Milwaukee such as Friendship's Chinese, the new RASA, Spicy Taco, and others to sell great food to neighbors.

Food trucks and pop‑ups from places like DMEN Tap, Magnifico, and others from around Avondale can join the event. There are plenty of opportunities for restaurants to set up sidewalk pop‑up menus for quick bites for the community to try new or existing favorite dishes.

Marketing and outreach

The Arts Committee will compile a list of volunteers to contact local businesses, schools, and banks about participating in the event. Marketing can include sponsored posts on social media, postings to Chicago subreddits, and requests that attending artists share the event on their own social channels. The event can also be promoted through aldermen’s offices, newsletters, and flyers distributed around the neighborhood. The Arts Committee will engage other local nonprofits—such as the AGA, Elastic, Avondale Arts Chicago, and The Insect Asylum—to participate and help promote the event. We may also be able to secure coverage on local news.

Outreach to young artists can be completed by contacting teachers, reaching out to families through newsletters, flyers, and promotion.

With coordinated promotion through neighborhood channels, we project an attendance of 300–600 participants, including families, children, and local residents. This turnout aligns with participation levels seen in similar Chicago neighborhood arts programs and reflects Avondale’s strong engagement with community‑based cultural events.

If this project is successful, and this event happens again next, these numbers can increase.

projected attendance

Initial costs and budgting

To ensure a strong turnout and a high-quality experience for families, the Avondale Family Art Walk requires a small but essential budget covering marketing, permits, supplies, and instruction. Funds will support printed flyers and posters for neighborhood outreach, required city permits, high-quality chalk and art materials for participating children, and a stipend for a local teaching artist to lead the free chalk-art class. Additional costs include signage, volunteer support materials, and basic event infrastructure to keep the walk safe, organized, and welcoming for all families.

Budget estimate

  • Supplies — $200

  • Artist stipend — $200

  • Marketing — $200

  • City permits — $100

  • No-parking signs — $50

  • Donation from ANA to charity — $100–$200

  • Chalk artists' prizes — donated by nonprofits and businesses

  • Participation process — $150

We are hoping to get much of this donated by local businesses.

event structure

This event would take place along Milwaukee Avenue between Central Park and Kedzie. The committee will obtain a city sidewalk permit (PWU) and post no‑parking signs. Removing parking will give pedestrians more space to enjoy chalk artists, vending artists, food pop‑ups, and businesses using the sidewalk to promote their products and content. Musicians will be positioned at the beginning and end of the block. Small art pop‑ups are also an option, including painting, collage, and brief performances. Local artists will be stationed at sidewalk bulb-outs or along the building walls to allow for unimpeded flow of foot traffic.

Parents or a parental guardian will be expected to remain with their children during the event. If this is planned through a school, then the shcool will assign a parental guardian that must remain with that young artist or artist group.

The proposed time is either 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. or 12:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m. These windows avoid rush-hour traffic, allow food vendors to serve attendees, and are well suited for children’s activities. Artists would get a head start on their work at 10:00 a.m. to prepare for the event. If there is light rain, we can delay the event by 1–2 hours. If the event is rained out, we should promote a rain date 1–2 weeks later.

Schedule

What We’re Asking From ANA

  • Approval to move forward with planning the Avondale Family Art Walk

  • Guidance and support in coordinating with the Alderman’s office for permits

  • Promotion through ANA channels to help reach families, artists, and businesses

  • Nonprofit partnership to collect and donate funds raised through the event

  • Feedback on the proposed route, youth programming, and community engagement plan

timeline

This event will take place mid September as summer is winding down. This will also allow us to time this for after school starts to engage with schools to ask children to join in for the event.

In the next three and half months will give us time to review the proposal, work out the kinks, and get rolling on next steps.

FAQs, variables and unknowns

  • The committee will reach out to businesses and local banks to inquire about donating funds for porta-potties. We are also considering asking businesses along the walk to promote any public restrooms available for the event.

  • This is currently an unknown, but we may need about 10 from initial guesses.

  • This is currently a variable. ANA should also donate to the cause, so the minimum should match the amount the nonprofit intends to contribute. We hope to receive donations from attending businesses, businesses in Avondale, and local banks.

  • The suggested fee to join is $50, which would help cover marketing and permit costs.

  • We hope to engage 20-30 businesses in varying degress. We hope to assign a group of young artists to about 15 businesses or more depending upon interest from local young artists.

  • Through marketing, reaching out to parents, schools, art teachers, and the Alderman

  • This can range from tophies, to small gifts from businesses, to art kits, ect. Trophies and donations from certain businesses can be a prize.

    There should also be a participation prize as well.

  • We hope to have groups averaging 5 artists per group. Depending on interest, this could be 75-150 artists.

NExt steps

If Avondale Neighborhood Association approves this project, then the non-profit, committee, and new volunteers can begin working on the following items:

contact the aldermens office

1

We will reach out to our alderman’s office to request approval and review of this proposal and find out what the hurdles and requirements may be. This would be a good opportunity to have the city reach out to businesses as well and possibly discuss promoting the event.

permits and legal requirements

2

Inquire about permits, costs, and any legal requirements for such an event. Investigate whether there is a possibility of closing the street to allow residents to walk down it. There is a low probability that this is the first instance of the event.

reach out to schools and parents

5

Talk with different schools and businesses to see if children would like to join either individually or as groups. Reach out to parents via email marketing and flyering to ask if their children would be interested in joining.

budgeting

3

Review and discuss budgets for marketing, materials, permits, and resources. Investigate and apply for grants that may apply to a project like this.

marketing

4

Work on flyering, eventbrite posts, social media, newsletters, and possible news segments.