Avondale family Art walk

our proposal

The Avondale Family Art Walk is designed to inspire the next generation of artists by offering children a free chalk‑art class, opportunities to learn from local adult artists, and a welcoming public space to express their creativity. The event also helps raise donations and funding for a new Avondale library. It brings families together for an affordable neighborhood activity, strengthens connections between neighbors, and showcases Avondale’s creative identity.

By activating Milwaukee Avenue with art, foot traffic, and community engagement, the Art Walk supports local businesses and independent artists through increased visibility and sales, creating a positive ripple effect throughout the neighborhood. All donations from the event will be given to the Chicago Public Library Foundation to support the creation of the new Avondale Library.

The Arts Committee requests the Avondale Neighborhood Association’s approval and support for this event.

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.

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 children chosen to participate. A local chalk artist will lead the class, teaching chalk art techniques and offering inspiration for their event pieces. We will explain which themes are acceptable and which are not. This class will take place 1–2 weeks before the event. 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 should be assigned a business, which can help guide the young artists toward a suitable theme for their art.

We will have local artists vend their art down the street along side 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 kids 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

The Art Committe 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 bussines 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 possibilties for straight donations, or tiers where bussinesses 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

engage local bussinesses

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 restaraunts down Milwaukee such as Friendships chinese, the new RASA, Spicy Taco, and others to vend and 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 opporutnies for restaraunts 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 gather a list of volunteers to reach out to local businesses, schools, and banks to join the event. Marketing for the event can be done by creating sponsored posts on social media, posting on Chicago subreddits, and asking attending artists to share on their social media. This event can also be promoted by the aldermen’s offices, in newsletters, and via flyers around the neighborhood. The Arts Committee will also engage with other local nonprofits such as the AGA, Elastic, Avondale Arts Chicago, and The Insect Asylum to join and promote the event.

We may even be able to promote this on local news.

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 strong turnout and a high‑quality experience for families, the Avondale Young Artists 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.

To ensure a strong turnout and a high-quality experience for families, the Avondale

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 from non-profits and businesses.

Partisipaction proces - $150

We are hoping to get a lot of this donated from local businesses.

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.

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 activity. Artists would get a head start on their work at 10 am 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.

event structure

Schedule

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

NExt steps

If Avondale Neighbohoor 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

Spellcheck: 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 marekting, 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 pssible news segments.