History
Career and vocational resources for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities remain limited--particularly in Illinois. As a result, many individuals with disabilities are employed in light labor, assembly, or other menial tasks. Most day programs don't allow for choice in their work, or provide professional development opportunities. The founders of Arts of Life recognized this severe lack of opportunity for the disabled community and, in January of 2000, they began to construct an alternative model. Unlike other programs for the disabled, Arts of Life defies singular categorization. Our studio is not an employment program, nor is it an art school or art therapy. Arts of Life is a creative and collaborative day program. We are an outsider artist incubator that encapsulates an artist collective and galleries. Above all, it is a community made of equals who push each other to become the very best version of themselves.
Specialties
Arts of Life currently serves over 60 artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities at two studio locations. Our North Shore studio is located in the Chicago suburb of Glenview and our Chicago studio is located in the West Town neighborhood. Each studio has unique exhibition spaces with year-round programming featuring guest curators and artists. Our studio artists and their work have been featured in prestigious venues throughout the world, including Carl Hammer Gallery, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, INTUIT Center for Outsider Art, and Museum of Everything in London.