News & Events

Press Releases

August 6, 2010 :: , :: No Comments

Urban Gateways Awarded Motorola Foundation Grant for Female-focused Gaming Program

Urban Gateways, Chicago’s most comprehensive arts education organization, has received more than $30,000 as part of the Innovation Generation grant program from the Motorola Foundation, the charitable arm of Motorola Inc. Through the grant, Urban Gateways will launch the program Girls Got Game, in which 125 female middle school students in the Chicago-area will design and build a fully-operational PC- based computer game.

The Motorola Foundation’s signature Innovation Generation program seeks to boost American students’ engagement in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by providing $7.5 million to K-12 programs across the U.S., including Urban Gateways, to support hands-on, innovative after-school programs, science and math clubs, teacher training and mentoring programs. 

Read more »

July 1, 2010 :: , :: No Comments

Urban Gateways Selected as Provider for CPS "Culture of Calm Initiative"

Urban Gateways is among 25 community organizations selected by the Chicago Public School District to provide services through its "Culture of Calm Initiative", which is part of the district’s $25 million dollar plan to support high schools and communities most at risk of violence.  Urban Gateways is the only arts education organization included as a Culture of Calm provider.

On June 22, Mayor Richard M. Daley and Chicago Public Schools officials announced
that the school system will use almost $25 million in federal economic stimulus
funding for mentoring, community watch, and “Culture of Calm” initiatives.

Read more »

June 1, 2010 :: :: No Comments

Urban Gateways Partners with Chicago Corporate Leaders to Launch "Arts-Wired" Schools

Jenner & Block and Fifth Third Bank Adopt Schools to Prepare Students for the 21st Century

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS  – Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education is pleased to announce the official launch of the Urban Gateways Arts-Wired Program, a whole-school change model which infuses the arts into struggling schools to transform them into high-quality hubs of learning with the support of corporate partners.  

Urban Gateways, Chicago’s oldest and largest arts education organization, recognizes the unparalleled impact of arts learning on a school culture and is partnering with like-minded Chicago-area schools and business leaders to transform schools in need.

Read more »

May 25, 2010 :: , :: No Comments

Urban Gateways Partners with Chicago Corporate Leaders to Launch "Arts-Wired" Schools

Jenner & Block and Fifth Third Bank Adopt Schools to Prepare Students for the 21st Century

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS  – Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education is pleased to announce the official launch of the Urban Gateways Arts-Wired Program, a whole-school change model which infuses the arts into struggling schools to transform them into high-quality hubs of learning with the support of corporate partners.  
Urban Gateways, Chicago’s oldest and largest arts education organization, recognizes the unparalleled impact of arts learning on a school culture and is partnering with like-minded Chicago-area schools and companies to transform schools in need. 
How does the Arts-Wired Program work? A corporate partner adopts a Chicago-area school for a period of four years, during which Urban Gateways delivers in-depth, customized arts programming.  Just as a school which is “wired” for technology raises the possibility for success in any educational environment, Urban Gateways will infuse four key components of arts learning into Arts-Wired Schools, in order to increase the academic achievement levels for all students. That arts programming includes:
Read more »

February 1, 2010 :: , :: No Comments

Ballroom Dance-off Brings Students and Community Together

On Thursday, February 4, elementary students from Chavez Multicultural Academy – an Urban Gateways Community School – paired up and “Danced-Off” against students from five other schools in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood.

The Dance-Off was the culmination of a four-month, after-school program called “Dancing with Class” – which focuses on building community bonds through the medium of social dance.  Since October, the Chicago social dance studio May I Have This Dance has provided weekly lessons at all six elementary schools.  Then the students came together for a final Dance-Off, in which partnered with both their classmates AND with dancers from the other schools.

“We have a fundamental belief in the power of social dance to build and strengthen communities, to bring people of all socio-economic backgrounds together,  to do something that brings joy and strengthens respect for self and others,” said Margot Toppen from May I Have This Dance.

Read more »

January 21, 2010 :: , :: No Comments

UG Launches Blog Focused on Arts Education & its Impact

Blog Features Experiences of Six Chicago-area Teaching Artists

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS –Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education is launching a blog to bring attention to the importance of arts education.  The blog, entitled Urban Gateways Artists Wired (www.ugartistswired.typepad.com), features six Urban Gateways’ teaching artists, who will post regularly about their experiences in Chicago-area classrooms. 

“We want to chronicle their journey with the students, in hopes of drawing attention to the importance of the work these professional artists do and the impact they have on the children, on the schools and on the communities where they work,” said Julie F. Simpson, Urban Gateways Executive Director.

Founded almost 50 years ago, Urban Gateways is one of the largest and most comprehensive arts education organizations in the country.  Each year, the organization provides in- and out-of-school programming in the literary, performing, media and visual arts to more than 100,000 young people in the Chicago-area.  

Read more »

September 22, 2009 :: :: No Comments

Urban Gateways Launches MusicianCorps Program in Chicago

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS –Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education will announce the Chicago launch of the national MusicianCorps program on Tuesday, September 22 at 6:00 p.m., as part of an all-ages concert event and launch party in Homan Square Park, 3559 W. Arthington.

MusicianCorps is a “musical Peace Corps” that gained national recognition through the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act signed by President Barack Obama in April 2009.  In its first year, MusicanCorps is being piloted in four cities: Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle  and the San Francisco Bay Area.  Nationally the program is managed by the service organization Music National Service (MNS), which is headed up by CEO & Founder Kiff Gallagher, a successful musician and national service veteran who served in the Clinton White House and on the Obama campaign’s National Arts Policy Committee.  In Chicago, the MuscianCorps program will be managed locally by Urban Gateways, a non-profit that has worked to provide Chicago-area children with equitable access to the arts since 1961.

Read more »

April 6, 2009 :: , :: No Comments

Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education Welcomes New Develoment Director

Chicago -- Urban Gateways: Center for Arts Education is pleased to announce the hiring of Sherre Jennings Cullen, Director of Development.

As the Development Director, Sherre will strategize and manage all fundraising activities, expectations, and anticipated outcomes.

Sherre Jennings Cullen joins Urban Gateways with an extensive background in development. For nearly two decades she has been fundraising in Chicago; the past thirteen years include oversight of the development efforts at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre and Writers' Theatre. Prior to her tenure there, Sherre was employed by the Music Institute of Chicago where she was responsible for the successful capital campaign to purchase and renovate its new education and performance space in downtown Evanston.

Read more »