Outreach

Outreach in Our Community

The EAC partners with schools, non-profits, and community organizations to provide inspiring art education, exhibitions, and expression for all. Grants and individual donations from people like you ensure that everyone has access to art. Below you will find a list of the EAC's outreach programs. 

Help us continue to support and cultivate our outreach programming. Donate to the EAC's outreach efforts and support one of our many programs.

At the EAC, no student is turned away due to financial need. Fund our Education Scholarships.

Tours and Art Experiences for Area Organizations

The EAC welcomes different groups by offering exhibition tours and tailored group art-making experiences. Groups are invited to pay on a sliding scale based on the group's ability to pay, ranging from free to covering the program's costs. Some groups we recently welcomed: Evanston-area Girl Scout Brownie Troop, Wilmette Park District kindergarten classes, National Charity League of Wilmette, @Properties North Shore, and more!

To book your group's next visit, please contact our President and CEO, Paula Danoff, at [email protected] or call 847-475-5300.

Accessibility for People with Disabilities

Everyone's welcome! The Evanston Art Center is dedicated to making arts accessible to all students, including people with disabilities.

Course Accessibility

In addition to our physically accessible building, the EAC strives to make our classes and programming accessible. We provide American Sign Language (ASL) Interpretation, teaching assistants, or other support at no charge to the student to ensure all of our youth and adult students can fully participate.

Contact our President and CEO, Paula Danoff at [email protected] or call 847-475-5300 to learn more or request accommodation.

Adaptive Ceramics Wheel

The EAC Ceramics Studio purchased an adaptive wheel that can be raised or lowered to accommodate a wheelchair user and can be operated with hand controls rather than a foot pedal. The EAC offers an Adaptive Ceramics class for adults with disabilities, and welcomes people of all ages and abilities to create! The Arts Therapy Grant from the Rotary Club of Evanston Lighthouse donated the funds for the wheel.

Community Partners

In addition to all of the individual artists and students, we partner and collaborate with the organizations listed below on a daily basis. The EAC is always looking to create new partnerships. Please contact us to discuss ways we can help each other achieve our missions.

Books and Breakfast

Books and Breakfast (B&B) offers a nutritious breakfast and morning homework help to K-5 students qualifying for free lunch at four Evanston elementary schools. EAC provides weekly arts enrichment to participating B&B students and is accessible to all. This project is partially funded by the Evanston Arts Council, in partnership with the City of Evanston and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and Discover.

Photography and the EAC Teen Board

The EAC Teen Board is a group of students from the Chicagoland area. This is a free program for high school students that cultivates community involvement, volunteer opportunities, and youth engagement at the Evanston Art Center. In the Fall of 2022, the EAC provided the EAC Teen Board with free darkroom to digital photography class. This program is to teach students about photographic processes and how to incorporate them into other art forms. At the end of the program, students will show their work at the EAC. This program is generously funded by Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation.

Right At School/D65

Ensuring art is always included in our schools is important to the EAC. The EAC through Right At School provides weekly after-school art programming for D65 elementary schools Walker, Dewey, Lincoln, and Dawes with scholarship options available to anyone who needs it.

Over the Rainbow (OTR) Partnership

Over the Rainbow is a non-profit dedicated to increasing the quality of life for individuals with disabilities through the creation of barrier-free housing solutions and person-centered services that encourage independent living. The EAC sends an instructor to OTR Evanston residence to provide an ongoing art class for adult residents with disabilities.

Have Dreams Partnership

Have Dreams is a leader in resources for individuals and their families living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The EAC partners with Have Dreams to provide an internship for an individual on the autism spectrum. In addition, the EAC provides a weekly art class for individuals in the Have Dreams program.

Loyola Academy’s AP and Honors Art Show

Each year the EAC hosts Loyola Academy’s AP and Honors art students' work in our galleries! The students work together to curate, install, and publicize the exhibition and participate in an exhibition opening celebration of their hard work.

CAVA Art Show

The Chicago Alliance of Visual Artists (CAVA) is a non-profit committed to artists ages 50 and older. CAVA provides its members with opportunities to exhibit their work, educational programming, community outreach, and social networking events. Every other fall, the EAC partners with CAVA to host a juried exhibition of their member's most recent works. 

Books & Breakfast 2022
Books & Breakfast 2022

COLLABORATED WITH 39 OUTREACH PARTNERS

  1. @ Properties

  2. American Tapestry Alliance

  3. Amy Krouse Rosenthal Foundation

  4. Arts of Life

  5. Avidor Retirement Community

  6. Books & Breakfast

  7. Central Street SSA

  8. City of Evanston

  9. Dialogue Chicago

  10. Districts 202 & 65

  11. ETHS' Empty Bowl Project

  12. Evanston Chamber of Commerce

  13. Evanston Juneteenth Celebration

  14. Evanston Pride Picnic

  15. Girl Scouts

  16. Have Dreams

  17. Joseph E. Hill Early Childhood Center

  18. Libenu

  19. Lincolnwood Public Library

  20. Loyola Academy

  21. Main-Niles Association of Special Recreation

  22. McGaw YMCA

  23. NAACP

  24. National Charity League

  25. Nichols Family Fun Night

  26. Northshore Country Day School

  27. Orchard Village

  28. Over the Rainbow

  29. Right at School

  30. Robert Crown

  31. Roycemore

  32. SPACE Evanston

  33. Super 7 Girls

  34. Temperance Beer Co.

  35. The TED Fund Camp Scholarship

  36. Women's Club of Evanston

  37. Y.O.U.

  38. YEA!

  39. Yellowbrick Foundation