The Chicago Arts Census is a cross-discipline data collection effort in the city created by and with the art workers of Chicago.

The Census is built to amplify our voices as art workers in Chicago, serve as an advocacy tool fighting for better working, living, and making conditions, and create opportunities for coalition-building across art sectors.

It does so by collecting, mapping, and visualizing data sets identified by and with art workers to better illuminate the reality of our living and working conditions. At present, a complex and intersectional account of our labor does not exist. The collected data is being translated into a series of data visualizations, a website, a report, and public programs that demonstrate the interwoven and dependent relationships that make up Chicago’s art ecosystem.