CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS
January 23, 2026
We're still here! Since we piloted our first round of retirement matching grants for musicians in 2024, we have been working behind the scenes to fundraise for another round (and beyond!). We haven't been successful yet, but we've made some great relationships and still believe in building long-term community wealth for the musicians and artists of Chicago.
Right now, we're a small and determined team of three volunteers keeping this dream alive. If we’ve learned anything through this process, it’s that systems change like this takes time and many voices and brains working together, which is why we’re inviting more folks to join us in the work.
We are looking for 1–3 volunteers to help ramp up our public engagement efforts. We'll meet on Zoom the fourth Friday of every month from 11–12 PM CST to share resources and ideas, then churn out a few public communications. Together, we'll collect and share more candid stories about what it's like to work, perform, age, and dream for the future as an artist in Chicago. We'll gather and share resources and readings about financial planning, investing, budgeting, and other money matters. We'll educate each other about other efforts in our city that are moving us toward community wealth and shared ownership.
Expertise isn't necessary—if you're a musician, artist, arts worker, or organizer with stories, ideas, or information to share, you're perfect for this group. On the topics of making music while making ends meet, we are the experts. We are the ones most familiar with the problems we are trying to solve.
Ways you can jump in:
Finding and sharing information: Pulling together resources, articles, stories, and financial tools, and making them easier to access and understand
Reaching out: Gathering and sharing stories from the artists around you—we want to connect with the widest range of musicians across genres, career stages, and Chicago neighborhoods
Putting it into words and images: Helping us write emails, updates, resource lists, blog posts, and other content. Helping create or source images for social media
Setting up shop: Helping us pick and run a simple space to talk—whether that’s our existing website and social media, or a new Substack, message board, or big group chat
And, if you have another way you’d like to be involved, or just have a resource or thought to share every once in a while, please drop us an email! 2026 is about opening this space up and doing the work in public, together.