The perfect blend of culture and politics.
The Give A Sh*t program works to inspire young people in Chicago to vote and become powerful agents of transformational change by developing a unified narrative and distributing that narrative in a way that is engaging, fun and authentic.
Give A Sh*t Collective
Chicago Votes has integrated a creative network, the “Give A Sh*t Collective” to operate as a hub for creatives to rethink how we engage young Chicagoans in the political process. The Collective is made up of a diverse set of young creatives in Chicago, including fashion designers, musicians, artists, poets, videographers and more.
Midwest Culture Lab Grantees
Projects coming February 2019!
G.A.S. Magazine
Coming Summer 2019!
Chicago Votes launches Give a Shit Weekend to get young people in Chicago excited about election season
Chicago Reader
Posted by Julia Hale
“This is the first year that Chicago Votes has hosted a Give a Shit Weekend… The event originally started out as an eight-day fashion week but was chiseled down to four days that focus on many different things. “We’re doing a fashion show tonight, then an afterparty, then we’re doing an art installation tomorrow followed by an afterparty. We’re having a Give a Shit happy hour Saturday night in Avondale that’s focused on mental health awareness, and then we’re having a big party on Sunday night too, that we’re not even hosting. We’re just showing up to a club and doing voter registration at it. That’s what happens when you start trying to blend the worlds. Things just start to happen organically.”
Something else that’s happening organically is that more well-known artists are being drawn to the initiative as well. “Mick Jenkins is upstairs, I think I saw Taylor Bennett walk in,” says Valles. “These things are just kind of happening on their own, we didn’t even invite them directly, and that’s pretty cool because they have more power than a lot of politicians, and I don’t think they really know it.”