Terry Guest and Chicago Children’s Theatre today were announced as recipients of the Joyce Foundation’s 2024 Joyce Awards, receiving a landmark grant of $100,000 to support a new commission, including $30,000 allocated for an artist stipend. This year marks the 20th anniversary of the foundation’s signature annual grantmaking program that has supported artists of color in the creation of new, community-centered works with organizational partners across the Great Lakes region.
Supported by the $100,000 grant, playwright and teaching artist Terry Guest will create Milo Imagines the World, a new musical for Chicago Children’s Theatre that addresses the impact of incarceration on families while fostering resilience and healing. Adapted from a children’s book of the same name by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson, the musical follows a young boy who uses art to process the realities of growing up with an incarcerated parent.
Informed by his own personal experience, Guest will work closely with children and families affected by incarceration, creating opportunities to participate in trauma-informed programming around the play’s themes. Trauma-informed care, which plays a key role in CCT’s programming, seeks to assess, recognize, and respond to the effects of traumatic stress on children, caregivers, and health care providers. The ultimate goal is for this programming to promote healthy coping mechanisms and communication, instill confidence, inspire creativity, and give individuals more hope about their futures.
“Mass incarceration affects not only those within the system, but also their families and their loved ones. This system, which disproportionately impacts Black and brown communities, leaves so much emotional destruction in its wake—big, complex feelings that children don’t always have the tools to unpack,” said Guest. “By telling Milo’s story, we have the opportunity to expand what children in Chicago see on stage, reflecting their stories back at them and making them feel less alone. Milo is so many of us, and it’s an honor to bring him to life on the stage.”
The world premiere of Milo Imagines the World opens Chicago Children's Theatre's 19th season October 8-November 10, 2024. Press opening weekend is October 12 and 13. Season subscriptions are on sale now at chicagochildrenstheatre.org. Single tickets are $30 to $40, and go on sale on August 26. Chicago Children’s Theatre is located at 100 S. Racine Ave., at Monroe, in Chicago's West Loop. Email groupsales@chicagochildrenstheatre.org or call CCT Guest Services, (312) 374-8835, to learn more about subscriptions, single tickets, and discounted group rates.
Terry Guest and Chicago Children's Theatre (CCT) Teaching Artists participants in a CCT Residencies of Arts and Resilience (R.O.A.R.) development workshop. Image by Stephanie Munoz.
With the expansion of each grant from $75,000 to $100,000, 2024 marks the program’s largest total amount awarded to date, with $500,000 in grants to support five community-centered artistic projects. The 2024 awardees deeply engage Great Lakes communities through co-creation and collaboration across disciplines including theater, music, and sculpture, to explore diverse cultures, identities, and experiences; invigorate public spaces; and foster healing and connection for a more equitable future. The other 2024 awardees are: Andrea Assaf with the Arab American National Museum (Dearborn, MI); Marcus Elliot with the Detroit Parks Coalition (Detroit, MI); Katie Ka Vang with Theater Mu (Saint Paul, MN); and Edra Soto with The Sculpture Center (Cleveland, OH).
“The 2024 awardees join an outstanding group of artists and leaders who have built a legacy of transformative art across Great Lakes communities,” said Joyce Foundation President and CEO Ellen Alberding. “As we mark two decades of the Joyce Awards, we want to celebrate the artists and communities who have enriched the Great Lakes region, and those who will build on this work in the years to come.”
“This year’s Joyce Awards artists and organizations are responding to some of the most urgent issues facing our region and beyond. From addressing the impacts of incarceration and war to invigorating and expanding access to public spaces and highlighting the diversity of immigrant experiences and cultural identities, these transformative projects will promote healing and community connections while inspiring social change,” said Mia Khimm, Joyce Foundation Culture Program Director. “We’re proud to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Awards by celebrating the work of artists, organizations, and communities that are helping us to imagine and build a more equitable and vibrant future for the Great Lakes region.”
Since its establishment in 2004, the Joyce Awards has had a significant impact on artists and communities across the Great Lakes region. Over the past 20 years, the program has invested nearly $5 million for the creation of 87 new works of visual, performing, and multidisciplinary art. These commissions have engaged Great Lakes communities and amplified the careers of artists of color locally, regionally, and nationwide. The Joyce Awards has supported artists pursuing sustained collaboration with non-profit organizations and communities in and around six Great Lakes cities—Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis-Saint Paul—for as long as 24 months, resulting in the production of site-specific and process-driven art works shaped by community input and engagement. The impact of the award extends beyond the grant period, expanding new community-focused programs and capacities for organizations and creating opportunities for artists to deepen and expand their practices.
For 20 years, the Joyce Awards have been catalytic in advancing the careers of honorees, inspiring future work and opening the door to recognition at the highest national and international levels. Past recipients include Terence Blanchard, Sanford Biggers, Camille A. Brown, Nick Cave, Sandra Delgado, Larissa FastHorse, Theaster Gates, Rhiannon Giddens, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Bill T. Jones, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Pope.L, Julie Mehretu, Jessie Montgomery, Lynn Nottage, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Rosy Simas, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. The 2023 recipients were Regina Agu with the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago; Sonny Mehta with Mandala South Asian Performing Arts; Marisa Morán Jahn with the National Public Housing Museum; Marlena Myles with Franconia Sculpture Park; and Julie Tolentino with SPACES.
To learn more about the 20th anniversary of the Joyce Awards and the 2024 awardees, please visit joycefdn.org/joyce-awards.
About Terry Guest
Terry Guest is a three-time Jeff Award winning playwright, actor, director, and teaching artist. His play The Magnolia Ballet had its National New Play Network (NNPN) rolling world premiere in 2022 and has since gone on to win two Jeff Awards, the NNPN Best New American Play Award, and was featured on NPR. Terry went on to direct his play Marie Antoinette and the Magical Negros at the Story Theatre which won three Jeff Awards (including Best Director and Best New Play). Other works include: At The Wake of a Dead Drag Queen, OAK, The Madness of Mary Todd (Goodman Playwrights Unit Commission), and A Ghost in Satin (Williamstown Theatre Festival). As an actor Guest has worked at regional theaters including Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf, Alliance Theatre, About Face Theatre, and Actor’s Express. He is a Governing Ensemble member at The Story Theatre and a teaching artist at Jackalope, Writers Theatre, and Chicago Children’s Theatre.
About Chicago Children’s Theatre
Chicago Children’s Theatre was founded in 2005 with a big idea: Chicago is the greatest theater city in the world. Why doesn’t Chicago have a professional children’s theater?
Today, Chicago Children’s Theatre is the city’s largest professional theater devoted exclusively to children and young families. CCT has a national reputation for the production of first-rate children’s theater with professional writing, performing and directorial talent, and high-quality design and production expertise. CCT is also known for its commitment to introducing new plays by BIPOC writers to the TYA canon, and its trailblazing work in trauma-informed arts education.
Chicago Children’s Theatre is the first theater for young audiences to ever win a National Theatre Award from the American Theatre Wing, creators of the Tony Awards. Other awards include the National TYA Artistic Innovation Award from Theatre for Young Audiences/USA, and six NEA Art Works grants.
In 2017, after 11 years of itinerancy, Chicago Children’s Theatre opened its forever home at 100 S. Racine St. in Chicago’s vibrant West Loop neighborhood. The building, formerly the 12th District Chicago Police Station, was repurposed into a LEED Gold-certified, mixed-use performing arts, education, and community engagement facility.
In tandem with its live productions, Chicago Children’s Theatre offers Access services for patrons with disabilities including ASL interpretation, open captioning, touch tours and sensory friendly performances. CCT also provides thousands of free and reduced-price tickets to under-resourced schools in partnership with Chicago Public Schools. Chicago Children’s Theatre is also a popular destination for performing arts education programs for ages 0 to 14, including classes, workshops, school break, and summer camps. CCT also offers live theater experiences, classes, and camps for children with autism and other special needs through its Red Kite Project.
For more information, visit chicagochildrenstheatre.org. Follow the company on Instagram and Facebook, and subscribe to its YouTube channel, CCTv: Virtual Theatre and Learning from Chicago Children’s Theatre.