At Firebird we are creative makers and thinkers. Some of our projects yield beautiful artwork, and some of our work builds community and reimagines how we can trust, connect, and relate to each other. We hope to share our works in progress with our broader community--both the art you can behold and the thought-work we're engaged in. 

Remember in math class you might not get the perfect answer, but you could get credit for showing your work? We know that we don't have any perfect answers, but we hope to keep learning and improving. Please join our conversation, explore, and add to our work that we share with you here in our Showing Our Work blog.

Challenges and Strengths of Trauma Informed Care at Firebird

Challenges and Strengths of Trauma Informed Care at Firebird

This Spring, Firebird's Social Worker, Danie Nitardy, facilitated two sessions for staff and leadership where they dove into specific concepts of trauma informed care that resonate most in our context. What ensued were rich discussions and complicated nuanced scenarios that defied simple answers or approaches. Here we share...

Talking Accountability ain't Easy!

Talking Accountability ain't Easy!

In January 2024, Firebird staff engaged with the brilliant Dr. S Simmons to help us explore collective responsibility, or community accountability. His approach is rooted in principles of accountability and transformative justice. Above is one resource he shared defining accountability in this way. Really want to nerd out?...

Annual Holiday Bazaar

Annual Holiday Bazaar

Get excited! Our annual Holiday Bazaar will be Saturday, December 9th from 12 - 5PM. Admission to the event is FREE for all! Treat yourself or purchase a gift for someone special. All goods have been brought to you by local artists and Project FIRE participants. This year...

Oct 20- Beer, Glass, and the Power to Heal

Oct 20- Beer, Glass, and the Power to Heal

Friday, October 20, join us as we partner with Brewseum for a night of glass blowing, beer, and a bonfire? Yes, indeed! Buy tickets here. We gather in the spirit of community. Enjoy some glass blowing demos, learn about the history of your favorite beer vessel shapes through...

Nov 9- The Portal- Comedy and Variety Show @ Firebird!

Nov 9- The Portal- Comedy and Variety Show @ Firebird!

Join us Thursday November 9, 2023 at 8pm for The Portal, Chicago's roaming variety show, bringing comedy and music to every corner of the city. For only $15 you can experience great comedy and a variety of other local acts. Get tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-portal-firebird-community-arts-tickets-600843488047  

Scripps News: Chicago bike tour commemorates 1919 race riots

Scripps News: Chicago bike tour commemorates 1919 race riots

A bike tour in Chicago brings riders up close to Chicago's 1919 race riots, honoring the 38 victims and highlighting the riots' impact.   By Ben Schamisso July 25, 2023 A somber history lesson on two wheels is taught by visiting sites where people died and places where people...

Firebird Show at Weinberg-Newton Gallery through Sept. 9

Firebird Show at Weinberg-Newton Gallery through Sept. 9

A series of memorials commemorating the worst instance of racial violence in Chicago history that have yet to be installed on city streets are now temporarily on view as part of a neighborhood art gallery’s final exhibition. The memorials recall the Chicago race riots of 1919, where for...

Gather: A Firebird Fundraiser

Gather: A Firebird Fundraiser

Firebird Public Art to Remember 1919 Race Riot

Firebird Public Art to Remember 1919 Race Riot

Chicago Sun-Times — Thousands of people pass by Adams Street and Wabash Avenue every day, climbing the stairs to the L, or heading to the Art Institute or other spots in the Loop.   Few may know that corner is a murder scene, part of the 1919 riots during which, for...

Feel The Love

Feel The Love

Please join us for a fun night filled with love, karaoke & cupcakes! There will be glassblowing demonstrations and the opportunity to learn how to sculpt a glass heart for $75. Glass hearts and roses will be for sale as well :) (Limited refreshments will be available) Register...

Healthy Boundaries Poster

Healthy Boundaries Poster

These are a series of signs and learning tools we have developed for use in our community studio space. Maybe some of them can be of use to you and your community?

Firebird Community Arts Language Gospel

Firebird Community Arts Language Gospel

Introduction "When we talk about being asset-based we mean eliminating the practice of defining less-protected communities as a culmination of deficits or traumas. Asset-based means first recognizing that all communities, including those often labeled as “marginalized” or “disenfranchised,” are filled with knowledge, skills, ideas, and solutions that if...

PSA on Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

PSA on Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

This “Public Service Announcement on Philanthropy and Charitable Giving” is a guide that explains many of the common misconceptions about giving to nonprofits, and how you can adjust your giving strategy to have the biggest impact.

Gather 2022

Gather 2022

GATHER 2022 - We came together to give, heal, and empower! Thank you for joining us for an evening filled with tasty treats, drinks, glassblowing, and a silent auction filled with original art and getaways.  To see photos from that evening, please click here. Thursday, September 15th | ...

A Land Acknowledgement Process

A Land Acknowledgement Process

This October, beginning near Indigenous People's Day, Firebird initiated an ongoing conversation with Board, staff, and youth about indigenous land acknowledgements. As we crafted a land acknowledgement to open a Board meeting, the complexity of the task came to the surface. We did not want to make a...

West Side Mutual Aid

West Side Mutual Aid

Firebird is located within the East Garfield Park neighborhood of the West Side of Chicago. The students and student interns of our Fireworks teen program collaborated with their instructors to build a list of West Side mutual aid supports. Youth also designed icons to represent the types of...

Our Anti-Racism Action Plan

Our Anti-Racism Action Plan

Things we have done/are doing to dismantle white supremacy: Diversifying our Executive Board from 100% white in 2012 to over half POC currently Prioritizing access of South and West Side youth of color to rarefied art media in schools and in our studio Employing Black and Brown youth...

Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter

At Firebird Community Arts, we are struggling along with everyone else about how to think about change. We are discussing our contradictory feelings. We are all shifting wildly between rage, worry, hope, fear, desperation, anxiety, camaraderie.