Inexperienced leaders, employee turnover, the removal of public information and concerns about disbursement of government dollars: You may think I’m talking about tactics used in Washington to undermine, defund and discredit crucial public institutions. But this is all happening here at Chicago’s beloved Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, known as DCASE.
As an arts worker in Chicago, I am witnessing the corrosion of a vital city department that directly supports billions of dollars in economic activity. We cannot stand by while the catalyst for our city’s world-renowned arts offerings is diminished.
Employee turnover began soon after Mayor Brandon Johnson fired Erin Harkey, an experienced, effective DCASE commissioner, in February 2024 and replaced her with Clinée Hedspeth, an art appraiser who has known Johnson since undergraduate days and was his legislative director when he was a Cook County commissioner. In September, WBEZ reported that 13 staff had left the department. Earlier this month, the Tribune reported that employee turnover had risen to about 25%.
In light of this, transparency and accountability are doubly important. Yet, DCASE’s Freedom of Information Act request log disappeared from the city’s website last fall.
Every city department has a FOIA Request Log on the city’s website, where anyone can view public information about which official documents journalists, lawyers, or Chicagoans (like me) are requesting through FOIA. DCASE’s log is currently available only by filing a FOIA request, a hurdle that requires legal knowledge, days of waiting and navigating the department’s inconsistent application of FOIA’s exemptions.
This means the log was hidden when Axios reporter Monica Eng submitted a request in December for “Any and all email or text correspondence from April 2024 to present between Lisa Lorick [DCASE’s Assistant Commissioner] and other DCASE staffers with the words ‘abuse’ ‘abused’ ‘Verbal abuse’ ‘toxic work environment’ ‘threatened’ ‘screamed at’ ‘performance improvement plan’ or ‘cursed at.’ ”
I was only able to learn this information by filing a FOIA request for the log itself. The Tribune shed some light on what Eng may have learned from her request when it reported on four formal complaints filed by DCASE staff alleging mistreatment by Commissioner Hedspeth. Given this environment, the removal of the FOIA request log from the city’s website is concerning.
Losing a quarter of the staff in under 12 months has a big effect on a department that works as hard as DCASE does for our city. Much of DCASE’s work has been impacted, from delays in grant payments to application and report portals opening late.
DCASE plays a vital role in Chicago. Enjoy TV, reading, music, murals or going to live arts events in the city? If so, you have engaged with artists and organizations that DCASE supports.
Art is good for Chicago’s residents and regional economy. Americans for the Arts estimated that pre-pandemic, the arts were responsible for $3.21 billion in economic activity in Chicago, and DCASE is integral to building back the creative sector.
In an incredible return on investment, in DCASE’s most recent annual report (2023), the department gave $23.5 million in grants and supported over 60 public art projects, festivals that attracted hundreds of thousands of attendees, film productions that produced around $700 million in revenue, and the artistic craft of thousands of local artists, among other things.
Can the remaining staff maintain DCASE’s impact, and, if so, for how long? Will Chicagoans be able to hold leaders accountable for supporting this vital institution?
Chicago deserves a city government that champions a department that brings so much value to Chicagoans’ lives and drives tremendous economic activity. We have the tools in place, but we need leadership that is invested in ensuring the system works. We cannot let DCASE’s impact be reduced or allow the institution to be undermined. The department and its impact are more important than any single leader.
Elsa Hiltner is a Chicago arts worker and served on DCASE’s Creative Worker Rights Advisory Committee in 2024 and Theater Sector Working Group in 2023.
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