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Origin Story
What began as a resurrection of space has become a reimagination of place.
The Kehrein Center for the Arts Foundation originally emerged in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood from a long effort to restore a once-abandoned auditorium into a living cultural home. The building had carried decades of silence after years of use as a school performance space before falling into disrepair. Its reopening marked one of the few significant cultural investments on the West Side in generations and signaled a belief that art belongs in communities that have long been overlooked.
In its earliest chapter, the organization centered the venue as a crown jewel. It offered a stage where storytelling, performance, and creative expression could gather people across age and background. That foundation held power. It also revealed a deeper truth. A single building could not hold the fullness of a community’s cultural life.
After three years of service on the board, Reesheda Nicole Berry stepped into the role of Founding Executive Director and began guiding the organization toward a more expansive vision. A daughter of the Austin community, now living in Bronzeville, she carried an intimate understanding of how culture moves across neighborhoods. Under her leadership, the work grew beyond walls and into relationships. Programming now centers local artists, community voice, and culturally grounded experiences that reflect the lived realities of the West and South Sides.
This evolution gave rise to what is now Kindred Civic Arts Forum. The work now lives in coffee shops, galleries, public corridors, and community anchored businesses. It shows up in spaces where people already gather and where culture is already in motion. Initiatives such as Love is on the Green Line invite residents, artists, and business owners into shared authorship of the cultural landscape.
The leadership structure expanded in December 2025 with the addition of Jamion L. Berry as Co Executive Director. His grounding in operations, finance, and business systems strengthens the organization’s capacity to sustain growth with intention and care.
Today, governance reflects community in a tangible way. Board members are deeply rooted in the neighborhoods served and carry a lived commitment to the work. The mission, vision, and values are embodied as a result of proximity balanced by reporting and due diligence.
At its heart, Kindred Civic Arts Forum understands that neighborhoods hold wealth in story, memory, and creative practice. Our passion is to honor that wealth and circulate it in ways that allow artists and residents to shape the cultural and economic life of their communities.