Wealth Our Way Grantee HAZ Cooperative Studios
December 11, 2025
HAZ Cooperative Studios acquired a three-story, mixed-use property in Pilsen to establish a permanent, community-owned cultural and creative hub. Wealth Our Way funding will support a series of critical upgrades needed to stabilize and enhance the space, including backyard improvements for outdoor events, sound-resistant windows, exterior door restoration, building signage, and a major basement renovation that will support business operations and creative production. These improvements—ranging from structural reinforcement to new flooring, pavers, and pergola installation—will prepare the building for long-term sustainability while expanding HAZ’s ability to serve artists, cultural workers, and local residents.
HAZ Cooperative Studios was founded to provide long-term stability, ownership, and creative infrastructure for Chicago-based independent artists—particularly Black and Brown artists who have historically lacked access to affordable workspace and sustainable career pathways. HAZ offers affordable studio space, event space rentals, and equipment to support art as a viable career path. As a multi-stakeholder cooperative, HAZ is owned and governed by its Worker-Owners and Artist-Owners, who share decision-making responsibilities and collectively determine the cooperative’s direction.
HAZ Cooperative Studios is guided by mission, vision, and values that center equity, creativity, and shared power. Core values—equal access, solidarity, transparency, personal growth, and shared success—align with the seven international cooperative principles and guide the co-op’s approach to organizational culture, member education, and community partnership.
Interview with HAZ Cooperative Studios
What does community wealth building mean to you?
In addition to having numerous co-owners of a space, we hope to ensure that our organization doesn’t exist in a silo. One of our favorite offerings in the space is our community nights every Wednesday. This is an opportunities for neighbors to walk through our space and for organizations to host events as well.
Which aspect of this project are you most excited about?
We’re excited to educate people on what working with a co-op can do, to expand an understanding of what that means. We view this work as a project of consequence. This means that we hope our work means something to the field and can shift the cooperative model into the arts in a way that exists outside of the traditional measures. This grant solidifies our longevity in the community. We look forward to bringing community members onto projects and having the physical space to offer a multitude of events.
Why is the shared ownership model so important?
Since the arts are so collaborative, the shared ownership model is imperative to ensure that multiple artists succeed and plant seeds for others success. We hope to culminate not only a sense of shared ownership but a shared financial success. Removing the middleman puts more money into artists’ pockets and removes barriers to support artists looking to fully survive and thrive in a career in art.
What are you looking to do in Pilsen through the WOW initiative?
We plan to make major renovations to our space including but not limited to reinforcing the back staircase, leveling the backyard space, soundproofing the exposed neighborhood space, expanding the indoor gallery space and more. Pilsen is no stranger to gentrification which is something that makes our space so sacred and special because it is for the community and by the community. With other co-operative housing initiatives occurring in the area, we have several models and potential partners to learn from and work with as we can expand and build as a co-op.