CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Black women in film and other creative media are getting a new resource on Chicago's South Side.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot helped break ground Monday for a new Media Arts Center on the South Side.
With help from Chicago’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, the Media Arts Center will be located in the South Shore community, and run by the non-profit “Sisters in Cinema.”
Founder Yvonne Welbon started the group in the 1997 as a database for and about African American-women in creative media, and now it’s so much more.
"We are creating jobs, we are creating learning opportunities, and we are also creating a safe space for healing," she said. "Through our work, we are creating a pipeline for those who wish to work in the creative industry."
Mayor Lightfoot talked about the center itself.
"This building will have galleries, classrooms, conference spaces, a 45-foot theater, and an editing and computer lab. Sisters in Cinema will be providing programming that will be developed through community input," she said.
"As outlined in our COVID-19 task force report, the first-ever COVID-19 recovery plan for any American city, investments in our film industry will be and are a key pillar to our recovery. Sisters in Cinema will help grow a film ecosystem right here in Chicago."
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Founder Dr. Yvonne Welbon said the center will help South Shore recover as well.
And an added bonus: Lightfoot said the center will all be free of charge to the public.