What Is Chester Made?

Chester Made is a humanities-based initiative to recognize and promote arts and culture in Chester and harness their power as a force for community revitalization. The Chester Made Institute and pop-up makerspace at 511 Avenue of the States form a creative, cultural hub in the heart of the historic arts and culture district that gives community members the chance to engage with one another, learn more about the city’s cultural assets and history, rebuild their downtown, and change perceptions about Chester. Chester Made is a project of MJ Freed Theater and Pennsylvania Humanities Council, with funding from Spring Point Partners.

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Curious about how Chester Made came into being and what we’ve mainly been up to over the years?

Pennsylvania Humanities Council was invited by Chester city officials, Widener administrators, and cultural leaders to be part of engaging residents in the planning of a Chester Cultural Corridor to revitalize their downtown. Thus, the Chester Made partners were formed.

2012

2013

The Chester Made project continued to develop as a civic-engagement and education initiative grounded in inclusive, people-centered, humanities-driven community development.

The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage awarded PHC a Discovery Grant to support the initial planning and exploratory process for the Chester Cultural Corridor Project.

2014

2015

The Chester Made Ensemble was launched. This group of local advocates held eight story gatherings throughout the community. After connecting with over 350 residents, the Cultural Asset Map was created, the Chester Made Ensemble theatrically presented the entire project to Chester City Council, and Animating Democracy wrote an executive summary of the project.

PHC received two major grants to move Chester Made into its next phase from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. These funds supported the development of a Chester Made Exploration Zone in the 500 block of Avenue of the States.

2016

2017

The community came together to renovate a vacant storefront owned by Devon Walls at 511 Avenue of the States, transforming it into the Chester Made Makerspace. Replete with tools and other resources, residents and artists got to work designing hands-on programs.

Complementary to locally-sourced programs, PHC and its partners further bolstered the Exploration Zone through co-developing exchanges and programming for the community with nationally-known artists and historians.

2018

2019

PHC received two grants in partnership with MJ Freed from PECO and Spring Point Partners to support the creation of The Illuminate Chester documentary series and the Chester Made Institute, respectively.

The Chester Made Institute debuted with the Artist and Storyteller Residencies and signals a new maturation phase for Chester Made as a model for civic and cultural collaboration.