Ep #154: Joy Is Infrastructure with Janell Nelson of Englewood Arts Collective

Ep #154: Joy Is Infrastructure with Janell Nelson of Englewood Arts Collective This episode was recorded live at Lumpen Radio 10.24.26 What if joy wasn't a nice extra, but part of the infrastructure of a healthy neighborhood, right alongside the sidewalks and the streetlights? Recorded live at Lumpen Radio, I'm talking with Janell Nelson , creative strategist, artist, and Director of Englewood Arts Collective, about the EAC Arts Village Sculpture Park at 63rd and May and what it takes to build something beautiful on three vacant lots with almost no money.

What We Talk About Why she calls community engagement an art form, and how a graphic designer ends up stewarding a sculpture park How a lot deal that fell through turned into a pitch to her alderman and a three to five year agreement on three vacant lots What a long form pop up is, and why it matters in the years before the big developments are ready How the 40 foot mural happened with zero funding, starting with her being, in her words, extremely annoying to the guy who owned the building Why she asked for Chicago's Magnificent Mile star sculptures back, and the history of 63rd Street that makes that symmetry land The juicy turn: the keyboard warriors who assumed she was getting rich off this, and her answer, which is that she's rich in relationships If you love neighborhood history, design that actually serves people, or the behind the scenes of how a thing gets built out of nothing but partnerships, this episode is for you. Chapters 00:03 – Recorded live at Lumpen Radio 02:25 – Janell Nelson on joy as neighborhood infrastructure 19:49 – From a failed lot deal to three vacant lots 32:43 – The Arts Village, and the partners who actually built it 41:55 – Permission and momentum: creating a mural with no funding 57:17 – Stories of Us: Englewood's public art partnership Takeaways Joy isn't a bonus.

It's infrastructure, same as the sidewalks and the streetlights. We deserve to play where we lay.

Every neighborhood deserves beautiful spaces, and a vacant lot is not a description of the people who live there. Community engagement is an art form.

We all wake up and design the life we live. The park got built on partnerships, not money.

Pro bono architects, donated bricks, a muralist who cold called, and a neighbor named George who tarps the boards when it rains. Own your dopeness and stay humble enough to recognize everybody else's.

Artists are stewards, not decorators. Rich in relationships is its own kind of rich.

All about Janell Nelson You're gonna love Janell. She's the person who will tell you to own your dopeness and stay humble enough to recognize everybody else's in the same breath.

Janell Nelson is a Chicago-based creative strategist, artist and Director of Englewood Arts Collective whose practice uses graphic design, public art and creative placemaking to build connection, cultural visibility and investment in communities. She's a 2026 Leaders for a New Chicago awardee, recognized by the Field and MacArthur Foundations, and her leadership of EAC's Arts Village Sculpture Park helped earn the project a "Designing a Better Chicago" Award from the Driehaus Foundation and Chicago Design Museum.

Her guiding principle is simple: good design should do good. Born in South Shore and raised in Englewood, she went to Whitney Young and UIC, and her proudest work is at home.

Things We Mentioned EAC Arts Village Sculpture Park, 63rd and May, open daily 10 to 4 → Last guided tour of the season, Thursday November 19, 9:30 to noon Stories of Us , the traveling African drum sculpture exhibition, on view through November 22 Englewood Arts Collective, founded 2017, turning ten next year Tonika Lewis Johnson and Unblocked Englewood Grow Greater Englewood's We Deserve Beautiful Spaces campaign 16th Ward Alderman Stephanie Coleman Ryan Tova Katz, the muralist behind the 40 foot mural Folded Map, EAC's nonprofit home Connect with Janell Nelson IG: @jtothenell EAC on IG: @englewoodartscollective Website: (Janell, no E on the end. She will know if you let AI write the email.) EAC: Sponsor Shoutout 💖 This episode is brought to you by Artist Admin Hour.

Every Wednesday, 7 to 9pm Central, artists get on Zoom and knock out the applications, grants, budgets and invoices we've all been avoiding. Two hours of body doubling with structure, no shame, and real community.

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