CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and philanthropist Karyn Lutz have christened an arts facility for teens in the city’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood.
Emanuel and Lutz on Monday opened the Michael and Karyn Lutz Center for After School Matters. The center will allow the program to expand and help as many as 1,500 more young people each year.
The center is funded by a donation from Karyn Lutz and the Lutz Family Foundation. It is 36,000 square feet in a renovated building. It has art studios, a dance studio, vocal booths, tech labs and a full commercial kitchen.
After School Matters has served Belmont Cragin through area high schools. This summer there will be 600 teens in 28 programs at the center.
Lutz called Belmont Cragin an “up-and-coming, yet still under-resourced” neighborhood.
