The 2015 Skokie Festival of Cultures was recently awarded a $5,200 arts grant from the Illinois Arts Council. The event, organized by the Skokie Park District, the Village of Skokie and the Skokie Public Library, is one of the premier ethnic festivals in Illinois, having attracted more than 430,000 attendees and dozens of cultures since 1991, all representing Skokie's tremendous diversity.

At a recent meeting of the Illinois Arts Council Agency Board, 690 grants totaling more than $4.8 million were unanimously approved, including 2015 grants to the Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois, Skokie's Anatomically Correct, the Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park, the Skokie Valley Orchestral Association, and Northlight Theatre.

The Skokie Festival of Cultures is a winner of state and national art event programming awards and is supported by — in addition to the Illinois Arts Council — local public agencies, service groups and corporate sponsors. The Illinois Arts Council Agency was created as a state agency by the Illinois General Assembly. It is governed by up to twenty-one private citizens chosen for their demonstrated commitment to the arts and appointed by the governor. They are charged with developing the state's public arts policy, fostering quality culturally diverse programs, and approving grants expenditures. Resources to support the Illinois Arts Council Agency are provided by the Governor and General Assembly of Illinois and the National Endowment for the Arts.