CHICAGO (CBS)—A state agency supports members of Illinois’ large art community, and its leader has extensive experience and a famous name.
Her name is Nora Daley, the chair of the Illinois Arts Council. In an exclusive interview, she told CBS 2 how she’s following in the footsteps of her famous family by embracing public service to support her love of the creative community.
Daley was right at home at the Stony Island Arts Bank, a beacon on Chicago’s South Side and a 17,000-square-foot refurbished bank building that’s now used for creativity and priceless archives. It was one of the many beneficiaries of the Illinois Arts Council.
The state agency will celebrate its 60th anniversary next year. Daley has served as the chair of its board since 2022.
“It supports communities,” she said. “It supports organizations. It directly supports artists, festivals, and so it’s really critical.”
That mission has led Daley, a volunteer who doesn’t get a salary, to travel throughout the state on a listening tour, as she called it, to determine how best to serve artists from Rockford to Carbondale. One fellow Arts Council board member said Daley has made the agency more accessible and collaborative.
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“I just wanted to hear what were the needs in communities, whether you’re a town of 1,400 people or you’re a neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago,” Daley said. “I saw so many similarities, then I saw differences.”
Daley, who has a degree in art history from Fairfield University, believes that while art enriches the spirit, it’s also an economic engine in communities, big and small.
“When there was a Main Street in a small town that was trying to rebuild itself, it was the artist collective that was in there doing it,” she said.
A proud family legacy
Daley is a member of Chicago’s most famous political family. She’s the daughter and oldest child of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and the late first lady Maggie Daley, who were longtime champions of the arts.
“My parents didn’t really tell us what to do,” Daley said. “We just kind of learned by observing and seeing the importance of civic life and the importance of Chicago.”
Maggie Daley was the founder and guiding force of After School Matters, an arts program for teenagers that is in its 33rd year. Nora Daley remains close to that endeavor.
“She’s always with me and I have the great joy and pleasure of serving still on After School Matters and seeing that organization just blossom and grow and see the importance and impact on our young people after so many years,” Nora Daley said. “It really is an amazing program.”
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Reporter: “So, I have to ask you this because you don’t do interviews.”
Daley: “No. I don’t.”
Reporter: “What was it like growing up a Daley?”
Daley: “I was always proud of what my parents did.”
Reporter: “Did you feel pressure?”
Daley: “No.”
Reporter: “Did you feel that you were under scrutiny? That everywhere you went, there were eyeballs.”
Daley: “I think in today’s world, there’s eyeballs on everyone because everyone has a camera. Everyone has a phone. No, I didn’t feel that way. I think, like any kid, your parents have certain expectations for you and how to behave, and so no, there was no direct pressure.”
Today, Nora Daley, who has extensive experience serving on other cultural boards, is making her mark by combining her passion for art and public service.
“I’m inspired every time I go and sit in a theater, or I go see music or spoken word or go to an art show,” she said. “I find it very inspiring and uplifting.”
The Illinois Arts Council has an annual budget of nearly $17 million, which it uses to fund artists and support arts education throughout the state.
CBS 2 Anchor Jim Williams, who reported this story, was the press secretary for Daley’s father, Mayor Richard M. Daley, from 1992 to 1997.
To learn more about the Illinois Arts Council, visit arts.illinois.gov.
