Stony Island Arts Bank

The former bank at 68th and Stony Island was once a vibrant community savings and loan before closing in the 1980s and deteriorating over the ensuring years. Acquired and restored in 2013-2015 by artist and urban planner Theaster Gates, Stony Island Arts Bank is a hybrid gallery, library, media archive (for Johnson Publishing), and community center, aimed at preserving Black culture and artistic expression. It is a space for public exhibition, free artistic programming, creative residencies, radical archival stewardship of undercared-for Black cultural objects, and renegade urban planning. New business partner and operator Heiji Choy Black, together with Gates, is overseeing the institution’s next chapter. The Arts Bank's radical vision now includes two new hospitality concepts: Han Cha, a Korean-inspired high-tea salon, and Yunomi, a companion bar program centered on the handleless Japanese teacup. The Arts Bank also provides a new permanent home for the art work of Theaster Gates.