A small group of people was going in and out of a Bronzeville store. There were surreal paintings to check out there and a couple of racks of custom clothing created by young, local Black artists.
Fourtunehouse Art Center opened last year at 4410 S. Cottage Grove Ave., aiming to help showcase artists. It has expanded to include an internship program and community events such as workshops and an open mic night.
“The art center is a big step for us to create space that centers artists, entrepreneurship, innovation, while ultimately being a pillar in the community as a place of service,” Fourtunehouse co-founder Makafui Searcy says. “People can come here and access resources, do their own events. We host exhibitions.”
Searcy, 23, says the idea for what became Fourtunehouse came more than six years ago, while he was in high school. His closest friends had formed a collective, called HL, of musicians, fashion designers and visual artists.
Searcy decided Fourtunehouse would be a talent agency, representing himself and his friends. But that evolved into a creative firm with a storefront. It also started advocating for social change and organizing protests in the summer of 2020, after George Floyd’s killing by a white police officer in Minneapolis.
Searcy says he raised money to open the store by hosting popup events, things like artist markets and late-night parties for young people around Chicago, and selling merchandise.
To cover the rent to keep the center open, it recently started asking people to pay what they can for workshops it holds, helping them learn audio and beat-making. It also offers the space for bookings and gets a cut of artists’ works sold there.
“I feel like our biggest thing is making things seem more achievable and interconnected,” says Nate Vidal-Haymes, a Fourtunehouse workshop coordinator who also works as a producer known as MyfriendNate. “You don’t have to leave Chicago to see people do great s---. Anyone that we grew up listening to that comes through the space and shows appreciation is definitely surreal. That’s the kind of love we need, and we try to connect people that are still growing to people who’ve done some things already and want to share their knowledge.”
Fourtunehouse hosted a panel on how to break into the music industry featuring VSOP Studios owner and chief engineer Matt Hennessy, who’s worked with Beyonce, Jay-Z and DMX, and Classick Studios owner Chris Classick, which performers including Chance the Rapper, SZA and Smino have used.
Roderick Sawyer, who’s Fourtunehouse’s creative director and also a Chicago rapper who performs as Sonny, says the group behind the operation went from struggling to find things to do as kids to working now to help create opportunities for young people.
The first internship program held there helped four people, ranging from 16 to 24 learn years old, learn to organize community galleries and events and also saw them collect books for Chicago rapper Noname for her book club and end-of-summer block party.
“It’s been beautiful,” Sawyer says, pointing to a Labor Day event. “We partnered with Bronzeville Winery and 93 Boyz, and we were out here on 44th giving out food and weed, legally. To think, we’d be around this area struggling to find s--- to do, and now we’re able to just give back.”
Searcy came up with the idea for Fourtunehouse, leaning on his family and friends to help make it a reality. He points out that many of the friends he shared his vision with in high school are helping with the day-to-day operation, including co-founder and chief curator Ryel Williams.
The center is next door to a clothing boutique owned by Sarah Kuenyefu, Searcy’s mother, who helped launch Fourtunehouse.
“Sometimes, people see Fourtunehouse and think we’re a big team, but we’re still growing,” Searcy says. “It can’t be understated how important it has been for us all to step up and bring this thing to life. The way I view it is that we’re just built on a community of friends and family who are equally invested in the vision of creating space for us to thrive.”
