AUX provides administrative support to help independent artist-run initiatives realize their work. We apply what we have learned as an artist-led nonprofit to assist others through fiscal sponsorship, grant writing, project management, and offering space for cause-oriented gatherings. AUX operates on a sliding-scale, project-by-project basis.
Reach out if you are interested in working together! Projects should align with Roman Susan’s mission to celebrate and share the work of artists in the Great Lakes region. For fiscal sponsorship, projects must meet W.A.G.E.-level minimum fees for presenting artists.
With our Rogers Park neighbors at PO Box Collective, we are acting as fiscal sponsors for their expanding efforts. With 6018North, we’re learning about our surrounding neighborhoods, local sustainability, and the arts infrastructure of Chicagoland. We are acting as a thought partner and loaning some gear to help Storefront Stories & Projections start something new in Southwest Michigan. We contribute to community efforts for The Visualist with weekly event research. We are a fiscal sponsor for: boundary, an artist-run project space on the South Side; Cultivator, an artist-run project in Grundy County; The Other Shore, a new work-in-progress by SK Kerastas. We are proud to maintain the online archives of Performance Response Journal.
In the past, we’ve supported an international tour of ZARA THRUSTER, been a fiscal sponsor and costume designer for Protected by Invisible Fence, organized gatherings with FRUTAS, provided equipment for the Jammy Hands Jam Band, helped YXJB work toward the second edition of ENROUTE, provided equipment for community screenings by The Kidler, produced garments for Synapse Arts, provided space for Queer Trans Sit, relocated artworks with 062 to preserve and celebrate the creative legacy of Thomas Kong, helped build prairie platforms for the Chop Wood Carry Water residency, been the fiscal sponsor of Stitch x Stitch with support from Illinois Humanities, and facilitated a grant for The Back Room with support from The Propeller Fund.
The animation here was created by Gwyneth Zeleny Anderson to commemorate the start of the AUX program. Gwyneth was one of the Roman Susan directors in our early stages of learning how non-profiting worked for us. AUX is partially supported by grants from the Illinois Arts Council Agency; Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation; Richard H. Driehaus Foundation; and Reva and David Logan Foundation.
PO Box Collective is a creative intergenerational social practice center dedicated to building Rogers Park community through radical art making, mutual aid, and programming. PO Box embraces a horizontal organization model that centers marginalized voices while fostering mutual growth and healing. PO Box intentionally works to counter systemic oppression, while building up positive alternatives outside of those systems and structures. Roman Susan is working with PO Box Collective as a fiscal sponsor.
6018North is platform and dynamic venue for innovative art and culture in Chicago, challenging what art is, whom it’s for, and where and how it’s created. Roman Susan has worked with 6018North since 2018 to assist on communications, grant writing, and project management.
Image above is an outdoor installation view of the exhibition Living Architecture, photo by Nathan Keay.
Storefront Stories & Projections is a film and video project centering community histories in southwest Michigan. During Winter 2026, Roman Susan provided equipment and thought-partner support for the inaugural SS&P storefront pop-up in Benton Harbor, Michigan. We continue to work together to share the stories of artists and neighborhoods in the Great Lakes region.
The Visualist highlights the work of cultural producers such as, artists, makers, and curators that are central to arts programming in Chicago. The Visualist is a week-to-week destination, functioning as a collective document of our communities efficacy and our shared identity as cultural producers in this place. Roman Susan is working with The Visualist by contributing weekly research and event listings.