UChicago launches creative business accelerator program in Washington Park

Arts + Public Life opens L1 Creative Business Accelerator with local entrepreneurs; retail shop to come. Washington Park residents and visitors will soon have another reason to stop, shop and participate in the arts and cultural activity produced on a historic stretch of Garfield Boulevard. Three new retail tenants-ReformedSchool, Hemp Heals Body Shop and Solo Noir-will be the inaugural fellows and occupants of the newly renovated L1 Creative Business Accelerator and retail shop, the latest addition to the University of Chicago's Arts Block project. Located at 319 E. Garfield Blvd. L1 is situated under the Chicago Transit Authority's Green Line elevated tracks inside of the first "L" station, built in 1892. It is operated and managed by  Arts + Public Life (APL) , an initiative of UChicago Arts. "We are thrilled to welcome these outstanding Black-owned businesses to the Arts Block as models for the entrepreneurial possibilities in Washington Park, particularly in these very trying times," said Isis Ferguson, Arts + Public Life Interim Co-Deputy Director and Assoc.