Our Mission
Located among pristine woodlands in the Ryerson historic home in Riverwoods, Illinois, Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods promotes the importance of nature for nurturing personal and community wellbeing, cultivating creativity, and inspiring learning. In doing so, we honor the legacy of those who came before us on this land and champion a region where people will care about and for nature.
As an arts and cultural center in a 565-acre nature oasis, Brushwood Center is the only organization in the greater Chicago region whose mission leverages the power of the arts and nature for human and ecological wellbeing. Brushwood Center offers world-class programming with more than 250 artists each year to deepen the public’s connection with the environment and support the health of both people and the planet.
As an arts and cultural center in a 565-acre nature oasis, Brushwood Center is the only organization in the greater Chicago region whose mission leverages the power of the arts and nature for human and ecological wellbeing. Brushwood Center offers world-class programming with more than 250 artists each year to deepen the public’s connection with the environment and support the health of both people and the planet.
Our Approach
Brushwood Center collaborates closely with community partners to offer art and nature programs with youth, families, Military Veterans, seniors, artists, and area residents. Our program strategy is rooted in the asset-based community engagement model, which is a bottom-up way of working with communities that focuses on community strengths and assets rather than on deficits and problems. Specifically, Brushwood Center prioritizes:
- Building authentic, long-term relationships with community-based organizations and partners;
- Collaborating with community assets to develop mutually beneficial programs and contributing resources where needed to advance the health of people and the planet; and
- Combatting settler colonial legacies and false narratives, such as white saviorism, through cultural and artistic platforms.
Land Acknowledgement Statement
Formally Adopted February 24, 2020
Land acknowledgement statements are designed to bring more awareness and understanding of the history of indigenous peoples and their territories, but it should also be more than that; it should be a call for us to rethink our relationship with the environment and the histories of all peoples, and to challenge the legacies of settler colonialism in our society.
Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods honors this land as the traditional home of the Council of Three Fires—the Ojibwa, Ottawa and Potawatomi nations. Many other tribes such as the Ho-Chunk, Miami, Menominee, Sauk and Meskwaki also called this area home. We celebrate their traditions and culture and their immemorial ties to this land.
Today, Brushwood Center continues to be a place where many people from diverse backgrounds find healing, vitality, and relationship with nature. We honor the multi-cultural traditions of the land, the history of native peoples, and those who continue to maintain and shape these traditions today.
Land acknowledgement statements are designed to bring more awareness and understanding of the history of indigenous peoples and their territories, but it should also be more than that; it should be a call for us to rethink our relationship with the environment and the histories of all peoples, and to challenge the legacies of settler colonialism in our society.
Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods honors this land as the traditional home of the Council of Three Fires—the Ojibwa, Ottawa and Potawatomi nations. Many other tribes such as the Ho-Chunk, Miami, Menominee, Sauk and Meskwaki also called this area home. We celebrate their traditions and culture and their immemorial ties to this land.
Today, Brushwood Center continues to be a place where many people from diverse backgrounds find healing, vitality, and relationship with nature. We honor the multi-cultural traditions of the land, the history of native peoples, and those who continue to maintain and shape these traditions today.
Organization History
Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods is nestled in 565 acres of magnificent woodlands in the heart of Lake County, Illinois. The preserve’s rich natural and cultural history is recognized by its dual designation as an Illinois Nature Preserve and as a Historic District by the National Register of Historic Places. This site was originally home and hunting grounds of the Potawatomi people and other local indigenous communities.
Brushwood Center was founded in 1984 to support the preservation of the woods following the transfer of the land and home from Nora and Edward Ryerson along with several neighboring families’ properties to Lake County Forest Preserves. Originally named Friends of Ryerson Woods, the organization began as an advisory committee of the Lake County Forest Preserves and evolved into an independent 501 c(3) organization now known as Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods.
Today, Brushwood Center operates through a license agreement with Lake County Forest Preserves and receives no direct financial support from the Preserves. Our programs thrive thanks to the generosity of individual, foundation, and corporate donors who support our high quality, educational and artistic programs throughout the year that encourage the preservation and care of our local greenspaces.
Thanks to our new strategic plan, Brushwood Center has renewed its commitment to the arts and nature with an invigorated focus on community partnerships, inclusion, and promotion of art and nature for personal and community wellbeing. We actively focus our programs on veterans and low-income communities in Lake and Cook Counties as well as our immediate community in Riverwoods.
Brushwood Center was founded in 1984 to support the preservation of the woods following the transfer of the land and home from Nora and Edward Ryerson along with several neighboring families’ properties to Lake County Forest Preserves. Originally named Friends of Ryerson Woods, the organization began as an advisory committee of the Lake County Forest Preserves and evolved into an independent 501 c(3) organization now known as Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods.
Today, Brushwood Center operates through a license agreement with Lake County Forest Preserves and receives no direct financial support from the Preserves. Our programs thrive thanks to the generosity of individual, foundation, and corporate donors who support our high quality, educational and artistic programs throughout the year that encourage the preservation and care of our local greenspaces.
Thanks to our new strategic plan, Brushwood Center has renewed its commitment to the arts and nature with an invigorated focus on community partnerships, inclusion, and promotion of art and nature for personal and community wellbeing. We actively focus our programs on veterans and low-income communities in Lake and Cook Counties as well as our immediate community in Riverwoods.
