During Black Business Week, Governor JB Pritzker and his team visited Black Ensemble Theater to learn more about the organization’s history, its impact, and its vision for the future. The visit included a conversation with Black Ensemble Theater Founder and CEO Jackie Taylor and her team, as well as a tour of the new black box theater and dance studio currently being built out by UJAMAA Construction.

For UJAMAA, this was more than a project tour. It was a meaningful moment to celebrate Black business, Black culture, and the power of spaces that are built with purpose.

Black Ensemble Theater has long been a cultural anchor in Chicago. Its mission is “to eradicate racism and its damaging effects upon our society through the utilization of theater arts.” That mission is both bold and deeply necessary. Through performance, storytelling, education, and community engagement, Black Ensemble Theater has created a platform where art becomes a tool for truth, healing, connection, and change.

That mission also connects directly to the work we do at UJAMAA Construction.

At UJAMAA, we believe construction can be more than the delivery of buildings. It can be a vehicle for access, equity, opportunity, and long-term community impact. Our work is rooted in The UJAMAA Way, which means we approach every project with a responsibility to the people who will use the space, the communities surrounding it, and the future it helps make possible.

Black Ensemble Theater fights racism through art. UJAMAA works to help dismantle barriers through construction. Both missions are grounded in the belief that places can shape people, and that people deserve spaces where they can gather, create, learn, heal, and see themselves reflected with dignity.

The new black box theater and dance studio will help expand what Black Ensemble Theater can offer to artists, students, audiences, and the broader community. These flexible spaces are being designed to support rehearsal, performance, training, creative development, and deeper engagement with the theater’s mission. They are not just rooms within a building. They are future stages for stories that need to be told and future classrooms for talent that deserves to be nurtured.

During the visit, Governor Pritzker and his team had the opportunity to see the progress firsthand and hear about the theater’s next chapter. The tour offered a look at how the new spaces will support Black Ensemble Theater’s continued growth, while also honoring the legacy Jackie Taylor has built through decades of leadership, vision, and commitment to the arts.

For our team, it was an honor to be part of that conversation and to help bring this next phase of the theater’s vision to life.

Projects like this remind us why community-centered construction matters. A black box theater can become a space where a young artist finds their voice. A dance studio can become a space where discipline, creativity, and confidence are developed. A cultural institution can become an engine for neighborhood pride, economic activity, and generational inspiration.

That is the kind of impact we are proud to help build.

As we celebrate Black Business Week, we are grateful for the opportunity to stand alongside institutions like Black Ensemble Theater that continue to move Chicago forward. We are also proud to represent the strength, excellence, and responsibility of Black-owned businesses working across this city.

Thank you to Governor Pritzker and his team for recognizing the importance of Black business and community investment. Thank you to Jackie Taylor and the Black Ensemble Theater team for trusting UJAMAA to help build spaces that will support the theater’s mission for years to come.

This is The UJAMAA Way in action: building with purpose, honoring legacy, expanding opportunity, and rebuilding our community one block at a time.

Learn more about how UJAMAA Construction builds with purpose, supports community-centered institutions, and brings The UJAMAA Way to life through every project. Explore more of our work and follow along as we continue rebuilding our community, one block at a time.