Participatory Arts: The Legacy of Chicago’s Hull-House Artists focuses on Hull-House settlement artists and arts programs and the ways in which they influenced Chicago’s art and design history. Beginning in 1891, Hull-House was home to Chicago’s first public art gallery, the Butler Art Gallery, housed in the settlement’s first building. The gallery and the settlement’s many arts programs—including painting, sculpture, weaving, drawing, ceramics, and book-binding—engaged a variety of artists and local community residents who put their skills to use in Chicago and beyond. The settlement’s residents believed that participation and access to the arts was a fundamental part of democratic society and that arts programming at Hull-House was a way to bridge difference and support a pluralistic society.

The series will give participants an opportunity to explore this history through public discussions, art and artifact collections, and immersive workshops at the museum. Through this multi-part program series, collaborators will explore the historical and contemporary possibilities of art to incite participatory, collective, and community-engaged work.

Participatory Arts: Crafting Social Change at Hull-House is part of Art Design Chicago, an initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art exploring Chicago’s art and design legacy, with presenting partner The
Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. Participatory Arts is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. The Chicago Community Trust has also provided generous support.

October 23, 6-8 PM – Opening Reception

October 24

9 AM-10 AM……Refreshments, Introductions & Overview

“Connecting Head and Hands”: Art, Labor, and Voice
10 AM-12 PM….Speakers & Panel Session
12 PM-1:30 PM …..Lunch & Tour Participatory Arts exhibition

“Cows Can Be Purple”: Art, Personhood and Art Therapy Origins at Hull-House
1:30 PM-4:30 PM……Speakers & Panel Session
4:30 PM -5:30 PM …Presentation/Performance by Albany Park Theater Project

October 25

9am-10 AM……Refreshments, Introductions & Overview

Art, Representation and Community Building: Ceramics and Murals
10 AM-12 PM….: Speakers & Panel Session
12 PM-1:30 PM…..Lunch & Tour “The Awakening of the Americas” Mural at UIC’s Rafael Cintrón Ortiz Latino Cultural Center

Art, Difference, and Embodiment: Theater and Performing Arts at Hull-House and in the City
1:30 PM- 4:30 PM……Speakers & Panel Session
4:30 PM -7:00 PM……Performance/Presentation by Free Street Theater & Closing Reception

Artists Workshops (sperate RSVP Required)

October 19, 1:00-3:45 PM – Art Therapy Workshop – Leah Gipson, Assistant Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

October 26, 1:00-3:45 PM – Book Binding Workshop – Regin Igloria, North Branch Projects

November 9, 1:00-3:45 PM – Ceramics Workshop – Nicole Marroquin, Associate Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago

November 16, 1-3:45 PM – Improvisation & Theater Workshop

Official Website

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Tags: Albany Park Theater Project, Chicago, Free Street Theater, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Leah Gipson, near west side, Nicole Marroquin, Participatory Arts: The Legacy of Hull-House Artists, Regin Igloria, UIC's Rafael Cintrón Ortiz Latino Cultural Center