EVENTS

Cultural ReProducers is based in Massachusetts and Chicago. We organize events and conversations to connect parents in the arts with the broader cultural community and with each other. If you'd like to organize similar events in another city or town, drop us a line. We will happily share resources and event templates if you'll write a guest post about how it went. If you're working to create events accessible to cultural reproducers, download our simple guidelines.

If you'd like to be added to our mailing list for upcoming Cultural ReProducers events and occasional news, just send a quick email to culturalreproducers (at) gmail.com. We do not share our mailing list with outside groups. 

PAST EVENTS


Portal Court with Alberto Aguilar
Sunday, September 15, 2019 at the Graham Foundation
Using pavement, chalk, bouncy balls, and bean bags, artist Alberto Aguilar transforms the sidewalks surrounding the Graham Foundation's Madlener House into a floor game court and participatory performance. This event is designed as an outdoor program for children and families though participants of every age are invited to join.
 

Making it What We Need with Christa Donner
Saturday, November 23, 2019 at the Graham Foundation
Create the creative community you'd like to be a part of, in conversation with curators, artists, arts administrators, and others. Making it What We Need is a generative workshop considering alternate models for living, making, and making a living as artists, led by Cultural ReProducers organizer Christa Donner. Non-parents are welcome to join the conversation, which will be relevant to anyone working toward a sustainable life in the arts. Free, on-site childcare will be available through pre-registration. Space at this event is limited, so RSVP to join us.

Exploring the Grahamlener Bilbraoducers Commons with Hui-Min Tsen

December 7, 2019 at the Graham FoundationCome explore the Graham Foundation! Participants will be given a diverse range of prompts and sent out to interact with the historic Madlener House and Tatiana Bilbao's exhibition, "Unraveling Modern Living." What will you discover? How will you perceive the building? On return from your explorations your tales and impressions will be woven into the broader story of the building and some of Tatiana Bilbao's ideas.

 This intergenerational program is open to participants of all ages.

CHILDCARE-SUPPORTED EVENT SERIES

In 2014-15 Cultural ReProducers curated and coordinated a series of cultural events at galleries and museums throughout Chicago. Each event took place on a Saturday morning, featuring free on-site childcare and all-ages receptions. The Cultural ReProducers Event Series was made
possible by the support of the Propeller Fund.


The goals of this project were twofold:
to give parents and their kids the chance to participate as critical members of the arts community, and to inspire cultural institutions to better serve artists and audiences, providing positive models for future programming.  


January 30th, 2015  
Making It What We Need led by artists and Cultural ReProducers organizers Christa Donner and Selina Trepp in conjunction with the exhibition Division of Labor: Chicago Artist Parents at Glass Curtain Gallery

September 13th, 2014 
Kids in the Studio: Art, Labor, and Everyday Life led by artists Brett Bloom and Bonnie Fortune for the DePaul Art Museum

June 19th, 2014 
An Anti-Guided Walking Tour of the Museum with critic Lori Waxman at the Art Institute of Chicago

March 1st, 2014
Compound: In Conversation with Ghost Nature, a gallery conversation with exhibiting artists in Ghost Nature led by artist and biologist Andrew Yang for Gallery 400 


OTHER PANELS, MEETUPS, AND INTERGENERATIONAL ARTIST-RUN EVENTS WE HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH

September 17th, October 7th, and November 7th, 2017
Extended Practice
 

Various Locations
A series of professional practices events, screenings, and exhibitions organized by artists/mothers/curators Angela Lopez and Sara Holwerda around the city of Chicago, featuring on-site childcare and all-ages events. Reserve your spot and check out the full listing here.


September 30th, 2017
Many Possible Futures
Self-Reliance School at Compound Yellow (Chicago) and The Mothernists II (Copenhagen)
 
Two workshops exploring the intersections between our roles as artists, activists, and parents raising children in challenging times. 

October 22, 2016
sculptural work by Sonja Thomsen
Multimedia Time Machine
Gallery 400, Chicago, IL

May 11-14, 2016
Mapping the Maternal: Art, Ethics, and the Anthropocene University of Alberta, Edmonton, CA 

March 5th, 2016
Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-thon at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL 

February 27th, 2016
WAH-WAH, SHH, CHOMP, MUNCH, NOM, BURP, POOT, SLURP, YUM, TOOT, MWAH. BUT WHO’S HOLDING THE BABY? at EFA Project Space, New York, NY

November 22, 2015 
What Have You Done For Me Lately? TRACERS Media Night, the Nightingale, Chicago 

August 1st, 2015
Mather Seerlo’s Hair Fair with M.T. Searle and Erik Peterson  
a hair-themed, all-ages multimedia extravaganza at the Smart Museum of Art, Chicago

June 13th, 2015 
Shandy Break with Laura Shaeffer + Jonathan St. Clair
all-ages breakdancing workshop and performance at the Hyde Park Free Theater.

June 27th, 2015

The Art of Doing it All (...well, sort of)
a roundtable discussion featuring Christa Donner, Fred Sasaki, Selina Trepp, and you! Part of Printer's Ball 2015, hosted by Spudnik Press.


July 18th, 2015

Sonja Thomsen: Intergenerational Artist Talk 
smart art for all ages at the DePaul Museum of Art, Chicago

June 7 - 0, 2015
the Mothernists, Lees Zaal West, Rotterdam, NL

June 1 - 3, 2015
Motherhood and Creative Practice Conference, London South Bank University, London, UK

April 26th, 2015
All-Ages Studio Visit and Workshop with Erin M. Chlaghmo Artist-in-Residence at the Ed Paschke Arts Center
 

December 10th, 2014
Co-Occupations zine launch and reading for the Cultural ReProducers zine Propositions, Manifestos & Experiments featuring Candida Alvarez, Claire Ashley, Lise Haller Baggesen, Thea Liberty Nichols, Christa Donner, Fred Sasaki, Keiler Roberts and The Speers at Sector 2337, Chicago, IL

June 29th, 2014 
Cultural ReProducers Meetup
at Comfort Station, Chicago 


February 15th, 2014
The M Word: the Feminist Art Project Day of Panels, The College Art Association Annual Conference, Chicago 

February 14th, 2014
TRACERS takes on Feminism: Conversations about Motherhood, LGBTQ, and Race, Threewalls, Chicago 

September 14th 2103
Playground Meetup at Winnemac Park, Chicago 

September 15th, 2013
Optimistic Architecture Workshop at the Terrain Biennial, Chicago

October 21st, 2012
First Cultural ReProducers Meetup, undisclosed location, Chicago