Migration :: Renewal :: Reimagination
Craft(ing) Culture(s) is a series of cross-cultural participatory workshops and events celebrating craft as art, the resilience of refugee and immigrant communities, cultural museums/organizations, and the power of dialogue.
Immigrant and refugee communities play an integral role in the constant reconfiguration of the City. Melding old and new, prosaic and unprecedented, pragmatic and quixotic, these communities are essential, generative contributors and leaders for a greater collective imagining of Chicago.
These workshops highlight the role of art and craft in the lives of immigrant and refugee communities. Craft has a long history as artful expression, particularly among women around the world. These crafting forms are a means of conveying wisdom, hardship, joy and the vast panoply of human experience. Deliberately dismantling barriers between the "art world" and communities, an unusual combination of artists and organizations collaborate on this project to celebrate resilience, reinvention and reiteration.
By hosting workshops at neighborhood cultural museums and organizations, we highlight community-driven cultural production and preservation. Participants learn about the history and culture of one community through applied art-making with Community Artists. We learn about another community's culture and history through our museum/organization host. Thus far, all of our events have had participants of myriad cultural, linguistic, gender, and age backgrounds creating our own unique community. Craft(ing) Culture(s) is a rare opportunity to engage in a truly diverse milieu rooted in mutual exploration and creative survival.
We were honored to be a Featured Program for the 20th annual Chicago Artists Month's celebration of the City as Studio. Our CAM series consisted of a series of seven workshops and events from October 3rd - November 6th, 2015.
If you are interested in teaching, facilitating, and/or hosting a workshop, please email us.
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Immigrant and refugee communities play an integral role in the constant reconfiguration of the City. Melding old and new, prosaic and unprecedented, pragmatic and quixotic, these communities are essential, generative contributors and leaders for a greater collective imagining of Chicago.
These workshops highlight the role of art and craft in the lives of immigrant and refugee communities. Craft has a long history as artful expression, particularly among women around the world. These crafting forms are a means of conveying wisdom, hardship, joy and the vast panoply of human experience. Deliberately dismantling barriers between the "art world" and communities, an unusual combination of artists and organizations collaborate on this project to celebrate resilience, reinvention and reiteration.
By hosting workshops at neighborhood cultural museums and organizations, we highlight community-driven cultural production and preservation. Participants learn about the history and culture of one community through applied art-making with Community Artists. We learn about another community's culture and history through our museum/organization host. Thus far, all of our events have had participants of myriad cultural, linguistic, gender, and age backgrounds creating our own unique community. Craft(ing) Culture(s) is a rare opportunity to engage in a truly diverse milieu rooted in mutual exploration and creative survival.
We were honored to be a Featured Program for the 20th annual Chicago Artists Month's celebration of the City as Studio. Our CAM series consisted of a series of seven workshops and events from October 3rd - November 6th, 2015.
If you are interested in teaching, facilitating, and/or hosting a workshop, please email us.
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Organizations involved
