The Community Builder: In Conversation with Theaster Gates
Setup
Any city would be lucky to have an artist in its corner like 2016 Harman-Eisner Artist-in-Residence Theaster Gates, whose work embraces activism, cultural preservation, and community development. Since he began work on his now famed Dorchester Projects in 2009, Gates’s transformation of a once-neglected South Side neighborhood into a thriving cultural hub has yielded an enclave of buildings that offer an array of cultural programming, from gardening to youth art classes to Black Cinema. Last fall he added to that impressive collection the Stony Island Arts Bank. Located in an abandoned savings & loan building, it is home to treasures of Chicago culture and history in an archive and performance space unlike any other in the world. At this inflection point in his career, Gates will speak with Thelma Golden, director of the Studio Museum in Harlem, about where he takes Chicago next and how he is expanding his vision around the globe.
Explore More
USA

Of course, Black history shouldn’t just be a month-long nod on our yearly calendar — it is inextricable from American history and fundamental to the very soul of our nation an...

Jump in by watching our ten most popular talks of all time. From black holes to jazz and civil rights to psychology hacks, we've collected the talks that remain audience favor...

Politics are a frenzy right now, with bombshell headlines dropping so often that it’s hard to know what to focus on. Even when you can cut through the noise, what you hear is...





From the Supreme Court's ruling on abortion rights to public health's role in addressing gun violence to the devastating human toll of the war in Ukraine, this year's Aspen Id...



The nature of beauty, and whether it’s objective or subjective, is the subject of timeless philosophical debate. Do perceptions of beauty vary culturally and generationally, o...
From blockchain to back to school and virus-hunting to bridging divides, speakers at the 2021 Aspen Ideas Festival addressed issues in a new kind of world—one touched, and cha...

The highest court often seems distanced from our day-to-day lives, but the rulings that come out of the Supreme Court are woven into the fabric of the nation. Though it aims t...

Gen-Z for Change's Aidan Kohn-Murphy on youth-led movements, his advice for young activists, and why it's impossible to lose hope.



Music and dance are humanity’s hallmarks, a shared ritual of communities the world over. Over the millennia, we’ve created some highly specialized forms, but at its root, musi...









