Art/Access Lab: Open Lab
Art/Access Labs foster a vibrant disabled artist ecosystem through cross-discipline and cross-impairment professional development activities.
*Hybrid Event* Attend in person or via Zoom
Doors at 1:30pm
Event starts at 2:00pm
Event ends at 4:00pm
Art/Access Lab: Open Labs provides artists in the disability community an affinity space for artists to share emerging projects, test ideas, and gain perspective on their work through community exchange.
Attendees are invited to support the creative process by first experiencing emerging projects that are in the development phase, then participating in a moderated conversation that delves into that work. Guided by the needs of the artist, this conversation may explore the themes presented in the work, invite the audience to ask questions and share critique, or the artist may ask questions to the audience regarding their experience of the work.
Featured Artists
Tsehaye Geralyn Hébert (she/her) is a self-described "bona fide gumbo girl." The nationally acclaimed playwright triaged between her grandparents’ rural Louisiana family seat, her Baton Rouge birthplace, and her mother’s beloved New Orleans. Steeped in her African-Creole culture, she relishes quiet world-changing moments that live on stage alongside the hyperbole and spectacle of Mardi Gras. With a rich polyglot larger-than-life-world full of music, dance, activism, and storytelling, there’s no wonder Hébert found her way to the theater.
The Northwestern University and School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum penned The Chicago Quartet, a series of works set across 19th and 20th century Chicago. Fearless in scope, Hébert's work is highly imaginative and might include Lucy Parsons, Ida B. Wells, Jane Addams, Chicago's Black avant-garde arts communities, or the lady sitting next to her at the salon.
The citizen artist is committed to inclusivity and sustainability. Hébert's writings and performances center race, gender, disability, and the economics and geography of making art. She brings communities and demographics together to grieve, heal, celebrate, and move boldly forward.
Terri Lynne Hudson is a disabled, chronically ill queer actor and multidisciplinary artist and disability rights advocate living and working in Chicago. She has a BA in General Studies in the Humanities concentrating in theatre, film and dramatic literature, from University of Chicago. She has studied at Second City, Vagabond School of the Arts and Acting Studio Chicago. She has performance credits with, among others, Citadel Theatre, Strawdog Theatre Company, Accidental Shakespeare Company and Wildclaw Theatre. She is a Fall 2024 3Arts/Bodies of Work fellow. She recently performed as part of the SHIFT video installation, led by Barak Ade Soleil, at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. Her voice can also be found reading creepy stories on Audible and on the Random Acts Scary Stories Around the Fire and the Chilling Tales for Dark Nights podcasts.
RSVP
Who Should Attend
Art/Access Labs are centered around artists with a lived experience of disability including Deaf, disabled, sick, neurodivergent, and Mad artists, and those working through their relationship to these categories, working in all mediums, with anyone who is invested in fostering a vibrant creative ecosystem inclusive of artists with disabilities.
Advanced registration is appreciated but not required.
Access Information
This event is intended to be relaxed, welcoming and comfortable for everyone. We will have multiple forms of seating available, as well as stim materials and ear defenders. You are welcome to come and go, bring your own access tools, and move about the space as needed during the event.
ASL interpretation and captions provided. All speakers will use microphones. Agendas will be provided to all registrants in both text and symbol-based formats. AI Captioning available via zoom. The main event space will not use fluorescent lighting.
Face masks are requested except when this presents a language barrier or when one is performing. Please refrain from wearing any scented perfume, cologne, lotion, etc.
For questions or requests regarding accessibility, please contact Angee Lennard, HCL’s Accessibility Coordinator, at angee@highconceptlabs.org or 312-374-1117.
Meet the Facilitators
TBA
Art/Access Lab Program Team
Aquil Chartlon
Sydney Erlikh
Terri Lynne Hudson
Amanda Lautermilch
Angee Lennard
Co-presented by High Concept Labs and Unfolding Disability Futures with support from Experimental Station.