The Land School First Welcome

Theaster Gates and Rebuild are proud to announce our inaugural welcome at The Land School, our newest space-based concept and experimental land art project, at the site of the former St. Laurence Catholic Elementary School.

The Land School will become a platform for pedagogy and process, proposing a radical model of artistic experimentation and archival stewardship rooted in space, time, access, critique, performance and cultural programming. This work will be led by an ecosystem of intergenerational cohort of artists, archivists, scholars, craftspeople, cultural workers, and creative organizations invested in the belief that culture is a service.

For the first time ever, we will announce and convene our inaugural creative partners at The Land School. This includes D-Composed, the Chicago-based Black chamber music ensemble; International Anthem, the Chicago-born record label; and Duane Powell, DJ, music historian, and long-time steward of our work with the Frankie Knuckles Collection who offers embodied activations of the archive.

As an integral part of this first invitation, our founder and Executive Director, artist Theaster Gates, will offer lessons and insights gleaned from nearly two decades of employing artistic approaches to place-based practice. Together with special guests, Gates will initiate a long-term project where we will share our time-tested strategies for transfiguring histories of dispossesion through investments in land, Black cultural life, and radical pedagogies for self-determined communities.

The Land School’s opening will unfold in phases, beginning with our first welcome into the space on Sunday, September 14. This moment marks not only the unveiling of our new project but the active and visible creation of reborn sites of possibility.

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Opening Schedule:

Kenwood Gardens (6929 S. Kenwood Avenue)

11 AM - 12 PM: Honey Extraction with The Roof Crop

12:30 PM - 1:30 PM: Yoga with April Falcon

The Land School (1353 E. 72nd Street)

1 PM - 2 PM: Official Opening Ceremony (Press Conference & Ribbon Cutting)

2 PM - 9 PM: Site-specific, experimental activations and performances by Theaster Gates, D-Composed, Angel Bat Dawid, International Anthem, Dr. Carol Adams, Kahil El'Zabar, Ben LaMar Gay, Makaya McCraven, Tomin, Anaiet Soul, Najha-Zigbi Johnson, Sara Zewde, Ayana Contreras, Duane Powell, and other friends and special guests.

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We are actively fundraising to support the next phase of our work at The Land School. This includes raising capital to outfit the building with furniture, fixtures and equipment, and fundraising to support the rents of our creative partners in-residence, their programs, direct support to artists, and the continued management and operation of our constellation of creative spaces that serve the cultural life of our community.

As we open this project, we humbly ask that you consider making a contribution to sustain this vital and enduring impact.

Your generosity makes this work possible. Every donation directly supports artists, the safeguarding and activation of important cultural archives, and the reclamation and reconstitution of formerly disused sites.

We are deeply grateful for your continued belief in our practice, and we look forward to welcoming you to The Land School for the very first time!

Host or Publisher Rebuild Foundation