The Rebuild Foundation NFP

Founded by artist Theaster Gates in 2010, Rebuild Foundation is a nucleus of artistic innovation and creative practice rooted on Chicago’s South Side. The Foundation is committed to audaciously supporting and investing in Black ingenuity, artistic autonomy and creative intelligence through direct support for artists, stewardship of culturally significant archives, and public programs. 

Reflecting Gates’ investment in Animism, which he describes as “the spiritual life within things,” and applying his ideology that “beauty is a basic service,” Rebuild Foundation reactivates formerly abandoned sites and transforms them into vessels for art, cultural production, creative entrepreneurship and economic development.

Pioneering a new model for arts organizations that utilizes the creative process of iteration and experimentation, Rebuild operates a constellation of sites on the South Side including the Stony Island Arts Bank, Dorchester Art + Housing Collaborative, Kenwood Gardens, Archive House, Listening House, the Currency Exchange Café, artist residences and the forthcoming arts incubator at the former St. Laurence Elementary School.

To learn more about Rebuild Foundation, please visit: https://www.rebuild-foundation.org/