Stockyard Institute

Stockyard Institute LIVE Artist Radio Broadcast starts TODAY at 11am at

🎭✨ What an Amazing Evening! ✨🎭
Last Thursday, The Learning Studio, through Stockyard Institute and in collaboration with the DePaul Art Museum, hosted a fantastic symposium:
Exploring Viola Spolin’s Vision of Improvisation as a Non-Authoritarian Philosophy of Education
We were thrilled to have a full house! Aretha Sills, captivated the audience with her deep insights into the life and legacy of Viola Spolin. Erik Parsons from The Learning Studio also delivered an outstanding presentation, contributing to a dynamic and engaging dialogue.
🌟 A huge thank you to everyone who supported and made this event possible, especially Professor and artist Jim Duignan, and the wonderful team at the DePaul Art Museum. Your contributions were invaluable in bringing this enlightening experience to life.
We are grateful to all who attended and made the evening such a success. Stay tuned for more events that continue to inspire and educate!

🎨✨ Reflecting on an Incredible Workshop! ✨🎨
A couple of weeks ago, we had an enriching workshop from the Learning Studio.
Counter Storytelling, Community, and Latina Identity
Focused on counter storytelling and building community as Latina women, this workshop was a space for reflection, conversation, and creativity. It was an intimate gathering where participants were deeply engaged, bringing critical, thoughtful perspectives to the table.
We aimed to equip Latina students from DePaul with writing counter storytelling tools to help solidify and celebrate their individual identities in the multicultural landscape of Chicago. The workshop’s objective was to foster a strong sense of social agency and help participants recognize and develop their capacity to create meaningful contributions in their communities.
🌟 Thank you to The Learning Studio, through Stockyard Institute, and the DePaul Art Museum for making this possible, and a special thanks to our engaged, reflective, and critical participants.
Would you like to develop your critical thinking skills while building a community? Stay tuned for more workshops from the Learning Studio.

Join us for a presentation, dialogue, and Q&A exploring the origins and implications of Improvisation as a philosophy and practice for experiential learning through the life and legacy of the mother of American improvisational theater, Viola Spolin. A Chicago-born group worker and theater director, Spolin was the originator of theater games and the author of Improvisation for the Theater. She is widely credited with igniting the spark of the improvisational theater movement in the United States. This event is free and open to all public. Link to RSVP in bio.

Happening today! Come join us for our first session of this two-day workshop at the DePaul Art Museum (2nd floor, event space). Will be engaging in critical thinking, counter-storytelling and lots of interactions for community-building. We hope to see you there at

Jim Duignan, Shelly Hope, and Lavie Raven talk gardens and seatings at 53rd and Halsted / Back of the Yards
Photo by: Ian Duignan

I am so pleased to announce the first museum retrospective at the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago. Curated by Julie Rodrigues Widholm with Rachel Rachel L. S. Harper

Join us tomorrow, Thursday October 10th at the future site of National Public Housing Museum (1302 W Taylor St) and the current exhibition, Listed., for a community dinner and film screening. Listed. is a project for the Chicago Architecture Biennial and it has been our pleasure to partner with the and to bring this project to life

Keleketla! Library (Johannesburg) teams up with Stockyard Institute (Chicago) for LISTED, part of the Chicago Architecture Biennial at the future home of the National Public Housing Museum in Chicago. An architecture and radio broadcasting effort on heritage sites, hidden histories, and music.

Working on the Envisioning Justice installation at the Sullivan Gallery. Public reception on Saturday August 17 from 2pm to 5pm.