How might our cultural community be served and strengthened by greater connectivity and resource-sharing between artists, creatives, community organizations, cultural workers, community members, and more?
How could artists and creatives in a residence be served by a highly connected network of cultural resources?
How do responses to these questions change–or remain the same–when explored in the context of our global cultural community?
These are the guiding questions of the Burroughs Residency Pilot (The Burroughs), a pilot residency and R&D program. Initiated by the Floating Museum, The Burroughs will foster innovative connections between art, community, architecture, and public institutions.
The Burroughs honors poet, print maker, activist, and advocate Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs. Our aim is to continue with the efforts of Dr. Burroughs’–as well as those of Ida B Wells, Frederick Douglas, Simon Pokagon, F.L. Barnett, and others–to remediate the history of excluding specific constituencies from participating in the kinds of exhibitions that recognized and shaped contributions to American and world culture (e.g.,The World's Columbian Exposition and Century of Progress). The residency headquarters is located at Dr. Burroughs' former home–also the site where Dr. Burroughs founded the DuSable Museum of African American History in 1961–in the heart of Bronzeville.
The Burroughs Residency Pilot is made possible with the generous support of the Terra Foundation For American Art and Wagner Foundation!
Click here to read the full Press Release.
Together, these partners guide the development of the Burroughs Residency, ensuring the program remains grounded in Chicago’s diverse cultural ecosystem. Through shared dialogue and collaboration, the RAC helps shape a residency model that celebrates local histories, nurtures artists across disciplines, and strengthens the networks that sustain Chicago’s creative landscape.
The RAC’s contributions reflect Floating Museum’s ongoing commitment to co-creation, reciprocity, and building structures that make artistic practice a shared civic act.
In partnership with:
Englewood Arts Collective uses art projects and place-based engagement to disrupt segregation and invest in communal creativity. We’re committed to shifting narratives about Chicago’s South Side—especially Greater Englewood—with positive representation, meaningful conversations, creative interventions, and community-driven solutions that create tangible ways for people to consider and engage with historically disinvested areas. Creative Placemaking. Collective Power. ︎︎
With creativity at the center of everything we do, SkyART provides free, safe, open spaces where people are empowered and connections are made. Since its inception in 2001, SkyART has grown and expanded tremendously while remaining committed to providing young people with free, high-quality arts programming in a safe, accessible space. That commitment, shaped by an abiding responsiveness to community needs, has guided our growth and has continually positioned SkyART as a trusted center for creativity and community, within and beyond our South and West Side studios in Chicago. ︎︎
Founded in 1940 through the WPA’s Federal Art Project, SSCAC is the nation’s only remaining Black art center of its kind. Located in the heart of Bronzeville, the Center preserves and celebrates Black cultural and artistic legacy through exhibitions, education, and intergenerational programs. For over 85 years, SSCAC has served as a sanctuary and launchpad for Black artists on the South Side and beyond. ︎︎
SpaceShift is a creative hub for collaboration and experimentation. We are a collective of artists, cultural workers, and change makers rethinking the ways in which we work, live, and create. SpaceShift was launched because we believe existing systems, structures, and spaces need to be overhauled and reimagined. We embrace radically transparent processes and open-source collaboration. Our practice centers communities and connects people, ideas, and resources in all things that we conceptualize, design, and create. ︎︎
Urban Growers Collective (UGC) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded under the leadership of Erika Allen in 2017. UGC operates 8 urban farms totaling 11 acres primarily located on the South Side of Chicago; a 30-acre peri-urban farm in Chicago Heights established in 2024, and is a strategic partner in the 9-acre Green Era Campus renewable energy facility and hub for urban agriculture in Auburn Gresham. These farms are production-oriented, growing over 23,000lbs of produce each year available farmers markets, in our Collective Supported Agriculture program, and via our Fresh Moves Mobile Market buses. They also serve as spaces for UGC staff-led education, training, leadership development, healing and creativity. ︎︎