The Floating Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program brings together art, hands-on learning, and workforce development to create new pathways into creative and skilled work. More than teaching a trade, the program builds confidence, community, and practical skills that participants can carry into future opportunities.
Launching in fall 2026, a cohort of adults experience five weeks of paid, hands-on training in sewing, printmaking, woodworking, and metalwork. Each week, studio practice is paired with workforce sessions covering OSHA 10, CPR and First Aid, resume writing, jobsite readiness, and portfolio development. Participants leave with practical skills, industry credentials, and a body of work that reflects what they made.
The program is part of Floating Museum’s larger effort to develop fabrication infrastructure on Chicago’s South Side and position art and making as drivers of economic impact in our neighborhoods.
The first cohort is led by fashion designer Isaac Couch and printmaker Angee Lennard, co-founder of Campfire Printing Press, in partnership with Manufacturing Renaissance, a Chicago-based nonprofit whose mission is to advance inclusive, sustainable development anchored in manufacturing. This collaboration connects Manufacturing Renaissance’s workforce development experience with Floating Museum’s work at the intersection of art, fabrication, and economic opportunity.
Team Lead /
Timothy Quiles, Shop Manager
Participants /
Paula Earnest, Antwan Freeman, Tashira Jackson, Cordell Newsome, and Edward Robinson
Trainers /
Isaac Couch, originally from Western Kentucky, has carried the textures, tensions, and sensibilities from the South to Chicago. His work, that is rooted in fashion, but never confined by it, has earned fellowships with Luminarts (2021), the Arts Club of Chicago (2023-24), The Cliff Dwellers (2024), Chicago Artist Coalition (2024-26). Couch's work has been shown in spaces from the Comfort Station, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Epiphany Center of the Arts, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, Garfield Park, to EXPO Chicago and The Other Art Fair. Between the studio and the classrooms of SAIC, Couch works to challenge the fashion standards, explore the truth in his identity, and inspire students to do the same.
︎icouch.work
Angee Lennard is a printmaker, educator, and arts leader who thrives on collaboration. In 2007, she founded Spudnik Press Cooperative, a nonprofit community print studio she led for fifteen years as it grew into an open-access hub for residencies, education, and exhibitions. In 2024, she co-launched Process/Process, an editions program that meets and builds the market for prints by contemporary artists. She also co-founded and manages Campfire Printing Press, a co-working studio centered on printmaking. She has taught at institutions including the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and Marwen Foundation, and holds a BFA from SAIC.
︎angeelennard.com
Program Partner /
Manufacturing Renaissance (MR) is a Chicago-based nonprofit founded in 1982 with a mission to advance inclusive, sustainable development anchored in manufacturing. For more than 40 years, MR has worked to strengthen the manufacturing industry and its role in building stronger communities. Over the past 20 years, MR has also focused on preparing young people and young adults for careers in manufacturing through hands-on training and career pathways.
