ACRE

Artists' Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions Founded in 2010, we have welcomed over 1,000 artists to our Wisconsin and Illinois communities to date.

ACRE is an artist-run non-profit based in Chicago designed to support emerging artists develop, discuss, and present their artistic practices. ACRE’s programs support a growing community of artists with materials, equipment, expertise, conscientiously produced food, and opportunities to exhibit and share work. ACRE aims to be a leader at advancing new means of support for emerging artists at criti

cal junctures in their careers, shifting focus from traditional institutional success, and instead prioritizing the unique, individually-defined paths of artists. ACRE’s Residency Program takes place every summer in the Driftless region of Southwest Wisconsin. Set on 1,000 acres of wetland, hills, and farmland, the residency hosts artists who live and work in a communal setting that includes expansive work spaces, mess hall kitchen, performance stage, wood shop, art and tech facility, and sound, fiber, screenprinting, and ceramics studios. Residents are encouraged to balance their time between producing work, contemplating their practice, and engaging with the community. The Visiting Artist program invites established artists to the residency to conduct studio visits and present lectures, discussions, or workshops. ACRE residents are selected through a competitive application process by respected panelists working in the visual arts from Chicago and across the country. ACRE artists continue to be diverse practitioners working across photography, performance, painting, social practice, sound, sculpture, film, and literature. Each year ACRE welcomes approximately 75 emerging, often underrepresented, artists of all disciplines to attend one of three 14-day residency sessions. Over subsequent years, ACRE endeavors to provide further opportunities for exposure, community building, and professional development to its alumni. ACRE works with a board of Curatorial Fellows to produce exhibitions at our Chicago gallery, ACRE Projects, and partners with independent galleries and curatorial projects in Chicago and across the region to provide connections, resources, and public programming or exhibition opportunities to our alumni following the residency program. Curatorial Fellows are emerging arts organizers, independent curators, and writers who visit the residency each summer and work with artists over the course of two years to organize exhibitions, provide feedback, and build relationships.

05/04/2026

We are kicking off the 2026 Residency season with one of our all time favorite activities ACRE Karaoke! May 13 at 9pm !

Sign up for your favorite song or try out something new. We are here to cheer you on as we sing in the summer season together.

9pm - close
$10 suggested donation supports the summer residency and helps us buy supplies for our studios (no one turned away for a lack of funds)

What’s your go to karaoke song???

Image description: 8 bit texts in yellow and red against a no signal blue background reads “Woo, oooh, yes ACRE Karaoke at the California Clipper, Wednesday May 13, all night long (all night) repeat 3x, 9pm to close, $10 suggested donation, no one turned away, Oh hey hey hey yeah, its our send off for the summer (summertime), hoo hoo yeah, sign ups start at 8pm.

04/06/2026

Finish out week with the closing celebration of “tether me to the ground or let me float,” organized by curatorial fellow and featuring artists , , , .outside, .tunde, and !

The closing will take place at in the Catacombs Gallery on Sunday, April 12 from 2 - 6pm and is free and open to all!
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Image Descriptions:
1. Shirin Towfiq, Looking for a Sign, 2023. Black cardamom tea bags sewn with gold thread, image transfer. Quilt of sepia-toned tea bags stitched together. The quilt is an uneven square with grayscale images throughout the work. It appears fragile and there are empty spaces where the wall peeks through the work.
2. Prerna, I’m thinking about you, 2025. Transparency film, threaded rods, nuts. Four rods hold the corners of a square transparency, which makes a shadow on the wall. The transparency shows a detail of a body of water with froth at the forefront and a rocky beach in the back. A hand on the right side of the image reaches towards the water.
3. Lars Shimabukuro, ace of cups, 2026. Handwoven cotton, double-weaved blocks. Detail image of a pink textile with a blueish-purple ladder pattern. The textile is draped and gathers at the bottom right corner.
4. Ian John Solomon, Cowrie (Bass Plantation) [Detail], 2025. Photo inkjet on heavy matte. A dark-skinned hand holds a glass cowrie shell. A field of grass and trees are in the background.
5. yétúndé ọlágbajú, Blood, Skin, & Earth (frum wi soul tuh de soil) no. 1, 2026. Quilted cotton dyed with madder root, oak gall, foraged angelica. A person holds up a square quilt. Only their hands and legs are slightly visible behind the quilt. The quilt is abstract, dyed with oranges, yellows, and shades of gray. It has flower patterns and a curly stitch pattern.
6. Colin Martinez, Rock Pigeon, 2025. Taxidermy pigeon, stamped aluminum band, scrap steel. A light-skinned hand in a dark sweater holds the talons of a taxidermy pigeon. The pigeon’s wings are outstretched and its beak is slightly open.

01/23/2026

🪻💫ICYMI✨🌱 ACRE has received support from the Ruth Foundation for the Arts! 🌠 We are honored to be among an incredible list of 169 peer organizations as 2025-2028 Core Grant recipients receiving $50,000 a year for the next 3 years.

This year’s Core Grant application prompted us to reflect, examine, and reconnect with what is unique about who we are and what knowledges we are nurturing that help us reorganize how we think, work, and be in this world.

Through their Core Grants the Ruth Foundation for the Arts is awarding $25.35 million in unrestricted funds over three years to arts and cultural organizations across the country. The $8.45 million awarded annually nearly doubles the $4.5 million awarded to organizations in 2024.

Thank you for your commitment to artist-led and values driven organizations, and to all of the artists and supporters who make our work possible. We are looking forward to another year of radical imagining and world building together.

You can learn more about the Ruth Foundation’s work on their page and at rutharts.org. 🌱

01/12/2026

(っ◔◡◔)っ 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁, 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗼𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗢-𝟭 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗮 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 ♥

🎨Help build a free, artist-to-artist visa resource for Internation Artists in 🇺🇸 created by and for international creatives like you.🌱

Are you a past, current, or future O-1 visa applicant? Your insight can help other artists navigate this complicated process. Please consider contributing to a practical and free “O-1 Visa 101” guide created for artists who need support. Your experiences can make this journey less intimidating, especially during a time filled with uncertainty.

📣 Follow and take the survey (link in their bio)

By completing this survey, will reach out to feature your artwork in the publication as a thank-you for your time. This can also give you another item to include in your itinerary for your own application. Questions? Email [email protected]

🔗 Link to survey in bio!

01/11/2026

Join us TODAY from 1-4pm for a clothing swap !
Bring a bag and take a bag home! Clothing of all genders, sizes, and seasons welcome. Kids’ clothes are also accepted. Please ensure all contributions are clean, hole-free, and stain-free.

Join us:
Sunday, January 11 from 1-4pm.
ACRE Projects, 2921 N Clark St.

Grab a hot cocoa and something new to love.
Free and open to all!

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Image description
Flyer reading: ACRE Projects Clothing Swap! Bring a bag - take a bag. Clothing of all genders, sizes, and seasons welcome. Kids clothing also accepted. Grab a hot cocoa and something new to love. Free and open to all! Sunday, January 11 from 1 - 4pm at ACRE Projects (2921 N.Clark St). Please ensure all contributions are clean, hole-free, and stain-free.

12/30/2025

Creative workers are the backbone of our cultural and economic life. Yet many artists remain undersupported and vulnerable—without access to space, institutional support, or a strong community of peers. In a political climate where the arts are being defunded, we risk losing the very voices that help us to imagine new futures, to tell our stories, and to show us what resilience looks like.

ACRE is here to change that.

Since 2010, we’ve grown into a nationally recognized organization serving more than 2,500 artists and cultural workers. Our cooperative residency model invites every participant back to mentor and support their peers, creating a powerful and self-sustaining community. Our exhibitions, public programs, and initiatives like the Chicago Arts Census strengthen the broader arts ecosystem in Chicago and beyond.
In this moment, we need artists to use their voices and ACRE is a place where so many artists find theirs.

As we approach year-end, we’re close to reaching our $20k annual fund goal. Will you help us cross the finish line? Please consider making a gift at the link in bio. Thank you for helping us build an artist-led future—together.

12/18/2025

is hosting a clothing swap!
Bring a bag and take a bag home! Clothing of all genders, sizes, and seasons welcome. Kids’ clothes are also accepted. Please ensure all contributions are clean, hole-free, and stain-free.

Join us:
Sunday, January 11 from 1-4pm.
ACRE Projects, 2921 N Clark St.

Grab a hot cocoa and something new to love.
Free and open to all!

—

Image description
Flyer reading: ACRE Projects Clothing Swap! Bring a bag - take a bag. Clothing of all genders, sizes, and seasons welcome. Kids clothing also accepted. Grab a hot cocoa and something new to love. Free and open to all! Sunday, January 11 from 1 - 4pm at ACRE Projects (2921 N.Clark St). Please ensure all contributions are clean, hole-free, and stain-free.

12/17/2025

ACRE exists because artists need each other—and because a supportive network is essential to sustaining a life in the arts. The environment we create at the residency can be life giving and life changing.

2025 Curatorial Fellow Gemma Kim shared:
“I would wholeheartedly describe my experience at ACRE as incredible and transformative. ACRE allows you to imagine what true community and liberation grounded in art and care can look like. My practice feels enriched and nourished through the care, warmth, and ingenuity of the community. I’m walking away deeply inspired with a far-reaching network of peers and friends.”

At a time when artists face rising precarity, defunding, and lack of access, ACRE offers exactly what they need most: community, mentorship, and a cooperative model rooted in reciprocity.

Follow the link in bio to make a donation to ACRE’s annual fund campaign, and help ensure more artists can experience this transformative support. When you make a gift to ACRE, you bolster a vision that builds community for artists, develops their leadership, and nurtures a vital network—weaving a web of support for a lifetime of creative practice in the arts.

12/10/2025

When artists arrive at ACRE’s summer residency in rural Southwest Wisconsin, they enter what many describe as a “magical” environment—a place designed for experimentation, reflection, and peer-to-peer learning.

In 2025 alone, we hosted 92 artists and welcomed back 83 alumni staff at the residency, presented the work of 17 artists in our exhibitions, and advanced 5 partnerships across Wisconsin and Chicago. We also continued our work on the Chicago Arts Census, advocating for artists’ livelihoods and helping build the conditions where creativity and community can thrive.

Donating to ACRE’s annual fund campaign directly fuels this ecosystem: from scholarships and materials for studios, to public exhibitions, to mentorship and professional development that makes ACRE a lifeline for artists at pivotal moments in their careers.

Follow the link in bio to make a gift to ACRE and our artist-centered mission. Thank you for supporting artists—and the future they’re building.

12/03/2025

As ACRE closes its 16th year, we’re celebrating how far we’ve come—and inviting you to help shape what comes next.

ACRE supports artists year-round through a residency program in rural Wisconsin and exhibitions, programs, and ongoing opportunities in Chicago. Our mission is centered on fostering a cooperative, equitable, and inclusive environment for making and presenting art.

With a goal to raise $20,000 by the end of 2025, we are asking our community to consider making a gift to sustain a vital, generative, and enduring artistic community.

Every artist who attends ACRE’s residency program becomes part of a network now over 2,500 strong—collectively building an ecosystem that allows artists to thrive together. Help us continue building a future where artists lead, learn, and sustain one another.

Follow the link in bio to donate today.

Address

2921 N. Clark Street
Chicago, IL
60657

Website

http://www.acreresidency.org/

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