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LunchTalks@CAF: Transforming Abandoned CHA Property: Dorchester Artist Housing Collaborative

Jeffreen M. Hayes, Ph.D., Director, Rebuild Foundation and Catherine Baker, AIA, Landon Bone Baker Architects

While much of Chicago’s large-scale public housing has been demolished, a small, abandoned 36-unit Chicago Housing Authority property on the South Side is being reborn as an innovative mixed-income project that will bring art-interested public housing residents and practicing artists together. The Dorchester Artist Housing Collaborative will transform the former Dante Harper housing project into a mixed-income community and a place for arts creation, performance, education, and display. The project is a collaboration with Brinshore Development, Theaster Gates and his Rebuild Foundation, and Landon Bone Baker Architects. Presenters will discuss the rehabilitation of these shuttered townhomes into thriving hubs of cultural activity within a community lacking both affordable housing and arts and cultural programming.