Jun 24, 2013
This week: After an inexcusably self-indulgent, alcohol fueled intro where Duncan, Richard, Dana and Emily and Nick from ACRE join us, we get on to an excellent interview. Part three of our St. Louis series recorded at the Contemporary Art Museum-St. Louis. This time we talk to Juan William Chavez and Kiersten Torrez about the Northside Workshop, bees, social practice, and record an advert for penicillin.
Juan William Chavez
Founder and Director
Juan William Chavez (born in Lima, Peru) is an artist and cultural
activist whose studio practice focuses on the potential of space by
developing creative initiatives that address community and cultural
issues. His projects include Urban Expression for the Pulitzer
Foundation for the Arts, the Northside Workshop and the Pruitt-Igoe
Bee Sanctuary. His awards include
the Art Matters Grant, the Missouri Arts Award and the Graham
Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. In 2012, Chavez
received a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Fellowship.
Kiersten Torrez
Director of Programming & Sustainability
Kiersten Torrez is an arts organizer focused on innovative
sustainable practices. She has aided in developing community-based
projects such as Beautification of Vacant Space, the Pruitt-Igoe
Bee Sanctuary and Team Cookbook (creative workshops designed to
community build through the sharing of recipes and stories in Old
North Saint Louis). Torrez is currently planning a Year of
Listening, a series of socially engaged events focused on
co–generating programs to address the physical and social
dimensions of the Old North Saint Louis neighborhood.