About Theaster Gates

Theaster Gates is a professor at the University of Chicago in the Department of Visual Arts and the College, and Director of Arts + Public Life, a UChicago Arts initiative housed at the Arts Incubator in Washington Park. He also leads an urban research initiative known as Place Lab, a partnership between Arts + Public Life and the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Place Lab is a team of social scientists, architects, creative professionals, and business leaders. With support from the Knight Foundation, Gates and his team will create frameworks for reimagining the role that culture plays in the redevelopment of transforming African American communities over the next three years. Gates is helping to define the future of artistic place-based efforts, in research and practice.