Annas is a multi-functional platform dedicated to collaborative making, process-based work, care in administrative practices, and creative sustainability.

Our active rotation is responsive and unfolding, with a yearly residency program, collaborative exhibitions, performances, gatherings, and teachings, hosted in-person and virtually. As Annas grows, it positions itself as a space that centers care in our administration practices to support the sustained, collaborative opportunities for emergent and established arts workers throughout Chicago and beyond. 

These four core values necessarily determined Annas as a collective, method, and site.

As Collective —
Annas is a community of arts workers dedicated to supporting and sustaining the role of process, care, and collaboration in the visual arts. As a community, we termed "arts workers" to be more reflective and inclusive of the creative work occurring in Chicago, that is beyond the scope of making visual works, while also signaling to the labor that goes into conceptualizing and executing a public presentation. Within "arts workers," we include artists but extend beyond to include curators, writers, researchers, arts administrators, preparators, handlers, and educators who contribute to bringing artworks to a public. 

As Method —
As a method, Annas believes (1) collaboration expands supportive and reciprocal possibility for individuals and institutions (2) creating equitable art spaces means shifting structural foundations by defining and formalizing methods of care into its administration, and (3) that expertise is experiential and abundant within the Chicago arts community. The Luminary recognized this work by awarding a 2021 residency Annas to continue these methodological efforts.

As Site —
Annas is malleable and built to transform to the needs of its cohorts and community. Before Annas had a physical space, programming began with informal gatherings called The Living Room Series. Guests sat at a table, shared a meal, and collectively made art in response to the evening’s prompts created by Burke and Koch. Over three months, Annas engaged nearly 40 guests in Burke’s apartment and set invaluable lessons for what Annas was to become, including the necessity of defined roles and expectations for collaborative work and how the informal space of a living room fosters trust and care quicker than a studio space. This series helped formulate and center Annas' core values in its active and rotating schedule of exhibitions, residency, and programs. 


About the Name —
The name Annas is drawn from the co-founders’ closest friends, both named Anna. When they go to their Anna’s home, it is a place to be themselves, to be vulnerable, to be creative in unexpected ways and explore, to feel supported and understood. We aim to foster those feelings for anyone that comes to Annas.