In 2021, the venerable immigrant social services organization, Centro Romero, began developing a gallery as an integral element of its arts/education programming and community convening space. The long-term goal is for the gallery to be youth-led.
Centro Romero is a 35 year old community-based organization that serves the refugee immigrant population on the northeast side of Chicago. The organization provides programs for immigrant and refugee individuals including youth learning, adult education, family services, and legal services. As an integral element of its youth arts/education programming, Centro Romero has been collaboratively developing a gallery with partners including the SMART Museum, Columbia College, and, now, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
During the Spring 2022 semester, the Management Studio team worked with Centro Romero and community partners to begin developing youth workshops on topics such as curatorial practice and exhibition installation, and created an extensive tool kit for supporting the operations of a youth-led gallery.
The project involved two approaches: weekly workshops and a final deliverable. The team taught weekly workshops on Thursday evenings at Centro Romero. The instruction covered many components of gallery management--from deciding a name for the space, to its mission and values, to understanding curation. Our in-person youth education project simultaneously dovetailed with the creation of a supplemental deliverable: a toolkit for the youth to keep a documented memory of the lessons learned in the workshop, while also covering topics that were unable to be covered.
Centro Romero is a 35 year old community-based organization that serves the refugee immigrant population on the northeast side of Chicago. The organization provides programs for immigrant and refugee individuals including youth learning, adult education, family services, and legal services. As an integral element of its youth arts/education programming, Centro Romero has been collaboratively developing a gallery with partners including the SMART Museum, Columbia College, and, now, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
During the Spring 2022 semester, the Management Studio team worked with Centro Romero and community partners to begin developing youth workshops on topics such as curatorial practice and exhibition installation, and created an extensive tool kit for supporting the operations of a youth-led gallery.
The project involved two approaches: weekly workshops and a final deliverable. The team taught weekly workshops on Thursday evenings at Centro Romero. The instruction covered many components of gallery management--from deciding a name for the space, to its mission and values, to understanding curation. Our in-person youth education project simultaneously dovetailed with the creation of a supplemental deliverable: a toolkit for the youth to keep a documented memory of the lessons learned in the workshop, while also covering topics that were unable to be covered.