As a small organization in Chicago?s larger cultural landscape, ThreeWalls was established to provide focused support for contemporary visual art where other institutions did not. Since 2002, ThreeWalls has fulfilled its mission of supporting emerging artists and facilitating cultural exchange through the artist-in-residence program, exhibitions, and educational programs. ThreewWalls has hosted resident artists from abroad including Australia, Canada, and Spain; from around the country including New York, California, and the midwest region; and supports a number of Chicago-area artists each year. Our exhibitions and public programs reach more 10,000 people each year in Chicago and through traveling shows. ThreeWalls is proud to have presented the first solo U.S. exhibitions of a number of talented artsts, and to have received features in the press including Artforum, Flash Art International, Time Out Mexico City, Time Out Chicago, and The Chicago Tribune among others. Public educationsal programs such as the popular ThreWallsSALONS and ThreeWallsCAFE serve as important forums for open dialogue, critical discourse, and cultural exchange. It is our mission to provide a valuable workspace for emerging artists who are at pivotal points in their careers, and to offer the public new approaches to contemporary art-practices through unconventional exhibitions and public programming.

ThreeWalls is proud of its programming strategy, which originates in creation of contemporary art, then radiating out to the public through exhibitions and special programs. The artist-in-residence program is at the core of the ThreeWalls mission and the starting point for our exhibition and educational programming. It is our belief that a resident artists? voice enriches the creative discourse around art, enhances the public experience, and the region?s cultural community as a whole. By offering emerging artists workspace in Chicago, ThreeWalls serves as a center of contemporary art production, and attracts local, national and international artists to create new work in our community. Four artists are selected annually to participate in their own 4 ? 6 week residency, which culminates in a solo exhibition of their new work. Each artist is invited to live and work at ThreeWalls? facilities during their stay and given a stipend of $1,000. ThreeWalls utilizes its exhibition space to promote work and ideas that would otherwise go unrepresented in commercial galleries and traditional museum settings. In doing so, the organization seeks to give exposure to emerging artists from around the world, and is dedicated to supporting local artists among them. Following each residency, ThreeWalls mounts an exhibition and produces a catalogue of the artist?s work. In addition to these presentations, ThreeWalls curates original exhibitions and hosts outside curatorial projects to round out an annual schedule of 7 ? 10 total exhibitions. Because contemporary art deals with unique, unfamiliar, and often confrontational work, ThreeWalls is committed to providing a supportive educational environment for each exhibition. Using the artist-in-residence program and exhibitions as a launching point for public programming, ThreeWalls encourages visitors to become closely engaged with exhibitions and artists. Programs such as artist talks, class visits, performances, and interactive workshops are scheduled during the artists? stay and allow the public to gain deeper insight into the contemporary art-making process and its relationship to their lives.