Lauren Pacheco
Interdisciplinary Art
Gary, IN
Lauren M. Pacheco is a Mexican-American born and raised on Chicago`s southwest side. She is a conceptual artist and cultural practitioner with over fifteen years of professional experience in arts administration, curation, and project management. Lauren`s background is grounded in social practice and public engagement. She serves as a resource to policymakers in the public dialogue about issues that impact artists and creative enterprises. Many of her projects - Destination Gary, Chicago Lowrider Festival, #PAINTGARY, Chicago Urban Art Society - are interested in space, people, and social impact. Each explore shared values and civic interests by leveraging community assets and tapping new creative territories. As a practicing female artist, curator, educator, and art administrator of color, Lauren`s practice is a critical exploration of urban space - how space and place intersect with memory and justice. Pacheco is a first-generation college graduate with degrees from the University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Four years ago, Lauren moved to Gary, Indiana, where she now lives and works as an associate faculty lecturer and the director of Arts Programming and Engagement at Indiana University Northwest in the School of the Arts.
I intend to use the residency period to plan and strategize cultural and operational programming for the 2021 Slow & Low: Chicago Lowrider Festival taking place in the Pilsen community. It is our hope that we will be able to conduct programming during year two of the covid pandemic and may use this time to think through project longevity, new archival book or lecture opportunities. Also, I hope to use the time to strategize on some of my Gary, Indiana practice evidenced in www.destinationgary.com.