Artists United Listening Session at Hyde Park Art Center

ANYONE IS FREE TO ATTEND, BUT RSVPS & SURVEY RESPONSES ARE APPRECIATED

Artists United is a Bridge initiative working to strengthen resources, protections, and support systems for artists and creative workers while connecting and amplifying organizations already doing this work across Chicago.

This listening session at Hyde Park Art Center will combine artist presentations, performances, resource-sharing, and participatory discussion. The program will include a reading by Natasha Mijares, author of the forthcoming Violent Wave from Bridge Books, and a short dance performance by Amanda Saucedo, a Chicago-based dancer and educator and a collaborator on Bridge’s 2026 Festival of Holes.

Representatives from the Healthcare Alliance for Chicago Comedians will also join the session to introduce their initiative, answer questions, and discuss their work within Chicago’s broader creative-worker support ecosystem. Their participation reflects a central goal of Artists United: not simply to create new services, but to strengthen connections among the organizations, advocates, and artist-led initiatives already addressing healthcare, labor conditions, professional resources, and economic sustainability for creative workers.

Bridge will also present several Artists United programs now in development. These include the Bridge Chicago Talent Directory, a growing public directory designed to help artists and other creative professionals become more visible, discover one another, and connect with employment, collaboration, and professional opportunities; the Artists United Open Service Desk, which helps creative workers locate relevant resources, services, and referrals; and an expanding resource network connecting artists with information on legal support, healthcare, employment, professional development, and other practical needs. Artists United is also developing partnerships, public programs, listening sessions, and editorial resources intended to make Chicago’s existing creative-worker support ecosystem easier to navigate and more connected.

The session will conclude with an open feedback and discussion period. Through facilitated conversation, audience-engagement activities, and Q&A, artists and other creative workers will be invited to identify the services, protections, benefits, and forms of collective support they consider most important—including what they would prioritize in a creative workers’ union or broader support network.

Feedback gathered through the session will directly inform the continued development of Artists United’s programming, partnerships, infrastructure, and advocacy, while helping Bridge better understand where new services are needed and where its greatest value may be in connecting and strengthening work already underway across Chicago.