“Teach 4 Amerika aims to empower artists to create the education they need and not beholden them to a system that professionalizes them out of their own specificity,” — Bruce High Quality Foundation.

Lots of buzz surrounding the arrival of The Bruce High Quality Foundation in Chicago for two related events this week. The first–a limited capacity, intimate discussion on education and the arts that will be held at Roots and Culture tonight–is already booked solid. Maybe you can still sneak in? Or peek through the windows? The next event can accommodate more bodies: BHQ’s Teach 4 Amerika Rally–billed as “a rally for anarchy in arts education”–starting at 6pm on Thursday, April 7th at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Lecture Center Room A-1, 821 South Morgan Street. These events are presented by Creative Time and hosted by Gallery 400 and Three Walls in Chicago. Below, full details; oh, and can someone snag me a t-shirt please?

Teach 4 Amerika is a five-week, 11-city, coast-to-coast road trip that
crosses state lines and institutional boundaries to inspire and enable
local art students to define the future of their own educational
experience. Traveling the byways of America in a limousine painted as a
school bus, BHQF will bring together concerned educators, artists, arts
administrators, and—most importantly—students to brainstorm on the future
of art schools.

The project calls for a national rethinking of the current art education
system, and will provide an opportunity to discuss issues facing artists
seeking an education, as well as catalyze discussions with students. The
Teach 4 Amerika tour is a rallying effort to begin this conversation on a
national scale and to encourage a new generation of students, artists, and
educators to imagine what is possible for art education in America.

Teach 4 Amerika will combine the spectacle and energy of a political rally
with the substantive dialog of a conversation series, featuring a
multimedia presentation, balloons, t-shirts, and music. In addition, on
April 6 at Roots and Culture, BHQF will also organize an intimate
conversation between students and a group of arts professionals to
transform the ideas and optimism of the rallies into real change (RSVP to
that event is required).