The Foundation centers its work around the central main pillars of free public programs; stewardship and activation of archives and collections; creative entrepreneurship and economic development; and direct support to artists. 

Rebuild is a nucleus of artistic innovation and creative practice rooted in Chicago’s South Side, committed to providing artists of color with time, space, financial support, mentorship, and community to advance their work. 

Founded in 2010 by artist and social innovator Theaster Gates, Rebuild Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to extend his practice of redeeming, reimagining, and reactivating formerly vacant spaces and demonstrating the cultural, historical, and social value they hold as objects, sculptures, archives, and spaces for convening. 

Rebuild’s expanding constellation of spaces is animated by programs that embrace the residents of South Side neighborhoods, local artists, the Chicago arts community, and visiting artists, and radiate out to the national and international arts community. 


The redemption and reanimation of abandoned spaces on the South Side, and their transformation into communal spaces that nurture creativity, are expressions of Theater Gates’ artistic practice opened to the world and made publicly accessible through Rebuild Foundation. 

Rebuild’s spaces and archives demonstrate the lives, legacies, and personal histories embedded in objects of the past, amplifying their present value for scholars, historians, artists, curators, and creative practitioners.