About Us
Formed in 2016, the Mobilize Creative Collaborative is a collective of four artists (Aquil Charlton, William Estrada, Andrés Lemus-Spont, Marya Spont-Lemus) who utilize bicycle-based makerspaces to provide free arts workshops for youth and adults in public places.
Illustration by William Estrada
In 2022, the MCC presented…
Last summer, we were excited to be part of the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks! “At these FREE drop-in workshops, join the Mobilize Creative Collaborative—and each other!—for DIY visual art, music, and creative re-imagining. Improvise beats, screen-print posters, and express your creative self as you make and share with ¡Anímate! Studio, Mobile Music Box, Mobile Street Art Cart, community groups, and guest artists. Open to youth and adults.”
Thursday, July 14, 2022, 6-8pm
Featuring: Binkey, Lional "Brother El" Freeman, and the Armstrong Park Council!
@ Armstrong (Lillian Hardin) Park, 4433 S. St. Lawrence Ave.
Thursday, July 28, 2022, 6-8pm
Featuring: DJ Lucio, Gloria Talamantes, Sara Prado, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Telpochcalli Community Education Project and Parent Class, ÚNETE La Villita, and Working Bikes!
@ La Villita Park, 2800 S. Sacramento Ave.
Thursday, August 11, 2022, 6-8pm
Featuring: Samantha Alexandra Martinez, Eduardo Cornejo, and Diego Garcia from Gage Park Latinx Council; Myrna Romo from Neighbors for Environmental Justice, Pearl BlackPearl from Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), and Enrique Mendoza from the Southwest Collective!
@ Senka (Edward "Duke") Park, 5656 S. St. Louis Ave.
The MCC also offered free drop-in workshops through Sundays on State (Sunday, August 7, 2022), Brother El’s Sandbox Symphony VII (Saturday, August 13, 2022), and various community events.
Check out MCC artists’ individual websites for additional events and projects.
In summer 2021, the Mobilize Creative Collaborative presented:
Mobilize! Creative Blocks, Collective Dreams
a series of FREE weeklong community gatherings, happening outdoors in five neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and Southwest Sides, co-designed with a team of partner artists and partner organizers who are also rooted in these places. These gatherings brought together local residents, artists, and organizers of all ages to engage in creative workshops, critical dialogues, and playful explorations focused around justice and the dreams of their communities. With participatory music, art, and theater activities, live performances, skill-sharing, and more, we hoped to amplify and connect existing local efforts, as well as to cultivate spaces that center imagination, joy, and people-led solutions. By connecting people both within and across communities, we hoped to create time and space for facilitated discussions, imaginative play, and communal making, as well as to learn from each other and help build trust, shared visions, creative action, and collective power.
Let’s create and dream together!
Support Us!
In support of 2021’s “Mobilize! Creative Blocks, Collective Dreams” project, we are very excited to have received an Artist Response Program grant ($100,000) from the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, as well as grants from Crossroads Fund, Friends of the Parks, and GoFundMe.org’s Save the Environment Fund. These grants, along with generosity in many forms from our numerous community supporters, helped us make these multi-community arts engagements happen!
If interested in supporting our work in 2022 and beyond, please feel free to contact us.
Contact Us
Contact us with any questions or requests about access needs/accommodations.
