Chicago House Kobe

Artist, scholar, and cultural worker Mario LaMothe and I are developing a long-term artist residency and retreat in Kobe, Japan. Together, we are raising funds to purchase a house that will serve as a permanent home for Chicago artists, a place to rest, reflect, and practice with care. The project grew out of an artistic cultural exchange between Links Hall in Chicago and Dance Box in Kobe that began in 2017 through the National Performance Network’s U.S./Japan Connection program. What began as a short-term exchange slowly became an ongoing relationship. Since that first visit, I’ve returned to Kobe nearly every year, building sustained artistic, cultural, and personal ties with the city and its communities. Over time, it became clear that the work needed a more permanent home.

This campaign will support the early stages of securing and establishing the residency space in Kobe. Funds will go toward the purchase of the house, travel between Chicago and Kobe, legal and administrative costs, and the foundational infrastructure needed to begin hosting artists. The residency will begin with a pilot exchange bringing a Chicago artist to Kobe and a Kobe-based artist to Chicago, helping shape the long-term structure of the program through lived experience and collaboration. The project is being developed in conversation with artists and communities connected to Dance Box, including future collaborations and exchanges rooted in shared practice, experimentation, and care.

We envision the house not as a traditional residency center focused on productivity, but as a lived space grounded in slowness, attention, and long-term relationship. Artists would arrive without the pressure to constantly produce. Instead, the residency would offer time and space for reflection, experimentation, and sustained creative practice. This project also carries forward part of the legacy of Links Hall, which recently closed after decades of supporting experimental and artist-centered work in Chicago. By supporting this residency, you are not only helping create a home for artists in Kobe, but contributing to a larger ecosystem of cultural exchange, artist sustainability, and long-term creative community between Chicago and Kobe.