Rebuild Foundation

YOGA REMINDER | Join us this Sunday, September 27, from 12:30 to 1:30 PM for our weekly yoga offering with somatic practitioner and movement artist April Falcon, at The Land School. Every Sunday this season, we look forward to welcoming returning and new yogis into the Auditorium for April’s all-levels flow.

Reserve your spot and review our updated policies via the link in our bio.

Please note: Limited walk-in spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors close 10 minutes after class begins.

Photos: Charles Bouril (Charles Bouril)

APPROVED: We are overjoyed to share that, yesterday, the City of Chicago Committee on Zoning, Landmarks, and Building Standards, officially approved our application to rezone The Land School to a B2-2 Neighborhood Mixed Use District designation!

On the heels of our one-year anniversary at The Land School, this designation will allow us to expand our ability to support and incubate creative and culinary entrepreneurs on Dorchester. An extension of our residency at Retreat at Currency Exchange, we are proud to soon establish an independent cafe on 72nd and Dorchester in partnership with local coffee purveyors, Homecourt Collective.

This is a huge milestone for our project, deepening our commitment to demonstrating our land use processes in real time, and supporting emerging businesses with space, access, and mentorship as they grow.

We look forward to sharing more soon and officially welcoming Homecourt to serve our communities at The Land School!

We are deeply grateful to Alderman Michelle Harris, our neighbors, and our partners for their belief in the power and impact of our work.

Thursday, October 1, 7 PM - 9:30 PM | We invite you to join us for a special program as we welcome the Lalah Hathaway, Daughter of Soul, back to The Land School to celebrate the release of her newest album, Made in Chicago.

Born in Chicago and returning to the city where she first learned to be a musician, Hathaway honors this release on the South Side with a deeply personal reflection on home, nostalgia, family, and the musical memories and rich lineage that continue to inform her work.

The evening will open with collective listening to selections from the album, followed by a conversation with Rebuild’s founder, Theaster Gates, on music, place, and the Chicago sounds that have carried through Hathaway’s life and artistic practice. The night will culminate in a dance party spun by Rebuild’s decade-long house music partner, Duane Powell.

Tickets are available for $30 at the link in our bio. We look forward to welcoming you.

September 24, 5 PM - 8 PM | Join us for September’s second iteration of Duane Powell’s 1976: In Retrospect, as we deep-dive into the catalog of trombonist and producer Wayne Henderson on what would have been his 87th birthday. 

In 1976, Henderson recorded his final album as a member of The Crusaders, the iconic jazz-funk group he co-founded in 1960, before producing acts including Ronnie Laws, Pleasure, Side Effect, and more. Duane will guide us through these sonic pockets uplifting Henderson’s impact, which often goes overlooked.  

1976: In Retrospect is an extended Listening Hours project presented as part of Duane’s residency, exploring albums released in 1976 as they reach their 50th anniversary. 

Photos: Wayne Henderson from the “People Get Ready” album; album covers of The Crusaders’ “Those Southern Knights,” Ronnie Laws’ “Fever,” Pleasure’s “Accept No Substitutes,” Side Effect’s “What You Need.”

POSTPONED: SUNDAY SERVICE | Due to forecasted inclement weather this weekend, Sunday Service at Kenwood Gardens will be rescheduled for next Sunday, September 27. 

If you’re unable to attend next weekend, tickets are refundable via Eventbrite. However, if you wish to contribute the cost of your ticket as a donation to our garden efforts, we would be most grateful.

Please note: our annual Honey Harvest with The Roof Crop is still on! We’ll welcome guests beneath the pavilion at the Gardens this Sunday from 12:30 to 1:30 PM.

Thank you for your continued enthusiasm and support as we care for the Gardens and look toward this season of cultivation for this next phase of stewardship. We can’t wait to be in the Gardens with you on September 27th!

There’s now more time to reserve your tickets at the link in our bio if you haven’t already.

In 1907, St. Laurence Elementary School opened at the corner of 72nd Street and Dorchester Avenue, welcoming generations of families and students over the course of nearly 100 years.

By the latter half of the twentieth century, demographic change and population shifts had contributed to a shrinking Catholic parish. Alongside nearly $3 million in deferred maintenance, these challenges led the Archdiocese to shutter the 40,000-square-foot school in 2002. The building remained vacant for more than a decade, facing the possibility of demolition.

Photo: Sara Pooley ()

In 2016, Rebuild Foundation acquired St. Laurence with the urgent mission of protecting it from erasure. Over the next decade, we invested nearly $14 million in its preservation, conservation, and renovation, returning to active use a site that for so many families represents their earliest encounters with spirituality and faith, pedagogy and community self-determination.

In the ten years we spent readying the St. Laurence Elementary School for its next life, we invited our neighbors and their children to paint the boards that would eventually protect the windows, challenging the visual language of vacancy and abandonment. We hosted a parade and processional down Dorchester Avenue with local dancers, musicians, and artists. We formally broke ground on the project with the support of our allies and friends, including Governor J.B. Pritzker, former First Lady of Chicago Amy Eshleman, Alderperson Michelle Harris, and the Clayco Foundation.

Photo: Nancy Wong (Nancy Wong Photography)

And we were proud to host the St. Laurence Elementary School alumni network for a hard hat tour of the building, bringing former students back into the building decades later and reconnecting them with some of their earliest and most formative memories.

Photo: Chris Strong (Chris Strong)

One year ago, we received our certificate of occupancy. Days later, at the soonest opportunity to welcome our neighbors back to The Land School at the site of the former St. Laurence Elementary School, we officially moved in with offerings from artists across the city.

Today, we celebrate one year since the reope

International Anthem: Jeremiah Chiu (synthesizers), Ben Lumsdaine (drums), marta sofia honer (viola), Whitney Johnson (viola), Katie Klocke (violin), and Lia Kohl (cello) tonight at IARC HQ, Rebuild The Land School

YOGA REMINDER | Join us this Sunday, September 13, from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM, as April Falcon, somatic practitioner and movement artist, launches a new communal class offerings at The Land School.

Each Sunday, we’ll look forward to welcoming both returning and new yogis into the Auditorium for April’s all-levels flow.

Please note: There will be no class on September 20. Limited walk-in spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors close 10 minutes after class begins.

Reserve your spot and review our updated policies via the link in our bio.