October 30, 2026 marks sixteen years since Sixty officially launched with a day-long art ride from Hyde Park Art Center to Chicago Urban Arts Society, Elastic Arts Foundation, and South Side Community Art Center in 2010. (Check out photos from our launch day here!)
This fall, we’re looking back and celebrating sixteen years of publishing, archives, and community— and you’re invited to the party! Here are four ways to help us celebrate:
➞ Join us November 18 for Sixty on Stage: Sonic Becomings
On November 18, join us for Sixty on Stage: Sonic Becomings, a night of music performances at Elastic Arts by artists previously featured in our series Tuning Away from Mechanized Listening.
This edition of Sixty On Stage features interdisciplinary artist and experimental turntableist Allen Moore, the queer, non-binary and women-centered traditional maqam ensemble TAYF طَيْف (presented by BIYA BIYA), and computer musician, improviser, programmer, and scientist Hugo Flores Garcia and friends (presented by Atmospheric Music Alliance).
To celebrate our sweet sixteen, Sixty on Stage will also feature exclusive raffles, a flirty Find & Seek missed connections booth, a mini music market featuring WHPK, BIYA BIYA, and Atmospheric Music Alliance, and a closing set from beloved WHPK veteran DJ Trackmaster Scott.
All funds raised at Sixty on Stage will go towards Sixty’s publishing and our ongoing work to support Midwest artists, writers, and culture.
Sixty on Stage: Sonic Becomings
Wednesday, November 18, 2026 | 7 – 10pm CST (Doors at 6:30)
Elastic Arts, 3429 W. Diversey Ave. #208 Chicago
Tickets: $0-$60
➞ For our sixteenth anniversary, consider giving a gift to support our publishing!
For our anniversary, consider gifting $16 in honor of our sweet sixteen! Your donation allows Sixty to thrive and grow as a completely artist-run, worker-led organization that advocates for community preservation, living wages, collective adaptability, flourishing work environments, and investment in the livelihoods of artists.
All funds raised during our anniversary celebrations this year will go directly towards supporting our publishing. While our publishing is a cornerstone of our work, unrestricted funding for our editorial team is the most inconsistent, the least distributed by foundations, and the hardest for small nonprofits to receive.
This is why your unrestricted donation is vital, no matter the amount!
Sixty is a 501c3 organization, so all donations are tax deductible.
➞ Help us shape the next sixteen years: take our Anniversary Audience Survey
Your feedback in our Anniversary Audience Survey will help us shape the next sixteen years of our publishing, archiving, and advocacy work by understanding what our art ecosystems need to truly thrive. As a thank you for completing the survey, you can enter to win an exclusive raffle to win prizes from some of our favorite Midwest artists and partners!
Our Anniversary Audience Survey launches next week— keep an eye on our social media and newsletter for updates!
➞ Read along as we look back on sixteen years of publishing
To reflect on over a decade of publishing, we are sharing some of our favorite articles from the archives! From interviews to comics, from Kansas City to Standing Rock, our publishing has covered the vibrant arts, archives, culture, organizing, and community across the Midwest and beyond. We’ve curated sixteen articles that showcase the work of the incredible writers, artists, and editors that have worked with Sixty over the years. Read our sixteen picks below:
by Sixty Inches From Center
February 12, 2021— A series of anniversary voicemails left by people we love and artists we’ve worked with over the years. The first feature curator and artist Jenny Lam and teaching artist Marcus Davis.
by S. Nicole Lane
February 13, 2017— A conversation with Sky Cubacub, the designer behind Rebirth Garments, a QueerCrip clothing line for all abilities, sexualities, sizes, and colors.
by Kerry Cardoza
October 28, 2022— Looking across the breadth of Chicago’s arts sector in search of overlapping challenges and successes, mutual support and resource sharing, and advocating for ourselves and each other as we work towards greater equity and sustainability.
by Michael Fischer
November 1, 2022— A conversation about self-acceptance, personal and creative freedom, and the role art can play in transforming the conditions that lead to violence.
by the Blackivists
June 2, 2020— The Blackivists archivist collective offers some advice on documenting movements as we work together to protect the collective documentation that proves we are here, addressing and safeguarding our people and communities.
by Analú López
January 31, 2017— A photographer + archivist looks back on a trip to meet and deliver supplies to the water protectors at Standing Rock.
by Haydée Souffrant
April 30, 2017— An interview with festival co-founder, executive producer, and host Irina Zadov and immigration rights activist and director of AFIRE Michael Aguhar about their neighborhood of Edgewater.
por Cristobal Alday
January 21, 2025— Una revisión histórica de la exhibición: diversión en Marquette Park, comisariada por Carlos Flores, el Anchor Curatorial residente de este año. (en español e inglés)
by Tempestt Hazel
June 30, 2020— Rashayla Marie Brown weaves together elements of her past and present experiences, then connects them to the call for accountability and long-term commitment to addressing systemic anti-Black damage and misogyny within and beyond the arts sector.
by Eunsong Kim + Maya Mackrandilal
February 17, 2015— We need to take a radical inventory of the contemporary strategies that re-perform the ideologies of market capitalism.
by Kelsey Rhodes
November 30, 2023— Kelsey Rhodes talks with KC Tenants organizers about art, activism, and turning a vision for the future into reality.
por Carlos Matallana
November 3, 2024— A spanglish comic series that chronicles displacement. The immigrant journey to find a place they can call home may take generations. Their journey triggers change and inspires other communities to solidify their social thread.
by Jennifer Patiño Cervantes
September 17, 2018— The Newberry’s Chicago Protest Collection seeks to collect “an enduring record of the many individual voices and personal expressions of Chicagoans participating in public demonstrations in the city or elsewhere.”
por Marina Resende Santos
May 13, 2020— A conversation em português e inglês between participants of an artist exchange program between Salvador, Brazil and Chicago organized by Comfort Station (Chicago), Projeto Ativa (Salvador) and Harmonipan (Mexico City) between 2019 and 2020.
by Lee Ann Norman
March 25, 2017— A conversation about navigating a hybrid practice that oscillates between art, design, art history, curating, environment, and teaching.
by Jehoiada Zechariah Calvin
January 30, 2024— A look at the process of reparative description undertaken by the Getty Research Institute’s team at the Johnson Publishing Company Archive.
