Chicago Archives + Artists Project Director
E: kate@sixtyinchesfromcenter.org
W: chicagoarchivesandartists.org
Kate Hadley Toftness is a writer and arts organizer. With the Sixty team, she leads the Chicago Archives + Artists Project, an initiative that instigates connections between artists and archivists to reimagine the future of art history. She focuses on archives engagement and collections-based programs that promote social justice and the creation of new artistic work.
Kate is also the Assistant Director of Advancement and Strategic Initiatives at Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art. Previously, Kate was the Archival Collections and Public Engagement Manager for Rebuild Foundation, where she managed the inaugural installation and activation of Theaster Gates’ collections at the Stony Island Arts Bank. She believes that radical access to collections creates powerful connections between individual expression and shared experience. Kate received her bachelor’s from Yale University and an interdisciplinary humanities master’s from the University of Chicago with a focus on art history and creative writing. She is based in Savannah, GA and Chicago, IL.