Kate Hadley Toftness

Chicago Archives + Artists Project Director
E: khtoftness@sixtyinchesfromcenter.org
W: chicagoarchivesandartists.org

Kate Hadley Toftness is a freelance writer and organizer of things and culture. She focuses on archives engagement and collections-based programs that promote social justice and the creation of new artistic work. With the Sixty team, she is currently leading the Chicago Archives + Artists Project, an initiative that connects artists and writers with archives that give space to voices on the margins. This May, Sixty hosted the first Chicago Archives + Artists Festival at the Chicago Cultural Center. Keeping up the momentum of this project, Sixty and our project partners will be hosting a series of programs inviting the public to delve into existing archives as well as to generate (donate and process) new collections and artist files.

Recently, Kate managed the permanent installation of the collections for the Stony Island Arts Bank. She believes that radical access to collections creates powerful connections between individual expression and shared experience. She 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.