GAME CHANGERS

Meet the 15 people and companies changing the way we eat and drink for the better.

THEASTER GATES

The acclaimed artist has created a visionary incubator for aspiring Black and brown culinary professionals in Chicago.

BY ANGELA BURKE

Just after the final bowl of soup was served at Retreat at Currency Exchange, a café and culinary incubator located in Chicago's Washington Park neighborhood, the dining room turned into a dance floor flooded with tunes from the late house-music pioneer Frankie Knuckles. Knuckles' record collection is one of many noteworthy archives that have been entrusted to Theaster Gates, the artist who has breathed new life into this space. A trained urban planner, Gates transforms fading structures in predominantly Black neighborhoods into cultural hubs.

"The culinary and music communities are allies and part and parcel to my work," says Gates. Retreat at Currency Exchange, an offshoot of Gates' artist-focused charitable organization, Rebuild Foundation, has been a launchpad for local food and drink professionals. "I'm an enabler. I'm a platform-maker," Gates says. "It's an opportunity to do what Rebuild does in general, to celebrate the local. Invite everybody in, and then through that period of incubation, people will be better than they were before. That's my hope."

Residents of the six-month program receive funding, professional development, and ongoing mentorship while navigating the next steps to restaurant ownership or starting a food business. The approach is modeled after Gates' retreats for Black visual artists and has been designed as an oasis for a segment of the hospitality industry that is routinely overlooked and under-supported. At Currency Exchange, being vulnerable, taking up space, and exerting creative license while being Black or brown are celebrated.