This project brings a Disabled perspective to Force and Motion's larger questions of place-making and complicating the performer-audience dynamic by exploring relationship-building as a form of place-making. Specifically, Open Letter deals with care and vulnerability in relationships. How do we care for each other well? What does it feel like to be vulnerable with each other? And how do these experiences alter our connection to and/or understanding of physical space and embodiment? 

In this event, four North American artists -- Erin Clark, Fran Flaherty, Ana García Jácome, and Nic Masangkay -- respond to these questions through handwritten letters addressed to recipients of their choice. They end the letters by asking the audience to perform simple actions.

The event runs from 2-6 pm with a conversation between Elise Butterfield and Katie Rauth at 4 pm.

Elise Butterfield is an arts administrator, mover, and disability advocate. Currently a student at School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s dual master’s degree program in Arts Administration and Art History, Elise is invested in building accessible and inclusive arts institutions and supporting the artists that bring them to life. Elise relocated to Chicago in 2019 from Salt Lake City, where she was previously the Programs and Gallery Director at Art Access, a disability and arts nonprofit. A native Seattleite, Elise studied dance and international studies at the University of Washington, graduating magna cum laude in 2014.