Unfolding Disability Futures

Unfolding Disability Futures (UDF) is a collective of disabled, sick, injured and neurodivergent artists founded with the goal of providing a platform for Chicago's disabled performing artists to explore and produce work. UDF began as a series of events and performances and transformed into a community of artists with a shared leadership structure of eight core performing artists, as well as a wider network of local artists. These artists represent a wide variety of artistic practices, including dance, sound/music, theater, performance art, and storytelling. 

Our practice is deeply connected to the disability arts and culture movement and the development of disability aesthetics. We value cross-impairment collaboration, which revels in the variety of perspectives and practices that come from folks with different impairments working toward a shared goal. Through conflicting access needs and priorities that arise during the creative process, we arrive at exciting and innovative solutions that are essential to the type of artistic community UDF seeks to create.