Note: The Institute for the Humanities will cover the registration fee for U-M faculty (all campuses) who want to attend one or all three days of the conference. Please submit the receipt for reimbursement to [email protected] for processing.

Held October 5-8, 2026, the Creating Community Conference brings together artists and professionals from progressive art studios* across the United States and beyond, along with professionals active in disability arts, rights, and theory, to discuss best practices, advocacy, and the evolving landscape of art and disability. This annual event, a Creative Growth initiative launched in Oakland, CA in 2019, aims to foster dialogue and collaboration around the importance of inclusive creative spaces for artists with developmental disabilities and mental health differences.

This year's conference will be hosted in Detroit and Ann Arbor Michigan, and is locally organized and led by the Progressive Art Studio Collective (PASC), with support from the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities, and Library Street Collective. National administration and strategic support is being provided by Creative Growth, in collaboration with the Progressive Art Studio Alliance (PASA).

CCC7 invites both internal (studio staff and artists) and external (general public) audiences to engage with the art and practice of progressive art studios. The conference covers a range of topics from hands-on studio practice, exhibiting, collecting and representing artists with disabilities, self-taught art, outsider art, disability studies, mental-health, radical pedagogy and more, expanding the conversation on platforming the creative production of marginalized communities, opening up the art world to disabled artists, and the transformative power of art.

Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Location: The Shepherd, 1265 Parkview St, Detroit, MI 48214

• 9:00-9:10AM: Opening Remarks
• 9:10-10:00AM: Atelier Herenplaats - A European PAS Model
• 10:00-11:00AM: Alternate (Economic) Studio Models
• 11:00-11:15AM: Break
• 11:15-12:30: Death and Mourning in the Studio
• 12:30-12:45: Walk or bus to the Lantern Building
• 12:45-2:30: Lunch and Visit PASC
• 2:30-6:30PM: Break - suggested tours around Detroit (List will be provided)
• 6:00-7:30PM: Charlotte Hollinshead: ActionSpace, Nnena Kalu and The Turner Prize (Free External Lecture as part of the conference open to the general public.)

View the full schedule and register at https://myumi.ch/qwVRX.