Summary: “It seems weird to me now that we would think about community as something that didn’t have children in it” Colin Kloecker and Shanai Matteson of Works Progress talk about balancing their personal partnership, their artistic partnership, and their work partnership as they've transitioned in to parenthood. They talk about how they were influenced by both having attended arts High Schools. They talk about knowing they were interested in the arts as young people but not really understanding what it would mean to become an “artist.” Shanai talks about how important playing music was to her father. Colin talks about working as an architect for several years and realizing it wasn’t exactly what he wanted to be doing. “I don’t ever want to create experiences that are only for an elite group of people” They talk about creating Works Progress as an umbrella for the numerous projects they were doing with various collaborators. Shanai talks about loosely defining what Works Progress is about so that it can include a wide range of events, mediums, and practices without excluding any ideas they find exciting. “I don’t want him to feel like if we are poor it limits him” Shanai talks about how growing up in a low-income household shaped her relationship with cultural events and experiences. And how it made her feel less married to the idea of needing a lot of things as an adult. She talks about wanting to make sure her son gets exposed to as many experiences as possible even if they may not be able to buy him a lot of stuff. Colin and Shanai talk about one of their larger goals in all the work they do to make fine art ideas and highly respected artists accessible to people who don’t have arts training or a professional arts background. They also share how becoming parents has made them more aware of the fact that for their collaborators and audiences participation in their events may depend on whether or not they can bring their kids or find childcare. Plus, check out this recent Works Progress video about artist Mankwe Ndosi called "Everyday Ways"
