Creative Communities, Collective Futures
The 2026 Chicago Regional
November 12-14 | Chicago, Illinois
Yaritza Guillen is an urbanista, storyteller, and unapologetic optimist whose work centers on interdisciplinary practice, community-based design, and story mapping to reshape urban environments. Through magical urbanism and hopecore, they explore how imagination, culture, and collective care can transform public spaces. Their work uses documentation, collective memory, and sustained engagement to move residents from consultation to authorship, participating in projects from conception through implementation. Yaritza currently serves as Stewardship Coordinator at NeighborSpace, a land trust supporting community-managed green spaces across Chicago.
Sophia Guadalupe Padgett Pérez is a Venezuelan-American artist, educator, organizer, curator, and herbalist based in Chicago, originally from Miami. She holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she studied photography and art therapy. With over eight years of experience in arts administration, education, fundraising, and community programming, Sophia develops creative initiatives that connect artists, youth, and neighborhoods through arts, ecology, and cultural exchange. She has led collaborative programs with public schools, community gardens, museums, libraries, and cultural institutions, expanding access to arts education and nature-based learning for thousands of participants. Her curatorial work spans local galleries, museums, and international art fairs, while her fundraising experience has supported impactful arts and community projects. Grounded in the ecologies of South Florida and the Midwest, Sophia's artistic and organizing practices explore queer, multicultural relationships to land, healing, and belonging through creativity, collaboration, and environmental stewardship.
Pantaleon Florez III is a farmer, ethnobotanist, chef, and educator based in Lawrence, Kansas. As the founder of Maseualkualli Farms, his work centers on seed reclamation, Mexica crop breeding, and food sovereignty. His work on the farm includes leading a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) funded research project titled Ancestral Mexica Farming: A Comparative Yield Analysis from the 1500s. Holding a Master's in Curriculum & Instruction, he also serves as the Real World Learning Coordinator for Lawrence Public Schools, where he manages the district's Work-Based Learning and Farm to School Programs. Grounded in building sustainable, community-driven public infrastructure, Florez has secured grant funding for major cross-sector initiatives, including establishing a greenhouse program for the juvenile detention center and transforming a closed elementary school kitchen into a district-run bakery. As a chef, Florez grounds his culinary practices in ancestral Mexica crops grown on his farm, examining how regional foodways, public art, and cultural programming intersect. His work spans institutional and community-built spaces, including teaching nixtamalization at the Indigenous Food Sovereignty Summit at the University of Kansas and catering the closing ceremony for Iⁿ’zhúje’waxóbe: Return of the Sacred Red Rock at the Spencer Museum of Art. Drawing on his cross-sector experience across public education, food sovereignty, and cultural preservation, Florez brings a critical lens to how communal infrastructure and collaborative partnerships shape resilient, collective futures.