Steel Studio

Steel Studio is a multidisciplinary collaborative and creative studio developing ideas, projects, and partnerships that respond to community needs.

Steel Studio is interested in supporting various creative communities as a platform for innovation, experimentation, and interactions through the arts, design, architecture, citizen and stakeholder engagement, physical environments, material culture, storytelling, and social action.

Lauren M. Pacheco is a Mexican-American born and raised on Chicago's southwest side. She is a civic practice artist and cultural worker with over fifteen years of arts administration, curation, and project management experience. Her background is grounded in social practice and public engagement with a personal mandate to responsibly and respectfully invest in targeted communities. Many of her projects are interested in space, people, and social impact. Today, Pacheco serves as a resource to policymakers and institutions in the public dialogue about issues that impact artists and creative enterprises. She is an associate faculty lecturer at Indiana University Northwest and a co-creative director at the Chicago Humanities Festival.