Stockyard Institute is an ongoing civic, artistic, and social practice project founded in 1995 by artist Jim Duignan in the Back of the Yards community of south Chicago. Duignan was influenced early by local activists and neighborhood artists, composers  and poets, artist collectives, and teachers whose pedagogical approaches aligned with the issues of the community. Stockyard Institute works deep inside Chicago communities on cooperative and shared ideas built from long term relationships through platforms ranging from small watt radio stations, publications, residencies, architectural interventions and built spaces, to curricular models, community performances, city wide programs, and public art.

Currently, Stockyard Institute and the DePaul Art Museum are preparing for a retrospective museum exhibition and catalog; Stockyard Institute: 25 Years of Art and Radical Pedagogy September 9, 2021 through February 13, 2022. We are also in the Back of the Yards developing widespread partnerships, studio and pedagogical works across the community, outdoor gardens and architectural and ecological systems to support groups and spaces already in place and emerging, in cooperation with the College of Education at DePaul University and partners across the city.