Anthony D. Stepter is an organizer, educator, and curator originally from Grand Rapids, MI. Anthony is the Programs Director at ACRE (Artist’s Cooperative Residency & Exhibitions) based in Chicago, IL and Wisconsin’s Driftless Region. Prior to his role at ACRE, Anthony worked for the School of Art and Art History at the University of Illinois at Chicago as the assistant director of the Museum and Exhibition Studies graduate program. \\ Anthony has undergraduate degrees in Sociology and Marketing from Grand Valley State University as well as an MA in Visual and Critical Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Anthony worked for three years as the public programs coordinator for Gallery 400. // Prior to graduate school, Anthony worked for the Museum Education Department at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Continuing Studies Department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Americans for the Arts, and the Grand Rapids Art Museum. \\ As an independent organizer, Anthony has hosted and produced several events designed to create new and interesting modes of engagement around the arts.
Anthony has curated exhibitions and projects for ACRE, the Washington Park Arts Incubator at the University of Chicago, the Critical Distance Centre for Curators ,and the Open Engagement Conference among other sites. // He served as a juror for apexart, collaborated with the Office of Public Culture in Grand Rapids, MI, and co-curated Extinct Entities, a month-long performance series of commissioned art works exploring the history of Chicago-based art spaces that no longer exist. \\ Anthony’s work seeks to encourage museums and galleries to consider their relationship to the communities in which they program and to support projects that invite publics to define and generate meaningful connections to works of art and ideas. This work is guided by antiracist and feminist study in an effort to build networks of support and abundant joy.