Our Mission
We invite artists of any race, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, and religious affiliation to take part in our mission to embody our core values: flexibility, generosity, humility, curiosity, and care. We're committed to providing underrepresented artists a radically generous place to create art and nourish one another through shared meals, shared dialogue, and shared inquiry. To honor our commitment to interrupting and destabilizing oppression in our own community, we offer training opportunities for collective learning around power, privilege, and oppression.
Queen Bees
Core Hive Queens
Alyssa Vera Ramos is a theatre artist and educator in Chicago with an emphasis on social practice and participatory engagement. Alyssa is a member of For Youth Inquiry (FYI) Performance Cadre and WOC artist collective FEMelanin. She is also a DCASE and 3Arts grant recipient for The Scarlet S Project presents: I AM THE RAT, which she developed and directed. Current projects-in-development include EPIC TALES FROM THE LAND OF MELANIN, an experiential TYA play centering revolutionary young girls of color (with FEMelanin), and LA OPERACIÓN, about the forced sterilization of Puerto Rican women (with her novelist mother Marisel Vera).
Jacob Watson designs and facilitates experiences that move people into deeper understanding of themselves and their communities. He is a theatre director/producer and an educator who uses creative, embodied strategies to foster expansive thinking, dialogue, and growth. Jacob has been a researcher at Project Zero and a program manager for interdisciplinary learning initiatives at Columbia College Chicago. He has been a teaching artist in public schools and led workshops for faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students at universities. Jacob is a founding member of the FYI Performance Company at the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health, which creates participatory theatre experiences that activate the creative potential of sexuality education. He is also an organizer for Swarm Artist Residency. Jacob has created performances for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Redmoon, Theatre Unspeakable, FYI, Piven Theatre Workshop, Chicago Home Theatre Festival, and Erasing the Distance. Currently, he is collaborating with Tellin' Tales Theatre to develop Transplant, a new musical that seeks to redefine public perception of disability. His writing can be found online at Education Week and Medium.com. Jacob holds an Ed.M. in Arts in Education from Harvard University and a B.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University.
Chinyere "Chi" Achebe
Chinyere is a certified Reiki Practitioner who channels Divine Inner-G for the purpose of healing through art, touch, intuitive readings, music, play, envisioning and movement by accessing all of the resources of this ABUNDANT UNIVERSE.
Kara Crutcher
Dana Murphy
Seasonal Hive Queens
Justin Goh teaches Art, Photography, Filmmaking, and Engineering at Woodlands Academy. He studied Mechanical Engineering at Singapore Polytechnic and has a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Justin is a member of the 2023/24 Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Teacher Institute Residency Program, and was recently awarded a High School Educators Grant by the Society for Photographic Education.
Melissa Fox (she/her) is a documentary filmmaker, artist and writer. Her work centers human connection, community storytelling and joy. With a wide range of co-collaborators, clients, awards, festivals and projects; Melissa garners over 20 years of experience forging her own path in the industry; influenced by a childhood full of making movies with cheap toy cameras and a sketchbook full of doodles. At Swarm you can find her painting watercolor landscapes, frolicking barefoot through the grass, gazing at clouds to predict the weather and pitching the merits of excellent planning as radical self care.
Jessamyn Fitzpatrick (she/her) is a theatre artist and educator working at the intersections of sexuality, reproductive justice, and performance. Jessamyn spent several years touring an interactive show about sexual violence prevention and was a company member with For Youth Inquiry (FYI) for the Illinois Caucus of Adolescent Health (ICAH) – developing and performing participatory theatre surrounding reproductive justice issues ranging from virginity myths to youth abortion access. In addition to her artistic practice, she works as a sex educator and social justice facilitator. She holds a BA from Reed College in Theatre and an MA in Performance Studies from NYU. She is an avid fan of e.e. cummings, crop tops and audience participation.
Ola Faleti is an artist and arts educator raised & based in Chicago. Her writing has appeared in several online and print spaces, and the curriculum for Ola’s workshop with 826CHI, “Poets in Revolt!” was distributed nationally and birthed an anthology of youth writing. She’s currently a Poet-In-Residence with the Chicago Poetry Center and owns a grant writing and creative facilitation business, Spare Jar Consulting. Ola’s favorite number is nine. She believes there’s no such thing as too many flowers.
Renee Kuharchuk (she/her/they) is an active visual artist working in Chicago. Her work captures close-up portraiture that experiments with dynamic brushwork and bold abstract colors. Through painting the human form, she explores themes of feminism and the human experience. As a woman forging a positive space for mental health, her practice not only brings these issues to light, but creates a space for self-healing and, on a broader scope, awareness of our inner battles. She is also a member of Art ConnectEd and the Digital Gallery Assistant Director for the Illinois High School Art Exhibition. Her work can be viewed at www.reneekuharchuk.com
Jordan Harris
Charlie Fuller
Enid Muñoz is a writer and performer who loves collaborative devising. Enid has supported the Swarm hive throughout the years. She/they stepped away from art for a few years and grew her administrative and organizational skills. Serving as a seasonal queen was their return to the art community, and deeply needed connection to it's fulfilling purpose. Enid can also be found learning new skills and running behind her toddler.
Former Queen hall of fame
Nik Zaleski
Nik Zaleski (she/they) is a humble student of miracles and breakthrough architect. She guides individuals, audiences, and organizations toward revelations that change their work and life. Sometimes this looks like supporting social justice organizations in making discoveries about their impact through her organizational development company, Murmur. Sometimes it looks like writing and directing plays that help audiences feel new feelings through the theater she makes. Sometimes it looks like helping individuals and couples experience a deeper connection to themselves and to each other through her intimate somatics coaching (hell yes, that includes deeper and more life-expanding orgasms). When she’s not doing all that other stuff, Nik makes mead, tinctures, and other remedies from her garden that grows year-round and totally believes in magic.
Danielle Littman
Danielle Maude Littman (she/her) is a writer, facilitator, and community-engaged scholar who dreams of creating places of belonging, affirmation, and safety, especially for folks who've been denied access to these feelings for far too long. Her artistic practice spans across the realms of participatory process-holding, nonfiction writing, playwriting, and mixed media visual art. She has worked in K-12 education, community arts programming, and clinical social work practice, and is presently a PhD candidate in Social Work at the University of Denver. She holds her master's degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and her BA in Theatre and Creative Nonfiction Writing from Northwestern University.
Freddie Ramos
Freddie is a writer, educator, and facilitator of play. They work towards a world where everyone has room to heal and embody their joy. They are currently writing a graphic novel about decolonization, transformative justice, and the ocean.
Lily Be
Lily Be is the longtime host and producer of The Stoop a live off-book storytelling show on Chicago's West Side.
Lily Be is a lifelong Chicagoan and supporter of the community and the arts. Her foray into performing was completely by accident and she continues to create and do work in efforts of finding other people like her who may not have access to or resources to classes/workshops/storytelling shows to discover their voice or standing in their truths. She does a lot more than a bio intro will ever do her justice, so catch everything she has going on at LilyBe.com
Founders
Swarm is the brainchild of Zoe Swartz, and was founded by Zoe, Morgan McNaught, Lee Stark, and Nik Zaleski.