Founded in 2012, A House Unbuilt is an artist-led, interdisciplinary organization that connects art, ecology, and community through listening, movement, and storytelling. What began in Chicago as a project to engage communities through performance and public dialogue evolved through seven years of work between Chicago and Louisiana, where projects such as Relay of Voices and Caught Up: A Coastal Listening Project documented stories of resilience along the Mississippi River and Gulf Coast. These experiences established the organization’s core methodology: fieldwork, conversation, and creative translation as tools for civic connection.

Now based in Stillwater, Minnesota, A House Unbuilt continues that work through the Art & Water Space, a studio-gallery in the heart of downtown that serves as both creative laboratory and public commons. The space anchors new initiatives in the St. Croix River Valley, including the Art & Water Micro-Residency, which offers stipends and studio access to regional artists, and Water Where We Live, a curatorial collaboration with the Brown’s Creek Watershed District and ArtReach St. Croix that commissioned twelve artists to interpret local water systems through art and science.

The organization also convenes community-based events such as the annual River Days of Action in partnership with One Mississippi—including “Take Action,” a pop-up engagement with ArtReach encouraging stewardship of the St. Croix, and “Love Thy Neighbor,” a postcard and coloring-party action celebrating care across the watershed.

As founder and artistic director, Victoria Bradford Styrbicki contributes directly to the region’s cultural fabric through performances and installations that bring choreography into gallery and environmental contexts—expanding how audiences experience movement, place, and participation within the River Valley’s arts ecosystem.Across all its programs, A House Unbuilt remains rooted in listening as creative practice—preserving lived knowledge through performance, sound, and image while cultivating relationships between artists, scientists, and residents.