Juan William Chávez (born in Lima, Peru lives in St. Louis, Missouri.) Chavez is an artist and cultural activist for the city of St. Louis. Chavez’s studio practice focuses on the “art experience” in social landscape and capturing them through drawing, photos, film and community events. Chavez has a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and a MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Exhibitions include Video 2005 at Art in General, New York, NY, winner of the 2008 Great Rivers Biennial at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and video screening at the Harris Lieberman Gallery, New York, NY. He represented St. Louis in the Heartland exhibition at the Van Abbenmuseum in Eindhoven, Netherlands. In 2006, Chavez founded Boots Contemporary Art Space, an artist-run art lab. Boots provides emerging to mid-career artists and curators with an art lab that will support them in creating new work. Chavez has also been organizing cultural events and exhibitions throughout the city in an attempt to promote cultural dialog in the form of public art. Events include Juan William Chávez Communist New Years Party at White Flag Projects, organized a performance by Mexico City based artist Silverio in collaboration with the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Most recently, Chavez has curating a community base project by 2010 Whitney Biennial participant Theaster Gates at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Art in conjunction with the exhibition Urban Alchemy: Gordon Matta-Clark.