Pioneers on the Prairie: Celebrating Women in New Media Arts is a free public symposium in Chicago that looks at the achievements and strategies of women working in new media in the Midwest from the 1980s onward and will bring together more than a dozen artists from the field to share their stories and ideas. This event is centered around the upcoming release of the book Women in New Media Arts: Perspectives on Innovative Collaboration (University of Illinois Press; edited by Donna Cox, Janine Fron, and Ellen Sandor.)

Symposium participants include Brenda Laurel, Ellen Sandor, Claudia Hart, Tiffany Holmes, Joan Truckenbrod, Carolina Cruz-Neira, Colleen Bushell, Jane Veeder, Copper Giloth, Barbara Sykes, Maxine Brown, Dana Plepys, Mary Rasmussen, Nan Goggin, Annette Barbier, Abina Manning, Margaret Dolinsky, Stephanie Rothenberg, Terri Kapsalis, Sabrina Raaf, Lee Blalock, Faith Wilding, Jessica Westbrook, and Marlena Novak.

Free and open to the public. The day will consist of a number of hour-long panels, so attendees can choose to come for a selection of sessions or for the whole time.