Abby Pucker, a member of a family of prominent philanthropists is a cultural producer who builds initiatives sitting at the nexus of the creative economy and civic engagement.
She is interested in leveraging the collective power and resources of this next generation of wealth and creative talent to find more sustainable solutions to building a just and equitable creative economy.
Abby is particularly focused on Chicago and launched a Chicago-based platform called Gertie. Gertie is a community platform made up of culturally curious young professionals who engage with the city and each other in new ways. Gertie provides membership access to programming in partnership with Chicago’s most exciting institutions, artists and cultural movers & shakers – the ones you know and the ones you should get to know.
To this end, Abby produced Skin in the Game, a 50-artist exhibition in Chicago’s Fulton Market neighborhood in partnership with Jeff Shapack and Alec and Jennifer Litowitz.
The second project from the Gertie platform is (A)Part Chicago — a guidebook and cookbook to the city through 26 civic leaders who have helped build the arts and culture ecosystem in Chicago.
As Mass Moca’s inaugural Creative Producer in Residence, Abby is working in partnership with Moca’s new Executive Director Kristy Edmunds on a festival in North Adams that aims to show the ways in which the creative economy and artists can work in partnership with local businesses and the community to spur economic development for the city as a whole.
Prior to producing under the Gertie banner, Pucker produced and launched Madison Wells’ Chicago-based immersive art experience, Nevermore Park, based on Hebru Brantley’s Flyboy. Her film credits include Emily Cohn’s “CRSHD,” which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and was released in virtual theaters May 2020, “When Jeff Tried to Save the World” starring Maya Erskine, and Erica Rose’s “Girl Talk” which premiered at Outfest in 2018. Additionally, she is a board member of The Marshall Project, Pioneer Works, Ghetto Film School, and the progressive American political organization, Run for Something.
Throughout her career, Abby Pucker has been passionate about supporting initiatives at the intersection of tech, media and culture that are driving society to be more inclusive and amplify the voices of underrepresented communities. As Director of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships for Madison Wells, an award-winning independent entertainment company based in Los Angeles, she is leading the charge on crafting the overall strategy for the company while also helping provide a framework that allows Madison Wells to empower the many voices whose stories deserve to be told. Most recently she produced Madison Wells and Hebru Brantley’s Chicago-based immersive art experience Nevermore Park.
In addition to her role at Madison Wells, Abby has invested in a number of LA and New York based companies in both the media and community spaces and is involved in others in an advisory capacity including Seed & Spark and Breakwater Studios.
Previously, Abby also worked as an independent producer on mission-driven film and theater projects including Emily Cohn’s “CRSHD,” which premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and was released in virtual theaters May 2020 and “When Jeff Tried to Save the World,” starring Maya Erskine, and Erica Rose’s “Girl Talk” which premiered at Outfest in 2018.
Together with her parents Gigi Pritzker Pucker and Michael Pucker are leading philanthropists supporting worthy causes across the U.S. and across generations.