Highdive is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a work of art rooted in the Chicago creative community that helped shape the agency.
The independent Chicago shop has commissioned local artist Dwight White to create Collective Leap, an original piece honoring Highdive’s first decade and the people, clients and collaborators who helped build it.
Highdive first connected with White through its pro bono work with Chicago Voyagers, including last year’s Future Voyagers exhibit. That relationship became the starting point for the anniversary project.
Rather than create a traditional agency retrospective, Highdive wanted the milestone to reflect the qualities it associates with both the agency and Chicago itself: creativity, collaboration and individuality.
Collective Leap depicts individual figures moving together to create momentum without losing their distinct identities — an idea intended to reflect Highdive’s evolution as it grows while maintaining the independent culture and individual creative voices that have defined the agency since its launch.
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The piece also extends a relationship between Highdive, White and Chicago Voyagers that has increasingly blurred the line between advertising, community engagement and art.
Highdive partnered with Chicago Voyagers last year on The Future Voyagers, an exhibition featuring artwork inspired by young people participating in the nonprofit’s outdoor experiential programs.
White, a multidisciplinary Chicago artist whose work often explores identity, community and human connection, was among the creative voices connected to that project.
For Highdive, bringing him back for its anniversary gave the agency an opportunity to celebrate its own history through the work of someone outside the agency walls.
The original Collective Leap will be unveiled at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago as Highdive gathers its team to celebrate the anniversary.
Prints of the artwork have also been produced as part of the celebration.
Ten years after opening its doors, Highdive has grown from an independent Chicago startup into an agency behind national work for major brands while maintaining its headquarters and creative identity in the city.
Collective Leap is less about looking backward than capturing what Highdive hopes to carry into its next decade: different people, different perspectives and one shared push forward.
