The Ivy Chicago

The Ivy Chicago describes itself as a collective of queer women of color, founded in 2023, that set out to create a BIPOC-exclusive shibari rope studio in Chicago, a rope space for Black, Indigenous and people of color. Its 2024 fundraising page states the goals of platforming BIPOC rope artists and of developing consent practices, harm reduction and restorative-justice processes, and calls the space BIPOC-, queer- and trans-friendly and open to all body types, experience levels and tying roles.

In its first months, according to that page, the collective ran mixers, rope jams, BIPOC-specific events and workshops on safe practice and risk. The July 2024 campaign raised more than its $10,000 goal to rent a home studio, with plans for regular courses taught by BIPOC instructors, ongoing jams and suspension points for advanced riggers.

One co-founder, the rope artist Mantis, is described in a 2025 Leather Archives & Museum class listing as a queer woman of color who uses rope for artistic expression and healing, who entered the Chicago kink scene in 2021 and who focuses on creating and supporting BIPOC kink spaces. The listing says Mantis has co-hosted rope jams and community events for The Ivy and teaches its Rope 101, Artistic Expression and Tied to Tranquility classes, with an emphasis on consent, communication and trust. That listing, for a Kink Klass on rope safety and fun ties with Mantis at the museum, gives monthly Sunday dates from June to December 2025.

The collective has no website of its own, and no dated 2026 activity could be confirmed on its public pages.