Deidre Huckabay is a performer, writer, and flutist. Their artwork, work-for-money work, lifework, and everyday habits and rituals flow from an understanding that liberation is possible in every lifetime, for every living being, and that one cannot take a neutral stance on this enlightenment—we are either opening the gate or closing it.

Deidre is co-owner of the experimental cassette tape label Parlour Tapes+ and a member of the collective Mocrep. They are a 3Arts Make a Wave Grantee and a High Concept Labs Sponsored Artist. In 2017, they received a full year studio and rehearsal residency from the Eighth Blackbird Chicago Artists Workshop. They have received grants from the Illinois Arts Council, the Paul R. Judy Foundation, and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.

As a flutist, Deidre has extensively toured the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, and they’ve recorded for Urtext and Bridge Records. They studied at the Eastman School of Music and Duquesne University.

A multi-generation Texan on both sides, Deidre is the descendent of white British and Scottish settlers who squatted on lands belonging to Wichita, Comanche, and Apache people near present-day Dallas, Lubbock, and Amarillo. Daughter of Charlotte and Ron, granddaughter of Bettye, Anne, and Bob, Deidre is named after soap actor Deidre Hall (best known for playing Dr. Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives) and Ulster heroine Deirdre of the Sorrows.

Their company Sardine Consulting offers grant writing and fundraising services to artists and arts organizations, especially those practicing experimental, interdisciplinary, or difficult-to-define approaches. They’ve spoken about fundraising and led workshops for New Music Chicago, Ear Taxi Festival, DePaul University, DePauw University, and Bowling Green State University.