BULLETIN
Creative Schools Fund Information Session
Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy, 250 E. 111th St. Thursday, September 8, 5pm–7pm. Free. RSVP at bit.ly/2cn1RKB. (312) 583-7459. ingenuity-inc.org
Ingenuity, an arts advocacy organization, welcomes artists, educators, and art partners to an information session on their Creative Schools Fund. Learn about how to apply for a grant to bring arts education resources to local schools in the 2016–17 academic year. The grant deadline is September 30. (Kanisha Williams)
CHA Affordable Housing Seminar
Back of the Yards Library, 2111 W. 47th St. Saturday, September 10, noon–1:30pm. Free. RSVP at bit.ly/2ct6LGq. (773) 292-5784. sc4housing.org
Affordable housing in Chicago entered a new era with the destruction of most of Chicago’s high-profile public housing projects. Resources still exist—access, however, can be an issue. This event, hosted by the Chicago Housing Authority and the Spanish Coalition for Housing, aims to connect residents of Back of the Yards with CHA programs. (Adam Thorp)
UIC Urban Forum: Jobs and the Labor Force of Tomorrow
UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Rd. Thursday, September 15, 8:45am–1pm. $25. Free for Chicago teachers, faculty and students with school ID. Online registration required. Lunch provided with admission. (312) 413-2194. uicurbanforum.org
At this incarnation of UIC’s yearly exploration of urban issues, academics will present white papers on the future of labor from the vantages of migration, secondary education, and post-graduate training. The keynote address will be delivered by Clarence Page, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist with the Tribune. (Adam Thorp)
2nd Annual Summit for Action & Civic Reform
Columbia College, 1104 S. Wabash Ave. Thursday, September 15, 10am–4pm. Free. RSVP at icprsummit.eventbrite.com. (312) 436-1274. ilcampaign.org
Join activists from around Chicagoland for a discussion focusing on pressing civic challenges and how to solve them. Panel discussion topics will include money in politics, engaging millennials, voter access, and strategies for social justice movements. (Joshua Maymir)
Alan Wieder on Studs Terkel
Seminary Co-op, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. Thursday, September 15, 6pm–7:30pm. Free. (773) 752-4381. semcoop.com
Studs Terkel, a man who recorded and curated the stories of countless Chicagoans, more than earned a book-length account of his own life. So the oral historian Alan Wieder wrote one; come to this event to hear him talk about it with local author and radical Bill Ayers. (Adam Thorp)
In The Game
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. Saturday, September 17, 2pm–5pm. Free. RSVP at inthegame.eventbrite.com. (773) 509-5330. wttw.com
Two-time Peabody Award-winner Maria Finitzo’s In the Game highlights the obstacles facing low-income students by chronicling the struggles of a girls’ soccer team at Kelly High as they persevere against discrimination and a lack of services at their South Side school. The screening is presented by WTTW Channel 11 Chicago. (Joshua Maymir)
Beyond Our Vision: An Introduction to Understanding Systemic Racism
Br. David Darst Center, 2834 S. Normal Ave. Wednesday, September 21, 6:30pm–8pm. Free. RSVP at bit.ly/2cmXbo4. (312) 225-3099. darstcenter.org
Enjoy light refreshments while tackling the heavy, but salient, topic of systemic racism at the Darst Center. The workshop, hosted in partnership with Chicago Regional Organizing for AntiRacism, will be facilitated by Derrick C. Dawson and Karen Ziech. (Kanisha Williams)
VISUAL ARTS
Ground Floor
Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave. September 4 through November 6; Monday– Thursday, 9am–8pm, Friday–Saturday, 9am–5pm, Sunday, noon–5pm. (773) 324- 5520. hydeparkart.org
In this, the fourth iteration of HPAC’s showcase for young talent, HPAC’s Exhibitions Committee of celebrated Chicago artists has selected a crop of brave new local talents for a multifaceted exhibition and fellowship program. (Jake Bittle)
Ben Rivers: Urth
Renaissance Society, 5811 S. Ellis Ave., 4th floor. Opening Saturday, September 10, 5pm–8pm. Through November 6. Tuesday–Friday, 10am–5pm, Saturday–Sunday, noon–5pm. (773) 702-8670. renaissancesociety.org
London-based filmmaker and artist Ben Rivers will present his first-ever solo exhibition in the United States, Urth, at the UofC’s Renaissance Society. Filmed largely in Biosphere 2 in Arizona, the project “forms a cinematic meditation on ambitious experiments, constructed environments, and visions of the future.” (Jake Bittle)
Floating Museum: Floating Archive and Calumet Installation
Calumet Park, 9801 S. Avenue G. Open Sunday, September 11, through Saturday, October 8. Monday–Friday, 8am–9pm. Opening reception Sunday, September 11, noon–6pm. Free. (312) 747-6039. thefloatingmuseum.com
In a continuation of the innovative Floating Museum project, artists Faheem Majeed, Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford, and designer Andrew Schachman will unveil a pavilion sculpture installation in Calumet Park, designed to both engage with and challenge notions of the conventional exhibition and museum. After its month in Calumet, the Archive will be floated through the waterways of Chicago up to DuSable Park, making various stops along the way. (Emeline Posner)
Searching the Starry Sky
4th Ward Project Space, 5338 S. Kimbark Ave. Opening reception Sunday, September 18, 4pm–7pm. Through Sunday, October 16. Saturday, 1pm–5pm by appointment. Free. (773) 203-2991. 4wps.org
Vancouver-based artist Emily Hermant is interested in playing with the dynamic between slow, hand-based processes of making and the speed of digital information. Her solo show features a new collection of hand-rendered drawings based on glitch-infused images of the night sky. Themes of wonder and fear pervade, as Hermant addresses the tension between the digital, the cosmic, and the material. (Corinne Butta)
MUSIC
Coultrain
Currency Exchange Café, 305 E. Garfield Blvd. Monday, September 12. 7pm–9pm. Free. (773) 702.9724. arts.uchicago.edu
As part of the “First Mondays Jazz Series,” singer-songwriter and poet Coultrain will be bringing his vibes and words to the Currency Exchange Café on September 12, with bassist Matt Lux and guitarist-sitarist Aaron Shapiro providing backup to Coultrain’s “ethereal lyricism and infectious vocals.” (Austin Brown)
Chosen Thursdays
The Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave. Thursday, September 15. Doors 9pm, show 10pm. $5 early bird, $10 regular. 21+. (312) 801-2100. promontorychicago.com
RFK and the Way We Were present three founding Chicago house DJs Andre Hatchett, Greg Winfield, and Alan King next Thursday at the Promontory. Hatchett and King are also founding members of The Chosen Few DJs, a legendary and seminal group that popularized house in the seventies and eighties. (CJ Fraley)
Peaches
Thalia Hall, 1807 S. Allport St. Monday, September 19. Doors 8pm, show 9pm. $23 standing room, $33 seats. 17+. (312) 526-3851. thaliachicago.com
Dance the pain away with a provocative pop performance from avant-pop producer Peaches. Refreshed but still progressive, and out with her latest album Rub, Peaches is sure to give showgoers an adventurous and lively performance. (Troy Ordonez)
Gucci Mane at Powerfest 2016
UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine Ave. Friday, September 23. Doors 7pm, show 8pm–11pm. $40+. (312) 413-5700. uicpavilion.com
“Trap God” Gucci Mane takes the stage at the UIC Pavilion for a homecoming performance at “Powerfest” 2016, which they’re calling “the greatest show on earth.” Gucci and friends are bound to deliver a powerful set of the best of bling rap. (Troy Ordonez)
STAGE & SCREEN
Alternative Histories of Labor: Miles of Smiles, Years of Struggle
CPL Pullman Branch, 11001 S. Indiana Ave. Thursday, September 8, 6pm. Free. (312) 747- 2033. southsideprojections.org
South Side Projections’ series on nonwhite, non-male labor movements turns inevitably, and deservedly, to Pullman, home of the first African American labor union. Two Roosevelt University history professors will be on hand to introduce and discuss the 1982 documentary on the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porter’s titular struggle for union recognition. (Julia Aizuss)
(((waver)) project: Open Workshops
High Concept Labs at Mana Contemporary, 2233 S. Throop St. Fridays through September 30, 6pm–8:30pm. $10 suggested donation. highconceptlaboratories.org
Jury’s out on whether you’ll learn the story behind the asymmetric parentheses use, but until the end of the month you can drop in to HCL fall sponsored artist Carole McCurdy’s research workshops on partnered dance—and if you enjoy yourself enough, audition for the upcoming production. (Julia Aizuss)
Man in the Ring
Court Theatre, 5535 S. Ellis Ave. Thursday, September 15–Sunday, October 16, 8pm. $38; discounts available for students, seniors, and groups. (773) 753-4472. courttheatre.org
The true story of legendary boxer Emile Griffith, brought to life through the writing of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Michael Cristofer and the direction of Charles Newell, is a story about fighting, both for boxing titles and the ability to define oneself. (CJ Fraley)
James Van Der Zee and the Harlem Renaissance
Blanc Gallery, 4445 S. Martin Luther King Dr. Wednesday, September 14, 7pm. (773) 373- 4320. southsideprojections.org
The two films to be shown at this event highlight the work of the Harlem Renaissance photographer James Van Der Zee and the world his camera captured. Patric McCoy, a leading collector of black art in Chicago, will lead a discussion after the screening. (Adam Thorp)
Finding Fanon: Screening and Artist Talk
Stony Island Arts Bank, 6760 S. Stony Island Ave. Friday, September 16, 7pm–9pm. (312) 857-5561. rebuild-foundation.org
In compensation for the disappearance of Frantz Fanon’s three lost plays, Larry Achiampong and David Blandy teamed up in 2015 for a trilogy of films with media ranging from music videos to Machinima to inform their own investigations of—and investments in—the colonialism Fanon wrote on. One year and two films later, the artists come to the Arts Bank to discuss what’s next. (Julia Aizuss)
The Colored Museum
eta creative arts, 7558 S. South Chicago Ave. Friday, September 23–Sunday, October 23, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm; Sundays at 3pm. $35; $25 seniors; $15 students. (773) 752-3955. etacreativearts.org
In eleven “exhibits,” George C. Wolfe’s satirical play, staged by Pulse Theatre Company, examines stereotypes and identity in the black experience from a “celebrity slave-ship” to an imagined dinner party where “Aunt Jemima and Angela Davis was in the kitchen sharing a plate of greens and just goin’ off about South Africa.” (Adam Thorp)
LIT
Chinaka Hodge at Seminary Co-op
Seminary Co-op Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. Thursday, September 8, 6pm. (773) 752- 4381. semcoop.com
Oakland-born, NYU-educated poet-playwright-educator-screenwriter Chinaka Hodge will read from and discuss her new book Dated Emcees, in which she “examines her love life through the lens of hip-hop’s best known orators, characters, archetypes and songs,” exploring her personal relationship to a genre that changed the landscape of American music. (Jake Bittle)
Mitigating Evidence at CAD
Chicago Art Department, 1932 S. Halsted St. Opens Friday, September 9, 6pm–10pm, then by appointment through Tuesday, October 4. freewritechicago.org
This exhibition of art and writing by young people who have been incarcerated in the Cook County Jail and downstate Stateville Correctional Center will coincide with the release of the seventh anthology of work by Free Write Arts & Literacy, a group that seeks to facilitate artistic expression among incarcerated individuals. (Jake Bittle)
Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad with Natalie Moore
Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th St. Tuesday, September 13, 6pm. $5 general admission; $30 general admission including one copy of The Underground Railroad. (773) 702-2787. arts.uchicago.edu
Join Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times bestselling author Colson Whitehead and WBEZ reporter Natalie Moore as they discuss Whitehead’s latest novel, The Underground Railroad—a poignant and gripping story of Cora, a slave who escapes her Georgia plantation in search of freedom. (Kanisha Williams)
Dave Baron’s Pembroke with Yondi K. Morris-Andrews
Seminary Co-op Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. Wednesday, September 14, 6pm–7:30pm. Free. (773) 752-4381. semcoop.com
Dave Baron, a constitutional litigator in the City of Chicago’s Law Department, sits down with Yondi K. Morris-Andrews, founding partner of Knight, Morris & Reddick Law Group, to discuss Baron’s Pembroke, a deep look into the Pembroke Township of Illinois, a township of black farmers with roots in the Great Migration struggling to attain ever-elusive economic prosperity. (Kanisha Williams)
FREEMAN’s release
Seminary Co-op Bookstore, 5751 S. Woodlawn Ave. Tuesday, September 20, 6pm–8pm. Free. (773) 752-4381. semcoop.com
Join the Co-op in celebration of the release of FREEMAN’S: Family, the second issue of the serial literary journal edited by John Freeman, former editor of Granta. Aleksandar Hemon, the acclaimed Sarajevo-born Chicagoan author of The Making of Zombie Wars, is Freeman’s interlocutor. RSVP on Facebook. (Neal Jochmann)
I did not know about the weekly. Great job!