A reception will take place prior to screening with appetizers and wine provided, and a conversation regarding the film will proceed the screening. 6:00 PM - Dominican Rep. Appetizers and Wine 7:00 PM - Film screening (Spanish with English subtitles) Parking at 33 W Ontario ($10 with validation) Sun in the Water / Sol en […]
Join CJE SeniorLife Holocaust Community Services and Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center (IHMEC) for an evening with Dr. Martin Dean, renowned Holocaust historian, author, former war crimes investigator, and researcher with the Babiy Yar Holocaust Memorial Center. Dr. Dean will examine the complex history of the Babiy Yar ravine, where more than 33,000 Jewish men, […]
Friday, September 30 - Saturday, October 1, 2022 Ragamala: A Celebration of Indian Classical Music - Celebrating 10 Years! Chicago Cultural Center, Preston Bradley Hall 78 E. Washington St., 3rd Flr, Chicago, IL 60602 6pm-8am All Ages, Free! Presented by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events in collaboration with South Asia Institute, South […]
HOMECOMING will be SSCAC's first large-scale outdoor program, intended to be a city-wide call and response to Black artists! About this event HOMECOMING will be SSCAC's first large-scale outdoor program, intended to be a city-wide call and response to Black artists to further celebrate our legacy as the first Black arts center in the nation, reconnect with […]
Scandinavian Jam, where we practice what we teach. Join Mary Allsopp and Paul Tyler online on the first and third Sunday of every month. Enjoy an afternoon of traditional roots music. We teach by ear, review and share tunes. We are happy to take suggestions and love meeting new people. It’s a friendly group and […]
Oct 2, Sunday at 2pm to 4pm – 2022 FAHM Celebration Kickoff. The Filipino American History Month celebration kickoff event will be held at the Bolingbrook Fountaindale Library at 300 W Briarcliff Rd, Bolingbrook, IL 60440. There will be a film screening of “Everything Stays” followed by Q&A with film director Cole Bacani in-person. Contact […]
Organizers: Filipino-American Historical Society of Chicago
Baila Conmigo, supporting local music artists while bringing artistic excellence and enjoyment to our community! This outdoor event is held at the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance Terraza and FREE to the public. Audience is encouraged to bring a lawn chair. Due to limited space you should arrive early and no pets. Doors open 6pm Schedule: […]
East Meets Middle East (EMME) is a musical collective across continents celebrating the rich traditions of the Middle East and South Asia. About this event **Limited Seating Capacity. ** Early Ticket Purchase Recommended. What happens when Indian sarod and tabla meet Middle Eastern oud and darbuka? East Meets Middle East (EMME) is a musical collective across continents celebrating the rich traditions of the […]
Organizers: South Asia Institute, Intercultural Music Production
This event is part of Journey Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Alliance's annual citywide festival of cross-cultural events. A screening of In Search of Weeping Jim, a historic documentary about the late Chicago Alderman James Ambrose Kearns, who introduced the legislation in the Chicago City Council in 1914 that Chicago should have its own flag. Refreshments […]
Organizers: Hibernian Transmedia, Irish American Heritage Center
Manto is a 2018 Indian biographical drama film based on the life of the prominent Urdu author Saadat Hasan Manto. About this event Manto Manto is a 2018 Indian biographical film based on the life of the prominent author Saadat Hasan Manto, written and directed by Nandita Das. Manto is based on the 1940s post-Independence […]
Oct 8, Saturday 2pm to 4pm – FANHS Greater Chicago Chapter is hosting the Film Screening of Honor Thy Mother to be followed by a panel discussion on the racial-ethnic spectrum of Filipino American mestizos (mixed race) and how social consequences of their ethnicity—such as racism and self-identity issues—have affected their lives.. Guest panelists include […]
Organizers: Filipino-American Historical Society of Chicago
By Tango Lovers for tango lovers, you can't miss an unforgettable night on Friday, October 14th at Nichols Hall! VOLVER (return/to come back) signifies the return to the stage and to the large-scale productions that we enjoyed before the pandemic and also tells the story of tango artists returning to their home country after working […]
Open House Chicago- A City wide CELEBRATION FOR ALL . Come to enjoy exhibitions, food, music, presentations each day at 1:30PM and FOOD. About this event BRONZEVILLE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OPEN HOUSE CHICAGO - host SATURDAY, OCT. 15 - 16, 2022 11am - 2pm at 4455 S. King Drive Suite 103, Chicago FREE STREET PARKING - […]
This event is part of Journey Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Alliance's annual citywide festival of cross-cultural events. A collaboration between the Chicago Japanese American Historical Society and Trickster Cultural Center to highlight the traditions of drumming as it relates to cultural identity. A performing group from each culture will demonstrate and share their art. Japanese […]
Organizers: Chicago Japanese American Historical Society, Trickster Cultural Center
The Chinese American Museum of Chicago (CAMOC) is excited to host the last of two free public programs inspired by the Spotlight Series exhibition Yuge Zhou: Moon Drawings. The program is a sound performance by Kikù Hibino and Chien-An Yuan on Saturday, October 15, from 1pm-2:30pm CT, a day before the closing of the exhibition. Register here About the artists: Japanese-born […]
Scandinavian Jam, where we practice what we teach. Join Mary Allsopp and Paul Tyler online on the first and third Sunday of every month. Enjoy an afternoon of traditional roots music. We teach by ear, review and share tunes. We are happy to take suggestions and love meeting new people. It’s a friendly group and […]
Fabiola Méndez: Live Trio Performance and Negrura Documentary Screening About this event Fabiola Méndez is a Puerto Rican cuatro player, educator, and composer that has taken part in a musical movement, crossing over the lines of genres such as folkloric, jazz & Latin. Recognized for being the first student to graduate from Berklee College of […]
Please join us at CAMOC for the first gathering of Truths As We Speak Them: A Storytelling Open Mic on Oct 22! This open mic storytelling gathering, hosted by Ada Cheng, is co-sponsored by the Bronzeville Historical Society, Chinese American Museum of Chicago, and People Matter. The open mic will rotate between Bronzeville and Chinatown neighborhoods. The […]
Organizers: Bronzeville Historical Society, Chinese American Museum of Chicago
This event is part of Journey Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Alliance's annual citywide festival of cross-cultural events. South Asia and Korea share a common history of being divided by an arbitrary line that gave rise to new nations, India and Pakistan and North and South Korea. This year is the 75th. anniversary of the Partition […]
Organizers: Korean Cultural Center of Chicago, South Asia Institute
Join us for a double feature screening of two classic prewar films: Mother's Heart and Thavary Meas Bong. Screening for the first time in Chicago, these films are a celebration of early Cambodian filmmakers' ingenuity, craftsmanship, and talents. These early filmmakers' aim was to make films that Cambodian audiences would be proud to watch but […]
Organizers: National Cambodian Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial
Juan Carmona was only ten years old when his father gave him his first guitar. His passion for the instrument grew and his virtuosity was quickly remarked by professional musicians. Juan’s journey as a professional guitarist took him back to his roots: Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia. For 9 years, he absorbed as much […]
Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts is a feature documentary film exploring the life of a unique American artist, a man with a remarkable and unlikely biography. Bill Traylor was born into slavery in 1853 on a cotton plantation in rural Alabama. After the Civil War, Traylor continued to farm the land until the 1920s. Aging and alone, […]
Organizers: Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
The Cuatro is regarded as the national instrument of Puerto Rico and is revered by the Puerto Rican community as an important part of our history. It is recognized and acknowledged as “our guitar” and holds important traditional and historical value. The Emmy Award-winning Annual National Cuatro Festival (NCF) is a unique music event that […]
J. Gibran Villalobos is an arts administrator, educator, and cultural worker. He has served as Senior Program Officer for the Institute of Museum and Library Services, as the Interim Executive Director of the Chicago Artists Coalition, and faculty lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Previously, he has held posts as Assistant Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Partnerships and Community Engagement Manager for the Chicago Architecture Biennial, Cultural Liaison for the Chicago Park District, and Curator-in-Residence for the Chicago Cultural Center. In 2016 he attended the Advocacy Leadership Institute and was invited to the White House Office of Public Engagement, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to speak to issues affecting Latinos in Chicago. In 2017 he launched an inaugural summit of Latinx artists and administrators across the U.S; for this project he was awarded the Act Up Award by the Chicago Community Trust. His work has been presented at the Fabrica de Arte Cubano during the 2017 Havana Biennial. In 2019 he was an inaugural recipient of the Field Foundation’s Leaders for a New Chicago Award as well as the Americans for the Arts 2019 Leaders of Color Fellowship. In 2020, he joined the Civic Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy where he worked with government and nonprofit sector participants to think about effective policy for Chicago’s cultural industries. He helped establish the Auxiliary Board at the National Museum of Mexican Art. He has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Department of Arts Administration & Policy.
Gibran holds a BA in Art History and a BS in Public Relations from Northern Arizona University and an MA in Arts Administration & Policy and MA in Modern Art History & Theory from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
He has contributed to exhibitions such as Direct Message, presenting the artwork of Chicago artistic collectives and their relation to language and civic engagement. As part of an international project, he has convened the MCA Chicago with the Tate Modern, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Queens Museum and other institutions to create dialogue on civic engagement within contemporary art institutions. He has written catalog entries for Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, Rodrigo Lara Zendejas, and Jeremiah Hulsebos-Spofford. In 2021, he is contributing to the upcoming retrospective on the work by artist Andrea Bowers focusing on the activism and archives of Emma Lozano. He is curator of the symposium Fractures: Creating Around Devastation focusing on water ecology, civic engagement, activism, and architecture.
Loreal Robertson
Board Member
Loreal Robertson is a native Chicagoan who recently returned home in 2021 where she began working at the University of Chicago. In her role she oversees and monitors a range of programs, services, and resources to support the retention, wellness, belonging, and success of graduate students. Additionally, her role includes informing strategic priorities, diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, professional development, student advancement and the support of students who may be experiencing financial academic, or personal challenges, including students with disabilities and international students.
Loreal has over 10 years of experience in higher education and student affairs. In 2021 she received the Inclusion and Diversity Champion Award from Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK), where she was previously employed. Loreal’s personal and professional philosophy is creating and promoting spaces and opportunities where everyone can see themselves as part of an experience and feels represented.
Loreal holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from the University of Arkansas, a Master of Arts in Educational Administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from TAMUK.
Loreal is a financial and active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc, an avid reader, and enjoys traveling with family and friends.
Warren Frank
Treasurer
Warren Frank is a retired CPA and CFO, and current Adjunct Professor at Columbia College.
Warren worked at such CPA firms as KPMG, PwC, and Deloitte, and Not For Profit organizations as National Association of Realtors, Chicago Associations of Realtors, Anixter Center, and Chinese American Service League.
Warren is a Chicago resident in the Lakeview neighborhood. He attended Loyola University of Chicago for his bachelor degree and Northwestern University for his master degree.
Colleen McGaughey
Board Member
Colleen McGaughey (she/her) is the director of development at the National Public Housing Museum, where she leads the strategic direction of the museum’s fundraising efforts with a focus on creative and community-centric approaches.
Mario Longoni
Board Member
Mario Longoni is a cultural anthropologist (“Lead Environmental Social Scientist”) in the Keller Science Action Center at the Field Museum. For over 20 years, he has worked with individuals and organizations to surface and activate cultural and natural assets (specific strengths and characteristics) to help communities meet the challenges they face.
Rob Fojtik
Board Member
Rob Fojtik is Vice President for Neighborhood Strategy at Choose Chicago, the city’s official tourism and convention promotion bureau. In this capacity, Rob oversees efforts to promote and support Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods to visitors from near and far. Programs include the award-winning Neighborhood Content Creator program that leverages resident-made digital content, and Chicago Alfresco, a $2.5 million placemaking initiative created in partnership with the Chicago Department of Transportation to transform public spaces into community plazas for outdoor enjoyment.
Before coming to Choose Chicago, Rob was a Senior Advisor to Mayor Lightfoot on economic development and international relations at City Hall, as well as LGTBQ+ affairs and the expanded outdoor dining program. In this role, he also worked to recommend and place over 150 civic leaders and residents onto City boards and commissions. Prior to government service in the Lightfoot administration, Rob ran her winning campaign in the crowded 2019 Chicago mayoral race as Chief of Staff. In past lives, Rob has worked as a public affairs manager for a Fortune 500 company downtown; had misadventures in management consulting, art sales, and personal cheffing; and spent time in Washington DC working for former Secretary of Defense William Cohen. Rob also served a one-year appointment at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence as a policy advisor on Central and Eastern Europe. In this role, he was part of the NSC’s interagency process to develop a comprehensive sanctions regime on Russia as a consequence of its 2014 invasion of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.
After receiving his BA in Slavic Languages and Literature at Northwestern University, Rob lived and worked in the Czech Republic teaching English and tending bar before moving to Washington, D.C. to pursue a MA from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies (CERES). He enjoys cooking, learning foreign languages, hiking with his partner and their dog, and visiting Chicago’s many neighborhoods.
Paul Durica
Board Member
Dr. Paul Durica is the Director of Exhibitions at the Chicago History Museums and worked in a similar capacity at The Newberry Library. From 2015-2020, he served as the Director of Programs and Exhibitions with Illinois Humanities, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Prior to that he drew upon his work as a writer, researcher, and teacher to produce a series of free and interactive talks, walks, and reenactments focused on narratives from Chicago’s past that resonate with its present.
These public history programs led to collaborations with cultural institutions in the city such as the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Chicago History Museum, Newberry Library, Chicago Architecture Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Chicago Cultural Center among others.
Each program made use of both his original research and the skills of the arts organizations, community groups, local businesses, and publications that acted as my partners. Some of these programs, such as the full-scale reenactment of the Haymarket Affair in 2011, involved recruiting and directing over 300 volunteers and 1,000 participants.
To produce these programs successfully, he wrote grants; managed budgets; generated web content; worked closely with program partners of varying sizes and resources; and identified, engaged, and sustained a diverse multi-generational audience.
Lynessa Rico
Board Member
Dr. Lynessa M. Rico is the Associate Chair of the Business Psychology Department at the The Chicago School of Professional Psychology Chicago campus. She is also a business mentor at 1871.
Lynessa is a results-driven Strategic Consultant with over 25 years of experience enabling leaders to meet strategic business objectives by identifying and aligning business growth opportunities with strategic direction of culturally diverse organizations. By leveraging her strategic experience in identifying and impacting business growth opportunities and maximizing profits in retail firms and higher education institutions, Lynessa leads workshops focused on the creative mindset, women’s entrepreneurship, emotional intelligence, and the value and application of design thinking within entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial ecosystems. Her services also include consulting with and educating leadership on emotional intelligence, the power of design thinking and the creative mindset, and leadership styles to support inclusive, creative workplaces. She has presented to leadership and innovation teams in small, mid-size, and Fortune 500 companies.
Lynessa received her undergraduate degrees in Marketing and Management from Wichita State University. She then went on to earn a master’s degree in Business Administration from Wichita State University with a focus in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. After earning her master’s degree, Lynessa received her doctorate in Business Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology where she successfully completed her dissertation titled, “The Relationship Between Personality Types and Color Preference for Color Combinations.” Her current research interests include women’s entrepreneurship, design thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence, and entrepreneurship self-efficacy.
Outside of work and research, Lynessa enjoys mentoring start-ups and judging pitch competitions. Lynessa currently resides in Chicago, Illinois with her four cats. She is an avid long-distance runner, having completed 5 full marathons (and counting), and enjoys watching musical theater.
Briana Thomas
Board Member
Briana Thomas is the Museum Associate at the Abrahamic Center for Cultural Education (a core member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance). She wears many hats including developing exhibition content, facilitating community programs (children and adults), liaising with visitor artists, and other responsibilities. Her previous experience in the nonprofit space includes her tenure as the Financial Empowerment Coordinator at AMERICORPS Sharing Life Center as well as engaging with the public at the Dallas Arboretum. Her past professional experience has remained rooted in marginalized communities. It is their needs, discourse and histories that she has routinely been tasked with protecting and showcasing in the face of poor infrastructure, and willing ignorance. Creating safe spaces is an ancestral practice she has inherited.