1PM: Zeshan B: Chicago-based, multi-instrumentalist soul, opera, gospel, and ghazal singer, who is also a songwriter and recording artist
2PM: DJ Ase Wonder: Pakistani-born, Chicago-based cultural producer, community organizer, interdisciplinary artist, and disc jockey (Opening and playing during intermissions)
3PM: Ishti Dance: Chicago-based, classically trained, contemporary Indian dancers and choreographers.
4PM: Jina Brass Band Featuring Members of Funkadesi: Jina Brass Band, Chicago’s first Indian baraat dhol and brass band in their first collaboration with Chicago-based bhangra, Bollywood, folk, reggae, funk, and Afro-Caribbean band, Funkadesi.
Ankur Malhotra: Delhi and Midwest-based record label owner and disc jockey (Playing during intermissions)
2PM: Riyaaz Qawwali:
USA-based, Pakistani Qawwali music ensemble
3PM: Soham Dance Space
4PM: Karsh Kale & Fareed Haque Project featuring special guests Priya Darshini, Max ZT, and surprise guests
USA/India-based percussionist, composer, DJ, and producer, Karsh Kale collaborates with Pakistani Chilean Chicagoan, Fareed Haque, noted jazz guitarist, composer, and music professor. Joined by special guests Grammy-nominated vocalist Priya Darshini and dulcimer wizard and House of Waters band leader, Max ZT.
THIS IS A FREE EVENT, REGISTRATION REQUIRED
Presented in conjunction with South Asia Institute’s current exhibition “Unbearable Memories, Unspeakable Histories: Partition Anti-Memorial Project”
Through experiential art installations “Unbearable Memories, Unspeakable Histories” investigates the Partition of India in 1947.
This year marks 75 years since the Partition of India in 1947, which created Pakistan, and eventually, Bangladesh in 1971. Pritika Chowdhry’s experiential art installations are temporary ‘anti-memorials’ to the Partition.
Often described as the Holocaust of South Asia, the Partition triggered the largest migration in human history with over 20 million people displaced, approximately 2 million killed and over 300,000 women were abducted in the communal violence that ensued.
The exhibition addresses the many facets of the Partition from a counter-memory perspective through experiential art installations. The title alludes to the painful and silenced narratives that have been elided from mainstream discourses of the Partition.
When a memory is unbearable, how does one memorialize it? And when a history is unspeakable, how does one talk about it? The exhibition’s title, “Unbearable Memories, Unspeakable Histories” alludes to the painful and silenced narratives that have been excluded from mainstream discourses of the Partition.
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ARTIST LED TOURS AT 1PM EVERY OTHER SATURDAY!
Sep 3 and 17 | Oct 01, 15 and 29 | Nov 12 | Dec 10
A special evening of music and conversation with Chicago’s celebrated musical supergroup, Funkadesi. Known for their own high-energy blend of music that ranges from South Asian classical, folk and film melodies to West African, Caribbean, Latin, Brazilian and Reggae blended with American Funk and Soul music. They will perform an intimate “unplugged” acoustic set of rarely performed music from their 25-year repertoire and debut new original material. They will also be sharing the story of their long musical journey, their creative process, and their inner workings.
Renowned physician, scientist, and author, Dr. Azra Raza, recites a selection of Mirza Ghalib’s powerful poetry. She translates and interprets the powerful lyrics in her very distinctive style that has endeared to her audiences all over the US and overseas.
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.
