Join House of DOV in the Dance Studio for an intimate view of the rehearsal process and participate in the creation of a new work by Drew Lewis with live music by Family Junket.
Drew Lewis (he/him) is a performer, choreographer, composer and educator originally from Oak Park, IL. He graduated magna cum laude from Cornish College of the Arts in 2016. Drew has performed extensively with Sidra Bell Dance New York, C-LS, Project 44, Attack Theatre, The Joel Hall Dancers, The Lyric Opera of Chicago and in projects by Lucy Riner and Erin Kilmurray. In 2020, Drew formed his own small ensemble, House of DOV, whose debut performance was selected as a finalist for the Chicago Reader’s Best of 2021. House of DOV has since performed throughout Chicago, including the full-length Heavy Objects, commissioned and presented by Steppenwolf Theatre, and Drew has created works for many other venues and projects.
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/dance_residency.html
Culturally rooted in the original “Praise House,” the Praise House Ceremony will be an open circle of play to share uplifting stories, movement, music, and song. Come witness families, care professionals, and creatives as they release and build a creative language of love and Praise.
Previously a teaching artist and Alumni of Columbia College Chicago, Keisha taught house dance on the west and southside of Chicago. She is a well-established improvisational movement artist, accompanied as a soloist for “ Black Monument Jazz Ensemble,” “Sebau,” Katherine Davis, and Ben LaMar Gay. She’s also performed for the Instigation Festival, Freedom From Freedom Too, BraveSoul Movement, and Project Tool. Keisha has been honored as the 2021 3arts Make a Wave awardee, 2021/22Links Hall resident artist, BeBe Millers Solo/Duo Dancing Project Mentee, and Featured in Chicago Takes 10. Passionate about community engagement, Keisha is a Housing Case Manager helping the homeless and underprivileged populations stabilize their housing and health and also personally develop. A creative care community facilitator, she encourages her audience to discover themselves and find release through artistic forms of self-expression. Her aspirations are to rebuild the bonds between family and community through the creative arts and the spiritual upliftment of praise.
This performance will include ASL Interpretation.
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/dance_residency.html
Soulfully rooted in playful praise, this Praise House Language workshop will be a creative circle of expression with testimonials, dance, art-making and song. Through a guided process that centers care, participants of all experiences and backgrounds are able to step into the rehearsal process being used to develop “Praise House Ceremony”. The workshop facilitation is informed by Keisha Janae’s spiritual and faith-based experience.
Previously a teaching artist and Alumni of Columbia College Chicago, Keisha taught house dance on the west and southside of Chicago. She is a well-established improvisational movement artist, accompanied as a soloist for “ Black Monument Jazz Ensemble,” “Sebau,” Katherine Davis, and Ben LaMar Gay. She’s also performed for the Instigation Festival, Freedom From Freedom Too, BraveSoul Movement, and Project Tool. Keisha has been honored as the 2021 3arts Make a Wave awardee, 2021/22Links Hall resident artist, BeBe Millers Solo/Duo Dancing Project Mentee, and Featured in Chicago Takes 10. Passionate about community engagement, Keisha is a Housing Case Manager helping the homeless and underprivileged populations stabilize their housing and health and also personally develop. A creative care community facilitator, she encourages her audience to discover themselves and find release through artistic forms of self-expression. Her aspirations are to rebuild the bonds between family and community through the creative arts and the spiritual upliftment of praise.
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/dance_residency.html
Soak is a dance-based performance project that emerges from a study of public bathing. This work considers how both dance and bathing practices carve out space to imagine new ways of relating to our bodies, our community, and the natural world. The work is created through the exploration of pleasure and leisure, collectively created social space, and the relationship between body and ecology. The work-in-progress showing of Soak will feature dance, sound, and video projection mapping.
Amalia Raye Wiatr Lewis (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist working with living beings, experiences, and objects. Rooted in ecological wonder and an exploration of the sacred, she works with dancers, non-dancers and sound artists to create site-specific performances and public interventions. She holds a BA from Bennington College in Vermont, where she studied choreography, visual art and anthropology, and an MFA from the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art in Trondheim, Norway. She has performed with national and international artists at galleries and museums and has shown her own work in the U.S., Mexico, Norway, France, Germany and Pakistan.
This performance will include ASL Interpretation.
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/dance_residency.html
On Sunday, April 28 from 8-10am, Lincoln Park Zoo is offering Sensory-Friendly Morning hours for guests with disabilities, chronicle illness, or Deaf to experience the zoo grounds and animal buildings in a comfortable and inclusive environment. Modifications include limited capacity and muted attractions. This is a free event.
Register for FREE tickets HERE.
During Sensory-Friendly Morning, Gift Shop will be open at 8am and Landmark Café will sell beverages starting at 8:30am. Endangered Species Carousel and Lionel Train Adventure will operate with music and noises muted. Not all animal buildings may be open, and some animals may not be in their public viewing spaces.
At 10am, the zoo will be open to the public and begin typical operations.
View the zoo’s accessibility map HERE and accessibility page HERE to help plan your visit.
Lincoln Park Zoo is certified Sensory Inclusive by KultureCity. Please download the free KultureCity app with Lincoln Park Zoo social story.
Guests may only enter at West Gate and East Gate, and they need to present their registration email to zoo ushers.
Paid parking is available at the zoo’s parking lot located at Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive (2400 N. Cannon Drive). The zoo is also accessible by train via the Armitage and Fullerton stations and by bus via the 22, 36, 151, and 156 routes.
All Lincoln Park Zoo events take place rain or shine. We have some wonderful animal buildings you can still enjoy if it rains, and the carousel is covered.
For any questions, please email access@lpzoo.org.
Accessibility: Sensory-Friendly
Love is a universal language; it transcends identity and culture. Love is more than a feeling; it is a tough invitation that encourages sacrifice and commitment. Love is a never-ending journey that is always beginning. But what is love in the absence of compassion and wonder?
#OTVTonight, your favorite intersectional Late Show, returns to MCA Chicago for an intimate evening filled with care and admiration for the stories that help us to cultivate a bond that is strong enough to heal, prepare, and transform unstable foundations.
Join us in the Edlis Neeson Theater for the premiere of handpicked titles inviting us to open a window into love, interspersed with artist interviews, live DJ sets, pop-up performances and more — all hosted by OTV’s Co-Founder and Executive Diva, Elijah McKinnon. Remember, the future of television is intersectional. If you don’t believe it, let OTV show you.
For live updates on #OTVTonight: A Window Into Love, visit bit.ly/otvtonight.
Accessibility: Sensory Friendly, ASL, English and Spanish captions, quiet spaces
https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/otvtonight-a-window-into-love/
Join House of DOV in the Dance Studio for an informal showing of a new work-in-progress by Drew Lewis, featuring music by Family Junket.
Accessibility: ASL
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/dca/supp_info/dance_residency.html
Curiosities of Wellness in Bodies of Grief and Joy
Glimpse into the rehearsal process of building choreography in the round for 7 dancers. While this work currently has several sections from 2 previous iterations, this open rehearsal (with possible audience participation) will focus on a new section. Join us as we stumble along together to sounds written by Lee and arranged and performed by Sharon Udoh on the piano. Laughter and tears are encouraged.
Sensory-Friendly Morning is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the MCA without large crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes visitors with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, dementia, and more. On these mornings, lighting at the museum is dimmed, sounds from artworks and environmental noise is kept at a minimum, a quiet space is available to visitors for breaks, and a Chicago-based artist facilitates a sensory-friendly art-making experience.
Sensory-Friendly Morning aims to be a welcoming space to experience contemporary art in a judgment-free environment.
WHO: Beverly Arts Center in partnership with the Beverly Area Arts Alliance – https://www.thebeverlyartscenter.com | https://beverlyarts.org/
WHAT: “This Living Earth – Our Shared Gaia” Exhibition
WHEN: April 5 – 27, 2024
WHERE: Beverly Arts Center, Simmerling 2nd Floor Gallery, 2407 W. 111th St, Chicago, IL 60655
ARTISTS’ RECEPTION
“This Living Earth — Our Shared Gaia” opening reception will be held on Friday, April 5, 2024, 6:00-8:00 p.m. Admission to the family-friendly exhibition and reception is free to the public.
Facebook Event Invitation: https://www.facebook.com/events/1090169548901618
Beverly Arts Center is pleased to present the art exhibition titled “This Living Earth – Our Shared Gaia” in its second floor gallery, which is a cross section of visual observations from nature by 12 northern Illinois / Indiana artists in a variety of media. Both naturalism and abstraction are investigated by this group of artists: Sharon Bladholm, Gabriella Boros, Victoria Fuller, Kathryn Gauthier, Fletcher Hayes, Mike Barret Kolasinski, Basia Krol, Deborah Maris Lader, Kim Laurel, Dorothy Mason, Gregory Mejia, Renee McGinnis.
The Gaia theory as a world concept focuses on observing how the biosphere and the evolution of life forms contribute to the stability of our planet. Hortus Botanicus (the botanical garden) is the underlying common influence that permeates each of these artists’ work, whether of landscape, plant, water and animal study or as allegorical metaphors for our natural world in flux. Works exhibited are a figurative treatment of our nature subjects sometimes alluding to other symbolic meanings.
Those symbols of our natural world are expanded on as pattern, texture, color, form and light. We invite you to observe this diverse group of visual expressions compiled by the curator/artist team of Kim Laurel and Fletcher Hayes.
“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” — Henry David Thoreau
Accessibility: Wheelchair Accessible.
Chicago Children’s Museum’s Play for All initiative creates a community where play and learning connect for visitors of all abilities. Play for All invites children and families with disabilities to come and experience CCM’s inclusive, multisensory exhibits and programs.
The museum will open at 10 a.m. for pre-registered children and families with disabilities and CCM members before opening to the public at 11 a.m. The first 250 children and families with disabilities who register will receive FREE admission! Pre-registration is required for free admission.
Accessibility: Wheelchair Accessible, Accessible & All-Gender Restrooms, Sound-reducing Headphones, Open Captions, Assistive Listening Devices, Quiet Spaces.
Sensory-Friendly Morning is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the MCA without large crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes visitors with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, dementia, and more. On these mornings, lighting at the museum is dimmed, sounds from artworks and environmental noise is kept at a minimum, a quiet space is available to visitors for breaks, and a Chicago-based artist facilitates a sensory-friendly art-making experience.
Sensory-Friendly Morning aims to be a welcoming space to experience contemporary art in a judgment-free environment.
Accessibility: sensory-friendly
https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/sensory-friendly-morning-8/
A family fun film with story & games
A crayon who is mistakenly labeled “r-e-d” could never draw anything right until a friend changed everything and helped him be true to himself!
Accessibility: The film includes the story, an interactive quiz and ASL lesson, all presented with ASL performance, enhanced text, voice over, animation & original music.
Details
March 10, 2024 @ 2-4 p.m.
Chicago History Museum
1601 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60614
Free with RSVP at bit.ly/Red-ASL-Film
Parking
Public parking is conveniently located one block north of the Museum near Clark and LaSalle streets at 1730 N. Stockton Drive. $10 with Museum validation.
Presented by Sally Is Sarah Productions, CHS, Chicago History Museum
https://www.sallyissarahproductions.com/events/red-chicago-history-museum
About the Event
In MOBY DICK; or, The Whale, award-winning filmmaker and visual artist Wu Tsang embarks upon a feature-length, silent-film telling of Herman Melville’s great American novel. The film features original orchestral music composed by Caroline Shaw and Andrew Yee with Asma Maroof, which is performed live by the Chicago Sinfonietta.
This adaptation, written by Sophia Al Maria and directed by Tsang, follows the white whale above and below the surface of the water, developing a visual cosmology that resists the exploration and exploitation of the earth under imperial colonialism. Tsang’s approach pairs the classic story of the whaler’s ”floating factory” with the beginnings of the film industry. MOBY DICK; or, The Whale was shot entirely on a soundstage combining silent-era filmmaking techniques with Virtual Production, a virtual reality game engine projecting surreal ocean environments.
The narrative is interwoven with extracts by the Sub-Sub-Librarian, a character played by acclaimed poet Fred Moten, and tackles the novel’s subterranean currents, encountering the resistance of the ship’s hydrarchy, or organizational structure, and collectives of “mariners, renegades, and castaways,” as described by historian C.L.R. James. Exploring overlapping histories of industrialism, extractivism, colonialism, ecological and spiritual crisis, the film creates a multilayered surreal filmic adaptation of the 1851 novel.
The MCA’s presentation of MOBY DICK; or, The Whale is organized by Nolan Jimbo, Assistant Curator.
Accessibility: audio description, CART captioning
https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/live-arts-moby-dick-or-the-whale/
Calling ALL champions to Chicago Children’s Museum! Participate in event activities, including roller sled hockey, handcycling, wheelchair racing, bocce, Judo, group exercises, and See & Touch Prosthetics display. All of our inclusive, multisensory museum exhibits and programs will also be available during Play For All.
The first 500 children and families with disabilities who register will receive free admission.
The museum opens at 10 am for Play For All guests and members exclusively and at 11 am to the general public.
Accessibility: assistive listening devices, quiet spaces, wheelchair accessible
In January, artists A. Martinez and Gaby Martinez take over the MCA with their collaborative quilt making inspired by Faith Ringgold. Additionally, musician Ben LaMar Gay performs for families to interact with his music, and KIDO Chicago, the award-winning kids boutique in the South Loop, has a pop-up at the museum.
Designed and led by Chicago artists, Family Day is a monthly program that allows families and youth to connect and engage with contemporary art through activities and performances for all-ages. Enjoy FREE admission while taking part in workshops, open studio sessions, gallery tours, performances, and more.
Activities are facilitated in English and Spanish with ASL interpretation provided.
https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/family-day-quilts-and-stories/
This is an opportunity for members of the TCA to enter into conversation with Christina and Cortney, the founders of #BlkGrlsWurld, about their growth and evolution as Black womxn publishers, event organizers, and lovers of punk, hardcore, and metal.
Coinciding with the Faith Ringgold: American People exhibition, this event highlights the creativity, influence, and impact of Black Femme creatives across generations.
ASL is provided.
https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/youth-led-programming-tca-blkgrlswurld/
Strawdog Theatre Company in partnership with Chicago Loop Synagogue presents Hershel & The Hanukkah Goblins. In this musical adaptation of Eric Kimmel’s Caldecott Honor-winning book, a traveling troupe of actors comes to town to find no one celebrating Hanukkah. To save the holiday, they must tell the tale of Hershel of Ostropol & his quest to outwit the goblins who haunt the old synagogue!
Audio Description will be available for this performance in-person and via the live stream. Audience members must RSVP for in-person audio description by emailing accessibility@strawdog.org. There will be an in-person Touch Tour at 10:15am. Those tuning into the live stream will be able to watch a pre-show Audio Description.
Accessibility: Audio Description, Touch Tour, Sensory Friendly
https://www.strawdog.org/hershel
This year, the Chicago-based artist Lotus L. Kang transformed the museum’s atrium with her mesmerizing work Molt (New York-Lethbridge-Los Angeles-Toronto-Chicago- ) (2018–2023). To celebrate the final weeks of the commissioned installation, Kang speaks with MCA Assistant Curator Jack Schneider.
ASL and CART captioning will be provided.
https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/talk-lotus-l-kang-and-jack-schneider/
Let’s reclaim and rewrite our stories as disabled people through writing and drawing together! Too often disabled individuals have their stories told to them by medical professionals and cultural norms. It’s time to get the power back and tell our own tales!
Rewritten Narratives is a workshop for participants who self-identify as disabled and/or chronically ill, whether the disability is apparent or non-apparent. This could mean anything from physical disabilities, learning disabilities, “invisible” disabilities, and disabilities caused by mental health concerns.
No art making skills or experiences required!
Attendees will receive transportation stipend (PACE vouchers).
Location:
Center for Mad Culture
410 South Michigan Avenue, suite 419
Chicago, IL 60605
In-person Rewritten Narratives session RSVP Link: https://tinyurl.com/rewrittennarrative
Access information:
Press Here is on the 4th floor in the Fine Arts Building. It is accessible by elevator. A wheelchair accessible restroom is available. For in-person sessions, please request ASL interpretation and identify any access needs when signing up for a session.
AI captioning will be available for virtual workshop sessions. For virtual sessions, contact B at brandolph@accessliving.org or (312) 640-2100 with access requests. Please allow 2-3 weeks’ advance notice for ASL interpretation requests, both virtual and in-person.
About the facilitator:
Brian “B” Randolph (they/them) is an art therapy graduate student from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Brian specializes in portraiture, drawing the human form, and the writing/drawing of comics. B is working with their supervisor, disabled artist and art therapist, Sandie Yi, to create disability culture and art at Access Living this year.
Sponsor Information:
This project is brought to you by the Arts and Culture Project at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities, Bodies of Work: Network of Disability Art and Culture, and the Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL). DCAL, a teaching lab housed under the department of art therapy and counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and Shirley Ryan Abilities Lab. The contents of this project were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RTCP0005). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this project do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
Let’s reclaim and rewrite our stories as disabled people through writing and drawing together! Too often disabled individuals have their stories told to them by medical professionals and cultural norms. It’s time to get the power back and tell our own tales!
Rewritten Narratives is a workshop for participants who self-identify as disabled and/or chronically ill, whether the disability is apparent or non-apparent. This could mean anything from physical disabilities, learning disabilities, “invisible” disabilities, and disabilities caused by mental health concerns.
No art making skills or experiences required!
Attendees will receive transportation stipend (PACE vouchers).
Location:
Center for Mad Culture
410 South Michigan Avenue, suite 419
Chicago, IL 60605
In-person Rewritten Narratives session RSVP Link: https://tinyurl.com/rewrittennarrative
Access information:
Press Here is on the 4th floor in the Fine Arts Building. It is accessible by elevator. A wheelchair accessible restroom is available. For in-person sessions, please request ASL interpretation and identify any access needs when signing up for a session.
AI captioning will be available for virtual workshop sessions. For virtual sessions, contact B at brandolph@accessliving.org or (312) 640-2100 with access requests. Please allow 2-3 weeks’ advance notice for ASL interpretation requests, both virtual and in-person.
About the facilitator:
Brian “B” Randolph (they/them) is an art therapy graduate student from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Brian specializes in portraiture, drawing the human form, and the writing/drawing of comics. B is working with their supervisor, disabled artist and art therapist, Sandie Yi, to create disability culture and art at Access Living this year.
Sponsor Information:
This project is brought to you by the Arts and Culture Project at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities, Bodies of Work: Network of Disability Art and Culture, and the Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL). DCAL, a teaching lab housed under the department of art therapy and counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and Shirley Ryan Abilities Lab. The contents of this project were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RTCP0005). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this project do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
Let’s reclaim and rewrite our stories as disabled people through writing and drawing together! Too often disabled individuals have their stories told to them by medical professionals and cultural norms. It’s time to get the power back and tell our own tales!
Rewritten Narratives is a workshop for participants who self-identify as disabled and/or chronically ill, whether the disability is apparent or non-apparent. This could mean anything from physical disabilities, learning disabilities, “invisible” disabilities, and disabilities caused by mental health concerns.
No art making skills or experiences required!
Thursday sessions will be held via Zoom from 2-4pm.
Attendees will receive transportation stipend (PACE vouchers).
Join the Rewritten Narratives Zoom: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83239461202?pwd=Zml3ZFdDdkhHQU5tTytrM1B5SzlzUT09
Meeting ID: 832 3946 1202
Passcode: AL2023
Access information:
AI captioning will be available for virtual workshop sessions. For virtual sessions, contact B at brandolph@accessliving.org or (312) 640-2100 with access requests. Please allow 2-3 weeks’ advance notice for ASL interpretation requests, both virtual and in-person.
About the facilitator:
Brian “B” Randolph (they/them) is an art therapy graduate student from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Brian specializes in portraiture, drawing the human form, and the writing/drawing of comics. B is working with their supervisor, disabled artist and art therapist, Sandie Yi, to create disability culture and art at Access Living this year.
Sponsor Information:
This project is brought to you by the Arts and Culture Project at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities, Bodies of Work: Network of Disability Art and Culture, and the Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL). DCAL, a teaching lab housed under the department of art therapy and counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency and Shirley Ryan Abilities Lab. The contents of this project were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RTCP0005). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this project do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
Dancing with Parkinson’s is a partnership program between The Joffrey Ballet and Northwestern Medicine built for people with Parkinson’s and their caregivers, friends, and family members.
This class offers a supportive space to explore the artistry of dance, ranging across the styles of ballet, jazz, modern, tap, and improvisation. In this class, we connect the mind to movement, inviting expression and exploration in where it may not have been before: moving the body in conjunction with others and with music, evoking creativity and connection. This program was built so everyone can experience the joy and freedom of dance, no matter age, status, or ability.
Accessibility: low lighting, quiet spaces, wheelchair accessible
https://joffrey.org/education/community-engagement/dancing-with-parkinson-s/
Free Dance Day brings together people of all ages and experience levels to enjoy a day filled with dance classes, performances, and festivities, all for free!
This annual open-house style event is a chance to try out dance classes in a relaxed, communal setting. Visit Synapse’s home studio as an Arts Partner in Residence with the Chicago Park District to try out a free movement class, bring kids to try ballet and hip hop classes, and see the Synapse Performance Troupe perform.
Come for Free Dance Day, then stay for the free Boo! Bash presented by Loyola Park, which includes a DJ dance party, crafts, snacks, and a Halloween-y photo booth.
Schedule and registration details available at www.synapsearts.com.
Accessibility: ASL interpreter, large print programs, quiet spaces
Experience Red: A Crayon’s Story like you never have before! This storybook video features Deaf American Sign Language master signer Crom Saunders signing the words to the animated book, with music and sound effects bringing the story to life. Then we’ll watch and play along with fun interactive games conducted by students and teachers from the Indiana School for the Deaf.
Crom will visit in person and play theater games with the kids after the video. This event will have a live interpreter.
Best for kids in preschool and elementary school and their family and friends.
More information at https://oakpark.librarycalendar.com/event/asl-storybook-red-crayons-story
The Peer Mental Health Support Group is an opportunity for Disabled-identifying people and those exploring their relationship to disability identity to share and hold space for one another in an accessible and virtual setting.
Facilitated by disabled art therapist Bri Beck, LCPC, ATR, this group is meant to offer an opportunity for participants to share current concerns, thoughts/emotions, and offer support to others through validation, encouragement, and even practical ideas to cope. This group will also explore art as an emotional outlet.
This group is not considered, nor should it be a substitute for traditional group therapy, however, topics of mental health, emotional wellness, self-advocacy, and healthy relationships will be addressed in a structured and confidential space. Participants may attend as many or as little group meetings as needed. Group norms will be reviewed every week.
Join the group via Zoom
Zoom Meeting ID: 818 5920 1086
Zoom Meeting Passcode: AL2023
For any questions, please email bbeck@accessliving.org.
Fall 2023 meeting dates are as follows:
(Off September 4 – Labor Day)
Monday, September 11
Monday, September 18
Monday, September 25
(Off October 2)
Monday, October 9
Monday, October 16
Monday, October 23
(Off October 30)
Monday, November 6
Monday, November 13
Monday, November 20
(Off November 27)
December 4
December 11
December 18
Access Information:
Automatic captioning is available in Zoom.
Due to high demand for live captioning (CART) and ASL interpretation services during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are asking participants to submit access requests 2-3 weeks in advance. Please contact bbeck@accessliving.org with requests.
Sponsor information:
This event is brought to you by the Arts and Culture Project at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities, Bodies of Work: Network of Disability Art and Culture, and the Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL), a teaching lab housed under the department of art therapy and counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
As a platform for creative disability art and advocacy projects, DCAL uses a peer support and collective care model in which disability community members and art therapy graduate students collaborate as disability culture makers for social change. Bodies of Work is a part of the Department of Disability and Human Development within the College of Applied Health Sciences at University of Illinois-Chicago.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
On Sunday, September 24 from 8-10am, Lincoln Park Zoo is offering Sensory-Friendly Morning hours for guests with disabilities, chronic illness, or Deaf to experience the zoo grounds and animal buildings in a comfortable and inclusive environment. Modifications include limited capacity and muted attractions. This is a free event, but it does require advanced registration.
Sensory-Friendly Morning is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the zoo without crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes guests with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, and dementia to name a few.
During Sensory-Friendly Morning, Gift Shop will be open at 8am and Landmark Café will sell beverages starting at 8:30am. AT&T Endangered Species Carousel and Lionel Train Adventure will operate with music and noises muted. Not all animal buildings may be open, and some animals may not be in their public viewing spaces.
At 10am, the zoo will be open to the public and begin typical operations.
View the zoo’s accessibility map HERE and accessibility page HERE to help plan your visit.
Lincoln Park Zoo is certified Sensory Inclusive by KultureCity. Please download the free KultureCity app with Lincoln Park Zoo social story. iOS Android
Guests may only enter at West Gate and East Gate, and they need to present their registration email to zoo ushers.
Paid parking is available at the zoo’s parking lot located at Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive (2300 N. Cannon Drive). The zoo is also accessible by train via the Armitage and Fullerton stations and by bus via the 22, 36, 151, and 156 routes.
All Lincoln Park Zoo events take place rain or shine. We have some wonderful animal buildings you can still enjoy if it rains, and the carousel is covered.
There is no smoking at Lincoln Park Zoo for the health of the animals in our care.
Pets are not allowed at the zoo, but licensed service animals are welcome.
For any questions, please email access@lpzoo.org.
Accessibility: sensory friendly
https://sensory-friendly-morning-at-Lincoln-Park-Zoo.eventbrite.com
Join us for the first public reading of the 2023 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellows together at the Poetry Foundation. The Poetry Foundation awards five Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowships annually. Among the largest awards offered to young poets in the US, the $27,000 prize is intended to support exceptional US poets between 21 and 31 years of age.
This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream.
Introducing the 2023 Fellows
Bhion Achimba (they/he) grew up in rural southeastern Nigeria and came to the US as a Scholar-at-Risk fellow at Harvard University. Their manuscript Cantos from the Crossing won the 2023 Center for Book Arts chapbook prize and will be published in November 2023. They earned an MFA in literary arts from Brown University; edit Dgëku, a literary magazine that publishes writing by queer Africans; and serve on the editorial board of TransitionMagazine.
Roda Avelar (she/they) is a trans woman poet from Fresno, California. She earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of California Riverside, where she taught creative writing and English composition, and a BA in English literature from California State University Fresno. She was a Milkweed Editions summer intern in 2019, and a 2022 Community of Writers fellow. She creates work that imagines queer people and people of color in science fiction, mythology, and queer liberation.
Ariana Benson (she/they) is a southern Black poet born in Norfolk, Virginia. Their debut collection, Black Pastoral, won the 2022 Cave Canem Poetry Prize. Benson has received a Furious Flower Poetry Prize, a Porter House Review Poetry Prize, and the 2021 Graybeal-Gowen Prize for Virginia Poets. Benson is a proud alumna of Spelman College, where she facilitates creative writing and storytelling workshops for HBCU students. She strives to fashion vignettes of Blackness that speak to its infinite depth and richness in her writing.
Chrysanthemum (she/her) is a poet, a performance artist, and a public historian. Her honors include the 2023 Justin Chin Memorial Scholarship from Lambda Literary; fellowships from Artist Communities Alliance and Kundiman; and a championship with her team at the Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam and the first-ever FEM Slam. Chrysanthemum was born to Vietnamese parents in Oklahoma City, where she came of age around the NW 39th Street and Asian American enclaves. She now calls Providence, Rhode Island, home.
Willie Lee Kinard III (he/they) is a poet, designer, and musician. Kinard earned a BFA from the University of South Carolina and an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh. His publications include Orders of Service, winner of the 2022 Alice James Award, and a self-published chapbook/mixtape, chroma. The recipient of fellowships from The Watering Hole and the Pittsburgh Foundation, Kinard is from Newberry, South Carolina, and currently teaches at the University of South Carolina.
In-Person Attendance
Masks are strongly encouraged and available at check-in for those who would like to wear one. Please note that some event performers may choose to perform without a mask. The Foundation reserves the right to update this policy if community levels of COVID-19 increase significantly. Read our full COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here.
The Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide.
Join us for an evening of enchantment as the Poetry Foundation transforms into Herman’s Lounge, a one night only jazz cabaret named in honor of the magician Black Herman. Dee Alexander (with John McLean), Ben LaMar Gay, keiyaA, and Gabrielle Octavia Rucker will interweave Chicago’s unique relationship to improv, poetry, and jazz. Co-curated by Jared Brown, Janelle Ayana Miller, and Noa Fields.
Born on Chicago’s west side, Dee Alexander is one of the city’s most gifted and respected vocalist/songwriters. Her talents span every music genre, from gospel to R&B, blues to neo-soul, yet her true heart and soul are experienced in their purest form through jazz. Growing up in a household steeped in recordings of Dinah Washington, Ms. Alexander names Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, and Chicago saxophonist Henry Huff among her major influences, setting her on the path to becoming one of the most accomplished voice improvisers in the world today. Ms. Alexander is currently a WFMT Jazz Radio host. Her performance is accompanied by John McLean.
Ben LaMar Gay is an interdisciplinary composer who moves sound, color, and space components through folkloric filters, producing brilliant electro-acoustic collages. An explorer of many mediums who has been called a “visionary musician” by the New York Times, Gay has found a form of creative expression that begins with improvisation and expands beyond the limits of any single genre. With more than 20 years in vibrant experimental music scenes, Gay’s talents have earned him residencies globally, most recently as a Mellon Foundation Archival Fellow. He has been a member of the Association of the Advancement of Creative Musicians since 2010. Receiving accolades for a parade of more than seven albums, his release Open Arms to Open Us solidified his place in the firmament of the Chicago Jazz Renaissance and was revered as one of the best albums of 2021 by the Washington Post, Pitchfork, JazzTimes, and Digital Berliner. Gay is a beneficiary of the 2018 3Arts Award and the 2019 Worldwide Award from BBC DJ Gilles Peterson.
Chakeiya Camille Richmond, a.k.a. keiyaA, is a musician, writer, and performer from Chicago, living in NYC.
Gabrielle Octavia Rucker is a writer, editor, and teaching artist from the Great Lakes, currently living in the Gulf Coast. She is a 2020 Poetry Project Fellow and a 2016 Kimbilio Fiction Fellow. Her debut poetry collection, Dereliction, is currently available via the Song Cave.
Jared Brown (co-curator) is an artist born in Chicago. They consider themselves a data thief, understanding this role from John Akomfrah’s description of the data thief as a figure that does not belong to the past or present. As a data thief, Jared Brown makes archeological digs for fragments of Black American subculture, history, and technology. Jared repurposes these fragments in audio, text, and performance to investigate the relationship between history and digital, immaterial space. Jared Brown holds a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and moved back to Chicago in 2016 in order to make and share work that directly relates to their personal history.
Janelle Ayana Miller (co-curator) is a grandchild of the Great Migration, a Midwesterner with Southern inflection. Her practice is rooted within familial and communal aesthetics, looking deeply into bridging self and time as an act of place making.
Accessibility:
Masks are strongly encouraged and available at check-in for those who would like to wear one. Please note that some event performers may choose to perform without a mask. The Foundation reserves the right to update this policy if community levels of COVID-19 increase significantly. Read our full COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
The Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide.
Sensory-Friendly Morning is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the MCA without large crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes visitors with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, dementia, and more. On these mornings, lighting at the museum is dimmed, sounds from artworks and environmental noise is kept at a minimum, and a quiet space is available to visitors for breaks. During Sensory-Friendly Mornings, preregistered individuals and their families can visit the museum to explore exhibitions at their own pace, and join a Chicago-based artist for a sensory-friendly art-making experience. The museum is closed to the general public until 11:30 am; at that time, the lights and artworks return to usual operations.
Sensory-Friendly Morning aims to be a welcoming space to experience contemporary art in a judgment-free environment.
Accessibility: sensory-friendly, ASL interpreted, captioning, low lighting, quiet room, Spanish captioning, wheelchair accessible
https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/sensory-friendly-morning-6/
Poetry @ The Green at 320 continues for the summer season this July!
The Chicago Poetry Center and The Green at 320 S. Canal are proud to reintroduce this free, weekly reading and open mic series co-curated by CPC’s Poets in Residence Tarnynon Onumonu and Timothy David Rey.
Join us on Monday nights in July at 6:00 pm in this beautiful setting to hear outstanding featured poets perform their work in this partnership between Chicago Poetry Center and The Green at 320 S. Canal. After every poetry performance, there will be an open mic for any individual that would like to share poetry of their own!
ABOUT JULY’S FEATURED PERFORMERS:
July 10: Stephanie Liang is a Chinese-American poet whose work explores grief, family, identity, and longing. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Rainy Day Magazine, Runestone, and Masks. When she’s not writing (or thinking about writing), you can find her exploring new places, trying new foods, or playing music. Stephanie is originally from Kansas but now resides in Chicago.
July 17: Alanis Zoe Castillo Caref is a writer-poet activist-artist from Chicago. She received her BA from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Communication and Creative Writing. Alanis was a finalist for the 2021 Undergraduate Creative Writing Awards and won second place in The Hip Hop Workshop 2022 Spoken-Word/Poetry Competition. She also has poetry published in The Fashion Network magazine. Alanis has performed at Story Lab Chicago, Do Not Submit, Slam Diáspora, and Exhibit B. Currently, she is the Marketing Coordinator at Guild Literary Complex.
July 24: Ron is a first generation Mexican-American, from Chicago, who used to live up north, but has spent almost a decade living on the South Side. They dropped out of college to work on their poetry and have been writing for as long as they can remember. Their writings include doodling poems on the sides of notebooks, and just writing wherever and whenever they can. Their poems focus on mental health and have themes of nature throughout. Ron has been to multiple open mics all over the city and is in a poetry band that plays at Marquette park on the Southside. They didn’t start taking poetry seriously until last Spring but prides themselves on sharing a poem a day across social media platforms.
July 31: Olivia Scheidler (she/her) has been a high school educator for 10 years. Her poetry students have done way cooler things than her, but she has performed at the MOTH, South Side Story Slam and many a friends’ backyard. For fans of sad folk songs, moon picnics, and fun facts.
ABOUT THE CO-CURATORS:
Tarnynon (Ty-yuh-nuh) Onumonu is an artist and licensed Paraprofessional born and raised in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood on the southeast side of Chicago and is extremely proud of and humbled by her SouthSide citizenship and West African lineage. In 2017, she took second place in the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards and represented Chicago on the Lethal Poetry Team at the 2018 National Poetry Slam. She has been a Poet in Residence at the Chicago Poetry Center since January of 2019 and has been featured in Newcity Magazine and South Side Weekly.
Timothy David Rey is a writer/performer who works in poetry, plays, and monologue (both fictional and autobiographical). He teaches creative writing and performance throughout the city of Chicago and its suburbs. He is a 2015 Semi-Finalist for the Guild Literary Complex’s Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Poetry Award, and one of the winners of Project Exploration (The Poetry Center of Chicago 2004). He is the co-founder of the LBGT Solo Performance Showcase, Solo Homo (2002-2011). Timothy’s plays and performance pieces have been seen and heard at venues throughout Chicago as well as out of state and in Panama.
ABOUT THE LOCATION:
The Green at 320 is a public park located in the West Loop and will be host to many family-friendly activities and events this summer!
The Green at 320 is located behind the building at 320 S. Canal, 1 block west of the river. The main staired entrance to the park is on the corner of Clinton and Van Buren with an ADA-accessible ramp off of Clinton. The park is located 1 block north of the Clinton Blue Line Stop. Please find more detailed transit and location information at https://320southcanal.com/.
Accessibility: wheelchair accessible
Kohl Children’s Museum was specifically designed to be inclusive of all children and adults regardless of ability. The Museum’s 17 exhibits and 2 acres of outdoor explorations are designed for play with a purpose and encourage linguistic, cognitive, motor, and social skills for children ages birth through 8.
Accessibility: sensory-friendly, quiet spaces, wheelchair accessible
On Sunday, July 30 from 10am to 3pm, Lincoln Park Zoo will host Sensory-Friendly Day at Farm-in-the-Zoo. Modifications include limited capacity. This is a free event, but it does require advanced registration.
Sensory-Friendly Day at Farm-in-the-Zoo is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the zoo without crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes guests with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, and dementia to name a few.
During Sensory-Friendly Day at Farm-in-the-Zoo animal buildings may be open, but some animals may not be in their public viewing spaces. There will also be low sensory activities.
Timed Entry Window: While registered guests will be let in before or after their one-hour timed entry window, guests are strongly encouraged to come during their timed entry window to help limit crowd sizes. Limited crowd sizes is one of the most important ways to make this day sensory-friendly. Thank you.
View the zoo’s accessibility map HERE and accessibility page HERE to help plan your visit.
Lincoln Park Zoo is certified Sensory Inclusive by KultureCity. Please download the free KultureCity app with Lincoln Park Zoo social story. iOS Android
pon arrival guests need to present their registration email to zoo ushers. This event is only happening at Farm-in-the-Zoo. The rest of Lincoln Park Zoo will have typical operations for the day.
Paid parking is available at the zoo’s parking lot located at Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive (2400 N. Cannon Drive). The zoo is also accessible by train via the Armitage and Fullerton stations and by bus via the 22, 36, 151, and 156 routes.
All Lincoln Park Zoo events take place rain or shine.
There is no smoking at Lincoln Park Zoo for the health of the animals in our care.
Pets are not allowed at the zoo, but licensed service animals are welcome.
For any questions, please email access@lpzoo.org.
Accessibility: Sensory-Friendly
KCM welcomes children with special needs and their families for an afternoon of learning and play focused on them. Our Museum campus is designed for universal accessibility with a purpose to encourage linguistic, cognitive, motor and social skills for all children ages birth to 8.
Accessibility: sensory-friendly, quiet spaces, wheelchair accessible
DIRECTED BY Uberto Pasolini
SYNOPSIS
Thirty-five-year-old window cleaner and single father John has dedicated his life to raising his son. Given only a few months to live, he traverses Belfast, visiting homes of the working class and wealthy alike. He has a singular goal: to find the perfect family to raise his toddler Michael. How can he carry out this impossible task? Inspired by true events in the UK, Nowhere Special is a tender tale of pure love, profound heartbreak, and parenthood.
https://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/film/nowhere-special/
Accessibility: ASL interpreted, assistive listening devices, captioning, large print program, wheelchair accessible
A celebration of the disability arts with some of Chicago’s best disabled artists and performers! Join us after the parade for short-films, live music, dance, art activities, and a fun photo op in the magnificent and air-conditioned Chicago Cultural Center!
https://www.reinventability.com/disfest
Accessibility: ASL interpreted, audio description, captioning, quiet space, sensory friendly, wheelchair accessible
DIRECTED BY Joseph Amenta
SYNOPSIS
Three friends fall in love with summertime Toronto’s lively nightlife. Young, queer, and unapologetically self-confident, the trio spends their days holding court and plotting to sneak into a nightclub. When one of their caregivers goes missing under suspicious circumstances, reality comes crashing in and their seemingly unbreakable bond is tested. Featuring remarkable performances from its young actors, Soft is a tender portrait of youth, friendship, and life on the city’s margins.
Accessibility: ASL interpreted, assistive listening devices, captioning, large print program, wheelchair accessible
Lyric Opera is prototyping an innovative new experience for audiences who are deaf or hard of hearing called the SoundShirt, built by CuteCircuit. While the orchestra and artists perform on stage, microphones capture the sound. Computer software transforms the sounds into touch data, and the data is broadcast wirelessly to the SoundShirts. SoundShirt wearers experience the feeling of music rendered on their upper body through haptic actuation in real-time in a fully immersive way.
We’re prototyping the experience during our summer musical, West Side Story, and inviting a few outside guests who are hard of hearing and deaf to participate and experience it. There will be a follow-up survey seeking feedback. Seats and shirt sizes are limited, and tickets are free.
For questions, please write to [bdunn@lyricopera.org](mailto:bdunn@lyricopera.org).
https://www.lyricopera.org/shows/upcoming/2022-23/west-side-story/
Poetry @ The Green at 320 continues for the summer season this June!
The Chicago Poetry Center and The Green at 320 S. Canal are proud to reintroduce this free, weekly reading and open mic series co-curated by CPC’s Poets in Residence Tarnynon Onumonu and Timothy David Rey.
Join us on certain Monday nights in June at 6:00 p.m. in this beautiful setting to hear outstanding featured poets perform their work in this partnership between Chicago Poetry Center and The Green at 320 S. Canal. After every poetry performance, there will be an open mic for any individual that would like to share poetry of their own!
ABOUT JUNE’S FEATURED PERFORMERS:
June 5: Noa Micaela Fields is a trans writer with hearing aids. She is the author of the poetry chapbook With and has also been published in Tripwire, Anomaly, Zoeglossia, Elderly Mag, Tyger Quarterly, and Sixty Inches From Center, among others. She is a programming curator at the Poetry Foundation and a 2022 fellow with Zoeglossia and Disability Lead.
June 12: Nile Lansana is an interdisciplinary artist from the South Side of Chicago. An acclaimed writer, poet, performer, and filmmaker, his work is centered around revealing radical truths and amplifying marginalized voices and narratives through a lens of Black imagination and visionary intention. He was a nominee for the inaugural Chicago Poet Laureate position. A University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate with degrees in Journalism and English – Creative Writing, he won the 2021 Ronald Wallace Poetry Thesis Prize and 2020 George B. Hill Poetry Prize. His work is published in American Gun: A Poem by 100 Chicagoans, The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop, & elsewhere. He holds fellowships from the Rebuild Foundation and Obsidian Foundation. He has performed across the country, including Lollapalooza and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He recently starred in the play “No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks” produced by Manual Cinema. He is a proud uncle and the oldest of four Black boys. You can follow him on Instagram at @nilesupasuit.
June 26: Adam Gottlieb is a musician, poet, teaching artist, and organizer from Chicago. This year he was one of the nominees for the inaugural Poet Laureate of Chicago. As a youth, he was featured in the documentary film Louder Than A Bomb about the poetry slam festival of the same name. He is the leader of the Fusion band Adam Gottlieb and OneLove. He serves as a cantorial soloist for Tzedek Chicago. He has organized with a wide range of grassroots groups around issues such as housing justice, anti-gentrification, Indigenous sovereignty, education, and police/prison abolition. He also writes for the People’s Tribune.
ABOUT THE CO-CURATORS:
Tarnynon (Ty-yuh-nuh) Onumonu is an artist and licensed Paraprofessional born and raised in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood on the southeast side of Chicago and is extremely proud of and humbled by her SouthSide citizenship and West African lineage. In 2017, she took second place in the Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Awards and represented Chicago on the Lethal Poetry Team at the 2018 National Poetry Slam. She has been a Poet in Residence at the Chicago Poetry Center since January of 2019 and has been featured in Newcity Magazine and South Side Weekly.
Timothy David Rey is a writer/performer who works in poetry, plays, and monologue (both fictional and autobiographical). He teaches creative writing and performance throughout the city of Chicago and its suburbs. He is a 2015 Semi-Finalist for the Guild Literary Complex’s Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Poetry Award, and one of the winners of Project Exploration (The Poetry Center of Chicago 2004). He is the co-founder of the LBGT Solo Performance Showcase, Solo Homo (2002-2011). Timothy’s plays and performance pieces have been seen and heard at venues throughout Chicago as well as out of state and in Panama.
ABOUT THE LOCATION:
The Green at 320 is a public park located in the West Loop and will be host to many family-friendly activities and events this summer!
The Green at 320 is located behind the building at 320 S. Canal, 1 block west of the river. The main staired entrance to the park is on the corner of Clinton and Van Buren with an ADA-accessible ramp off of Clinton. The park is located 1 block north of the Clinton Blue Line Stop. Please find more detailed transit and location information at https://320southcanal.com/.
Accessible Juneteenth 2023
Place: the UIC Quad (behind UIC Student Center East); 750 S. Halsted St., Chicago, IL
Date and Time: Saturday, June 17th, 2023 from 1pm to 5pm (Open mic livestream from 2:15pm to 3:15pm on Zoom and Chicagoland DPOCC Facebook page)
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Come and celebrate our second Juneteenth where we celebrate the black disability community and the victories we accomplished! We want to make Juneteenth a fun and important accessible experience for all, including disabled people in the African Diaspora.
RSVP at https://go.uic.edu/2023_AccessibleJuneteenth_RSVP to get event notifications!
This year, we will have a DJ who will bless us with music fit for our Accessible Juneteenth celebration. There will be food, giveaways, and resources given out by vendors also, including from Black-owned and disability-owned/friendly organizations and businesses.
We will host an open-mic where you can share your talents in singing, spoken-word, playing instruments, and more! Sign up at https://go.uic.edu/2023_AccessibleJuneteenth_OpenMic_Signup by June 9th at 11:59pm CT, or sign up in-person at the event. But hurry, because spots are limited!
If you’re not able to attend the celebration in person, that is okay! You can join us virtually; we will host a livestream of the open mic portion of the event. Register for the livestreams at https://go.uic.edu/2023_Virtual_AccessibleJuneteenth_Stream, or watch the livestream on Chicagoland DPOCC’s Facebook page on June 17th.
ASL will be provided for open mic portion; live captioning will be provided for the livestream of the open mic portion
More event details TBA as we get closer to the day; stay tuned for updates.
This event is brought to you by:
Chicagoland Disabled People of Color Coalition
The Institute on Disability and Human Development at UIC
Access Living
UIC Disability Cultural Center
Chicago Disability Pride Parade
Whole Foods
SYNOPSIS
In Sydney, Gabi and Patricia train to compete in Destructive Steps, Australia’s largest street dance competition. Both are pushing themselves mentally and physically in hopes that winning the contest will open new doors and possibilities for a better life. The film spans seven years and provides viewers with intimate access to the breathtaking artform of street dancing. Keep Stepping illuminates the multicultural, passion-filled subculture and tells a moving story about love, obsession, and the transformative power of dance.
Summer Screenings is Cinema/Chicago’s annual free film series that casts a spotlight on a different country’s national cinema each week all summer. DIRECTED BY Luke Cornish
Cinema has always been fascinated with the city as a “character”— a living, breathing organism that shapes the world around it. This program showcases the myriad ways in which cities are depicted in cinema and how people live, love, move through, and seek connection in urban spaces.
Featuring stories set in cities all around the globe—from the bustling cafes of Bogotá to the seaside cityscapes of Gothenburg and Galway to glittering black and white portraits of Taipei and Seoul to the streets, skyways, rivers, and trains right here in Chicago—these films express the rich, diverse personalities of cities on screen and how they mold and influence how we live.
Films are unrated. Viewer discretion is advised.
Tickets are available to claim 2 weeks before the screening.
SYNOPSIS
Thirty-five-year-old window cleaner and single father John has dedicated his life to raising his son. Given only a few months to live, he traverses Belfast, visiting homes of the working class and wealthy alike. He has a singular goal: to find the perfect family to raise his toddler Michael. How can he carry out this impossible task? Inspired by true events in the UK, Nowhere Special is a tender tale of pure love, profound heartbreak, and parenthood. DIRECTED BY Uberto Pasolini
Summer Screenings is Cinema/Chicago’s annual free film series that casts a spotlight on a different country’s national cinema each week all summer.
Cinema has always been fascinated with the city as a “character”— a living, breathing organism that shapes the world around it. This program showcases the myriad ways in which cities are depicted in cinema and how people live, love, move through, and seek connection in urban spaces.
Featuring stories set in cities all around the globe—from the bustling cafes of Bogotá to the seaside cityscapes of Gothenburg and Galway to glittering black and white portraits of Taipei and Seoul to the streets, skyways, rivers, and trains right here in Chicago—these films express the rich, diverse personalities of cities on screen and how they mold and influence how we live.
Films are unrated. Viewer discretion is advised.
Tickets are available to claim 2 weeks before the screening.
LabE is a series of monthly cohort meetings addressing particular needs of disabled dance artists.
The LabE gathering on July 2nd is designed to be a safe, disability-centric space where artists can come together to share a work-in-progress, try out new ideas, workshop concepts, and experiment with new scores. Hosted by Maggie Bridger, this inclusive event is open to all artists who seek a supportive community where they can connect with peers who share similar experiences and offer and receive support, encouragement, and constructive feedback.
This gathering aims to foster community connections among Deaf, disabled, sick, neurodivergent, and Mad artists while providing a platform for artists to explore their creativity and showcase their unique perspectives.
If you are an artist who is interested in showcasing your art or working through new ideas, please reach out to Maggie at mbridg8@uic.edu to participate in this event.
LabE is a series of monthly cohort meetings addressing particular needs of disabled dance artists.
During our May meeting we’ll pool our knowledge around writing funding applications. Whether you’ve written several successful applications or are just beginning the process of writing your first application, this space is for you. Depending on the needs of the group, this may look like spending time quietly co-writing, passing around drafts to get feedback, discussing strategies for framing our work as disabled artists in applications, or developing a list of funding opportunities to share with the community.
LabE is open to all Chicago-area dance artists who self-identify as Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing, sick, mad, neurodivergent, disabled or living with a disability, and/or who have lived experience with disability or impairment. This space is particularly meant for those interested in exploring disability and impairment-informed modes of practicing dance.
Additional Access Information is available here:
https://highconceptlabs.org/news-2/labe-launches-at-experimental-station
For any other questions or requests regarding accessibility accommodations, please contact HCL’s Accessibility Coordinator, Yolanda Cesta Cursach Montilla (yolanda@highconceptlabs.org).
Sensory-Friendly Morning is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the MCA without large crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes visitors with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, dementia, and more. On these mornings, lighting at the museum is dimmed, sounds from artworks and environmental noise is kept at a minimum, and a quiet space is available to visitors for breaks. During Sensory-Friendly Mornings, preregistered individuals and their families can visit the museum to explore exhibitions at their own pace, and join a Chicago-based artist for a sensory-friendly art-making experience. The museum is closed to the general public until 11:30 am; at that time, the lights and artworks return to usual operations.
Sensory-Friendly Morning aims to be a welcoming space to experience contemporary art in a judgment-free environment.
Accessibility: Sensory-Friendly. ASL Interpretation
https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/sensory-friendly-morning-5/
Writing Care Scenes: A Workshop & Skill Share with 2023 3Arts/Bodies of Work Residency Fellow, Kennedy Dawson Healy
Thursday, May 4th, 4:30pm to 6:30pm (Or join us virtually at 5:00pm!)
Haymarket House
800 W Buena Ave, Chicago, IL 60613
Join us for a workshop on writing play scenes about care. Learn about how Kennedy found grounding in writing about issues surrounding care through her in-progress project Care: The Musical. Then take time to develop your own scene that volunteers can share back to the group.
RSVP: https://writingcarescenes.eventbrite.com/
Program:
4:30 – 5:00 pm: Light refreshments and creative printmaking & zine stations* will be available outdoors.
5:00 – 6:30 pm: Workshop & skill share will be hosted in door.
*Creative printmaking & zine stations will be presented by Soph Schinderle (they/them) and Lizzy Dixon (they/them), who have collaborated with Kennedy during her residency. Schinderle and Dixon are both graduate art therapy students in the Community Practice and Helping Relationship Class, department of art therapy and counseling, School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC).
Access Information: Haymarket House is located in Uptown on the corner of Buena and Clarendon. Please enter through the parking lot off Clarendon where there is a ramped side entrance. ASL interpreters, CART, and a Personal Assistant will be available at the event. Masks are required for all who are able to wear them. There are two accessible bathrooms and the large event space has an air filter. For any other accessibility requests, please reach out to Beth Bendtsen at bbendtsen@accessliving.org at your earliest convenience.
Host Information: This event is part of the 2023 3Arts/Bodies of Work Residency Fellowship. Bodies of Work is a part of the Department of Disability and Human Development within the College of Applied Health Sciences at University of Illinois-Chicago.
Supporter Information:
This program received generous support from the Arts and Culture Project at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities, Shirley Ryan Abilities Lab and Disability Culture Activism Lab at SAIC.
The contents of this event were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RTCP0005). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this event do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, as well as grants to 3Arts from the National Endowment for the Arts and The Joyce Foundation.
Image description (attached flyer): Pastel pink and purple watercolor background with black, purple and blue text. There is a small circular photo of Kennedy, a white, fat, disabled femme, who smiles with their head turned slightly to the right. The back of their power chair is visible over their shoulder. Overlaid on the back ground is text with event information, including the bullet points: Outdoor refreshments, Creative printmaking & zine stations, and Scene writing workshop & sharing. Along the bottom are the logos for the event sponsors.
Join us for a roundtable discussion of legendary Chicago poet Gwendolyn Brooks and her book Blacks with Nora Brooks Blakely, Haki R. Madhubuti, and Kelly Norman Ellis.
This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream.
Nora Brooks Blakely, a former teacher, founded Chocolate Chips Theatre Company (1982-2011) and was its primary playwright. The daughter of two writers, Henry Blakely (Windy Place) and Gwendolyn Brooks (the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize), Brooks Blakely founded Brooks Permissions in 2001 to license and promote her mother’s work through programming and publications that demonstrate Gwendolyn Brooks’s continuing relevance. After writing plays and musicals for decades, she recently released her first children’s book, Moyenda and The Golden Heart, a Kwanzaa origin tale. Learn more at flyingcolorsunlimited.com.
Dr. Haki R. Madhubuti—poet, author, publisher, and educator—is regarded as an architect of the Black Arts Movement and is the founder and publisher of Chicago’s Third World Press. Madhubuti has published more than 36 books, including Think Black; Black Pride; Don’t Cry, Scream; and We Walk the Way of the New World . His poetry and essays have been selected for more than 100 anthologies. he National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities have recognized his poetry, and he has won anAmerican Book Award, Illinois Arts Council Award, Studs Terkel Humanities Service Award, and Hurston/Wright Legacy Prize in poetry for Liberation Narratives. His latest book, Taught By Women: Poems as Resistance Language, New and Selected, published in 2020, pays homage to the women who influenced him. Madhubuti is a recipient of the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
Kelly Norman Ellis is the author of Tougaloo Blues and Offerings of Desire; her poetry has appeared in Sisterfire: Black Womanist Fiction and Poetry, Spirit and Flame, Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature and Art, Boomer Girls, ESSENCE, Obsidian, Calyx, and Cornbread Nation. She is a recipient of a Kentucky Foundation for Women writer’s grant and is a Cave Canem fellow and founding member of the Affrilachian Poets. Ellis is an associate professor of English and creative writing and chairperson for the Department of English, Foreign Languages and Literatures at Chicago State University.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. If you will not comply with this requirement, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gwendolyn-brooks-panel-reflecting-on-a-chicago-legend-tickets-621192251747
The Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide.
Accessibility: ASL interpreted, captioning
The exhilarating work of Chicago’s next generation of filmmakers is showcased in this eclectic collection that celebrates the vast array of creative expressions emerging from our city. These films will screen with Open Captions, and the Q&A will feature Live Captioning.
Note: Films in this program contain themes or language that may not be suitable for all ages.
Accessibility: open captions, live captions
https://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/film/cineyouth2023-chicagoland/
On Sunday, May 14 from 8-10am, Lincoln Park Zoo is offering Sensory-Friendly Morning hours for guests with disabilities, chronicle illness, or Deaf to experience the zoo grounds and animal buildings in a comfortable and inclusive environment. Modifications include limited capacity and muted attractions. This is a free event, but it does require advanced registration.
Sensory-Friendly Morning is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the zoo without crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes guests with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, and dementia to name a few.
During Sensory-Friendly Morning, Gift Shop will be open at 8am and Landmark Café will sell beverages starting at 8:30am. AT&T Endangered Species Carousel and Lionel Train Adventure will operate with music and noises muted. Not all animal buildings may be open, and some animals may not be in their public viewing spaces.
At 10am, the zoo will be open to the public and begin typical operations.
View the zoo’s accessibility map HERE and accessibility page HERE to help plan your visit.
Lincoln Park Zoo is certified Sensory Inclusive by KultureCity. Please download the free KultureCity app with Lincoln Park Zoo social narrative. iOS Android
Guests may only enter at West Gate and East Gate, and they need to present their registration email to zoo ushers.
Paid parking is available at the zoo’s parking lot located at Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive (2400 N. Cannon Drive). The zoo is also accessible by train via the Armitage and Fullerton stations and by bus via the 22, 36, 151, and 156 routes.
All Lincoln Park Zoo events take place rain or shine. We have some wonderful animal buildings you can still enjoy if it rains, and the carousel is covered.
There is no smoking at Lincoln Park Zoo for the health of the animals in our care.
Pets are not allowed at the zoo, but licensed service animals are welcome.
For any questions, please email access@lpzoo.org.
Accessibility: sensory-friendly
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sensory-friendly-morning-at-lincoln-park-zoo-tickets-617752734057
The exhilarating work of Chicago’s next generation of filmmakers is showcased in this eclectic collection that celebrates the vast array of creative expressions emerging from our city.
Note: Films in this program contain themes or language that may not be suitable for all ages.
Closed Captions will be available with these films on our online platform.
https://www.chicagofilmfestival.com/film/cineyouth2023-chicagoland/
Please note, there are also in-person screenings. This post contains information for the virtual screening only.
We are delighted to be hosting Maggie Bridger on April 15 as part of her Crafting Care series. In anticipation of her performance “Scale”, Maggie is holding open crafting sessions centered around collectively creating objects of care—including masks, blankets, and cushions. The culmination of our care work, made visible in the items we craft together, will likely be put to use in the performance of “Scale” in May! Feel free to come by Curb Appeal from 2:00-4:00pm on 4/15, and bring any crafting projects you might want to work on.
Additionally, this is the second-to-last week to experience Molly Joyce’s “Perspective” a sound and video work that grapples with the myriad ways in which people experience disability. The work is open captioned. Sound descriptions and image descriptions accompany the video, too.
Curb Appeal is wheelchair accessible. We also have a gallery dog (Momo) who will be present at this program. We’ll continue to mask inside, in consideration of one another. Email us for address and access information: info@curbappeal.gallery.
Limited capacity. Advanced registration is required.
Masking is required for this performance.
Using the pain scale as a primary source material, Scale places medicalized methods of quantifying pain in conversation with alternative ways of reading and attending to pain emerging from the disability community, ultimately proposing new ways of caring for the bodymind in dance. These complex interactions between medicalization, care, and community are explored through movement, video, and the use of access tools for both performers and audience members. Scale invites audience members to attend to their own embodied experience of the piece, offering pillows, blankets, and other care objects as tools for curating the way they engage with and experience the work. Scale poses questions around the ways that we perceive pain, ultimately reaching toward a more compassionate and disability-informed way of creating and performing dance.
Each performance is followed by a Crafting Care event that serves as a sort of informal “talk back” with some of the artists, as well as an opportunity to join in the crafting practice that informed much of the work of Scale. Audience members are encouraged to bring their own crafting projects, participate in a group embroidery project, or simply share space and chat about Scale in community with the artists and other audience members.
COLLABORATORS
Performers: Maggie Bridger, Jordan Brown, Joán Joel, Alex Neil-Sevier, Robby Lee Williams
Costumes and Visual Art: Reveca Torres
Sound Design: Shireen Hamza
Crafters: Margaret Fink, Sandy Guttman, Alison Kopit, Ashley Miller
Access information
ACCESS DURING PERFORMANCE
Captions, American Sign Language, audio descriptions, opportunities to rest, and sensory notes are incorporated into the performance in ways that we hope generate a unique, thoughtful experience for each audience member. The methods we’re using to incorporate these elements into the performance are experimental and may differ from the ways these tools are encountered in other arts spaces. We are continuing to learn, develop, and experiment alongside our community and welcome feedback on these elements, particularly from members of the community that rely on these various tools to access performance.
COVID Protocols:
Masking is required in the performance space. Mana Contemporary, though, is a shared building that does not require masking and there may be unmasked people outside of the performance space. You are welcome to bring your own mask or grab one of the high quality masks available to audience members in both adult and child sizes at the building’s entrance. All performers will be masked, though there is a moment in the work where performers layer masks one on top of the other, which may cause their masking to be less effective for a short period of time.
Arriving at Mana & Wayfinding:
All audience members will enter the ramped entrance to Mana Contemporary located on the west side of the building near the Throop street entrance to the parking lot. Audiences will then be guided through the building to the performance space by the performers, two of whom use ASL and will be able to guide Deaf and hard of hearing audience members. The first 30 minutes of the performance time is dedicated to audience arrival and getting situated in the performance space, so there is no need to rush or worry about arriving precisely on time. There is time to rest, chat, and get settled.
A library around the corner from the performance space will be used as a “quiet space” that folks can use to get a break from the performance, if needed.
Access Tools and Sharing Space:
The show runs about an hour and a half with the first half hour dedicated entirely to audience members arriving and getting settled for the performance. Upon entering the space, audience members will be offered access devices and care tools to help them feel as comfortable as possible throughout the performance. Some of the tools we have available are:
4 blankets
3 small weighted blankets
9 pillows
2 large beanbags
Yoga mats/exercise mats
Instant hot and cold packs
Stim tools
3 ear defenders
In addition to these, you are very welcome to bring your own tools/devices. We invite you to move, stim, rest, and generally make yourself comfortable during the performance. Our tools/devices will be cleaned with scent-free detergent/cleanser between each performance.
We ask that audience members refrain from wearing any scented perfume, cologne, lotion, etc. However, Mana Contemporary is a shared space where tenants will sometimes burn incense or use other scented products. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a fully scent-free environment.
Join us anytime throughout the day for accessible dance events! Have fun while earning how to be more inclusive in your practice. We’ll be moving together, enjoying a showcase of works in progress, watching a short film, engaging and building community that includes dancers with disabilities.
FREE events with adjacent free parking and CTA nearby.
10:00-11:45 Everybody Can Dance inclusive movement workshop.
12:00-12:20 Informal showing of 3 works in progress.
12:20-1:45 Lunch with DIY Access stations open to provide hands on instruction for providing AI captions online.
1:45-2:30 AccepDance workshop (based on Autism Movement Therapy)
2:45-3:00 Film Showing “JMAXX and the Universal Language.”
3:00-3:30 Panel Discussion with JMAXX and the filmmaker
3:30-4:30 Adaptive Hip Hop workshop
Accessibility: ASL interpreted, audio description, captions, wheelchair accessibility
Alonzo King LINES Ballet returns to the Harris stage for the first time since 2015. The celebrated contemporary ballet company, whose mission is to nurture artistry and the development of creative expression in dance, through collaboration, performance, and education, will perform in a matinee program for children and families.
Accessibility: ASL interpreter, assistive listening devices, large print programs, sensory-friendly, quiet spaces, wheelchair accessible
https://www.harristheaterchicago.org/alonzo-king-lines-ballet/family
Designed and led by Chicago artists, Family Day is a monthly program at the MCA for all families and youth. Enjoy FREE admission while taking part in workshops, open studio sessions, gallery tours, and performances.
Artist-Led Performance
Raíces to Roots
1–2 pm
4th-floor lobby
Join Raíces to Roots for a performance that celebrates and examines the Chicago Puerto Rican experience through original dance, spoken word, and music. Family Day attendees are invited to interact with and join the performance.
Accessibility: ASL interpreted, quiet spaces
https://visit.mcachicago.org/events/family-day-we-are-rooted-we-are-flowing/
To commemorate Women’s History Month, the Arts & Culture Project at Access Living is partnering to host a virtual film screening and panel discussion of the My Girl Story documentary on Saturday, March 25 from 12-2pm.
This event will explore the importance of mental health care among Black girls and resources available to them and their families.
My Girl follows the lives of two Black girls from Detroit, Monay and Shokana, who are fighting to become the girls they want to be. The documentary aims to give context to what Black girls across the country are experiencing today and to challenge the institutional and systemic barriers that prevent black girls especially those with disabilities from achieving their potential.
Register via Eventbrite to get the Zoom link:
Access Information:
Live CART captioning and ASL will be provided during the panel discussion.
Partners:
My Girl Story
Chicagoland Disabled People of Color Coalition
Access Living
Empowered Fe Fe’s
Sponsor Information: This event is brought to you by the Arts and Culture Project at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities, Bodies of Work: Network of Disability Art and Culture, Shirley Ryan Abilities Lab, and the Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL), a teaching lab housed under the department of art therapy and counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Bodies of Work is a part of the Department of Disability and Human Development within the College of Applied Health Sciences at University of Illinois-Chicago. The contents of this film were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RTCP0005). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this film do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
LabE is a series of monthly cohort meetings addressing particular needs of disabled dance artists.
The LabE gathering on April 2nd is designed to be a safe, disability-centric space where artists can come together to share a work-in-progress, try out new ideas, workshop concepts, and experiment with new scores. Hosted by Maggie Bridger, this inclusive event is open to all artists who seek a supportive community where they can connect with peers who share similar experiences and offer and receive support, encouragement, and constructive feedback.
This gathering aims to foster community connections among Deaf, disabled, sick, neurodivergent, and Mad artists while providing a platform for artists to explore their creativity and showcase their unique perspectives.
In-progress projects will be presented by Sydney Erlikh & Deb Goodman.
If you are an artist who is interested in showcasing your art or working through new ideas, please reach out to Maggie at mbridg8@uic.edu to participate in this event.
LabE is open to all Chicago-area dance artists who self-identify as Deaf/deaf/hard of hearing, sick, mad, neurodivergent, disabled or living with a disability, and/or who have lived experience with disability or impairment. This space is particularly meant for those interested in exploring disability and impairment-informed modes of practicing dance.
Additional Access Information is available at https://highconceptlabs.org/news-2/labe-launches-at-experimental-station. For any other questions or requests regarding accessibility accommodations, please contact HCL’s Accessibility Coordinator, Yolanda Cesta Cursach Montilla (yolanda@highconceptlabs.org).
Accessibility: captioning, sensory-friendly, quiet spaces, wheelchair accessible
Opening reception for Voices Embodied
Highlighting a relationship between disability and community, Voices Embodied: Uplifted is boldly displayed throughout the Design Museum of Chicago. The work of fourteen artists is displayed to reconsider the space in a way that is moody, engaging and vulnerable. Colorful work, visible in the large public-facing windows engages the community while the dark vault space located in the back of the museum becomes a place of contemplation where viewers are close in proximity to the pieces. All the selected works come from individual perspectives but are displayed in such a way that the work begins to relate and support one another.
While being bold and colorful, and expressing pride, the work is invitational. The pieces in Voices Embodied: Uplifted demonstrate the strength of a supportive community.
The interior of the Design Museum of Chicago is wheelchair accessible. There is a ramp that leads to the entry but the entrance door is not automated. Restrooms are located in the basement, accessible by an elevator. For individual access requests, please visit saic.edu/access.
This Wednesday, March 1st Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance is hosting beekeeper Jonathan Bennett for a virtual lecture from 6:30pm – 8pm. Jonathan encourages people of all ages and abilities to keep bees if it is of their interest. In his presentation he will share ways he has adapted his beekeeping to his physical ability and future plans to continue to improve the adaptability of his apiary to his physical ability.
This virtual lecture will have ASL Interpretation and auto-generated closed captioning available.
About the speaker: Jonathan Bennett is as unique as he is interesting. He has faced challenges his entire life having been born with spina bifida. He hasn’t let this stop him from pursuing his agricultural ambitions as he got his education from the College of the Ozarks with his bachelor’s in animal science and agriculture business. In recent years, he has expanded the family farm outside Cabool, Missouri producing registered shorthorn cattle, pure Spanish goats, and bees. He currently maintains 5 production hives and several nucleolus colonies.
If you would like to request an accommodation, the registration form has a space to let us know or please feel free to connect with access@garfieldpark.org.
Curb Appeal Gallery is pleased to announce their inaugural exhibition and the Chicago debut of Molly Joyce’s Perspective. Begun in 2019, Perspective is a sound and video work that captures perspectives of the disability experience. Created through interviewing over 40 participants around topics that encompass elements of disability—including care, interdependence, weakness, and cure—Joyce has composed and performed a work that invites audiences to consider the kaleidoscopic and nuanced experiences that inform what it means to be disabled. Created with disability aesthetics and accommodations in mind, Perspective features open-captioned videos, lending a sense of visual primacy to the stories of the disabled participants and their valuable perspectives. In addition to screening Perspective, Curb Appeal is delighted to host a brief conversation between Joyce and one of the project interviewees, Chicago artist Andy Slater (from 7:00-7:30pm).
Accessibility: Curb Appeal is wheelchair accessible. In addition to open captioning on the video work, we will provide ASL interpretation and CART-captioning for remarks and a brief conversation between Molly Joyce and Andy Slater. Masks are required for entry and will be provided if needed. Please note, Curb Appeal is an apartment gallery and doubles as a home to our gallery dog.
Join us for an Open Door reading with Ari Banias, Joss Barton, Alex Jane Cope, and KOKUMO, The Queen of Queer Soul. The Open Door series highlights creative relationships in Chicago, including mentorship and collaboration.
This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream.
Ari Banias is the author of A Symmetry, winner of the 2022 Publishing Triangle Award for Trans & Gender Variant Literature, and Anybody. Banias’s poems have appeared in Bæst, Georgia Review, The Nation, The New Republic, Triple Canopy, Verse, Washington Square, and The Yale Review. His work has been supported by fellowships and residencies at Headlands Center for the Arts, MacDowell, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, among others. He lives in Chicago.
Joss Barton is a writer, journalist, and spoken word performance artist exploring and documenting queer and trans* life, love, and liberation. Barton’s work blends femme-fever dreams over the soundtrack of the American nightmare. Combining prose poetry, non-fiction confessional essays, drag artistry, and spoken word stage performances, Joss examines the myriad states of queer trans womanhoods from historical, political, and pop cultural identities of death, desires, dreams, and disco. Joss Barton’s performance will include special lighting design by Dazzler.
Alex Jane Cope is a poet and translator originally from West Michigan and currently based in Chicago; they previously lived in and around Paris, where they organized a multilingual queer and feminist reading series. Cope ran the Suppertime Writing Workshop through the PO Box Collective, which brought people together monthly for a free meal, a discussion of a few short texts, and accompanying writing prompts. Their work has appeared in publications by The Rumpus, Voicemail Poems, Asphalte Magazine, Pilot Press London, and Hooligan Magazine.
KOKUMO is The Queen Of Queer Soul! And the CEO & Founder Of Born Worthy Records! The world’s first record company dedicated to black, non-cis women, and those who support us!
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the live-stream details, please register in advance here. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-door-ari-banias-joss-barton-alex-jane-cope-kokumo-tickets-524709499237?lang=en-us&locale=en_US&status=30&view=listing
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/visit/accessibility
Accessibility: ASL interpreter, captions
Join us in person for a lecture by distinguished alum Athena LaTocha followed by an audience Q&A.
Location: The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
Athena LaTocha (BFA 1992) is an artist whose massive works on paper explore the relationship between human-made and natural worlds. The artist incorporates materials such as ink, lead, earth, and wood while looking at correlations between mark-marking and displacement of materials made by industrial equipment and natural events. LaTocha’s process is about being immersed in these environments while responding to the storied and, at times, traumatic cultural histories that are rooted in place.
Presented in partnership with SAIC Alumni Engagement.
This event is free, non-ticketed and open to the general public.
This event will be live captioned by Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services. The auditorium is wheelchair accessible and hearing assisted devices are available. For additional access requests, visit saic.edu/access.
Accessibility: live captions, assistive listening devices, wheelchair accessible
Join us for a reading with Raquel Salas Rivera and Angel Dominguez as part of the Poetry Coalition’s annual nationwide programming series. The Poetry Coalition’s theme for 2023 is Poetry & Grief, taking inspiration from these lines in Ed Roberson’s poem “once the magnolia has blossomed:”“and so much lost you’d think / beauty had left a lesson.”
This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream.
Raquel Salas Rivera’s honors include the 2023 Sundial Literary Translation Award, the 2022 Juan Felipe Herrera Award, a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry, the inaugural Ambroggio Prize, and serving as the 2018-19 Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, among others. Salas Rivera has published six poetry collections and edited Puerto Rico en mi corazón and the literary journal The Wanderer. Among his translations are The Rust of History and The Book of Conjurations. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and works as head of the translation team for The Puerto Rican Literature Project.
Angel Dominguez is a Latinx poet and artist of Yucatec Maya descent, born in Hollywood and raised in Van Nuys, CA by their immigrant family. Dominguez lives amongst the Santa Cruz Mountains in Bonny Doon, CA. They are the author of Desgraciado (the collected letters), RoseSunWater, and Black Lavender Milk. Their work has been published in BOMB Magazine, The Berkeley Poetry Review, FENCE, Prolit Magazine, SFMOMA Open Space, and elsewhere. You can find Angel in the redwoods or ocean.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here.
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/visit/accessibility
Accessibility: ASL interpreter, live captions
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/poetry-grief-raquel-salas-rivera-angel-dominguez-tickets-539584039387
Join us for a conversation continuing the Poetry Foundation’s celebration of Copper Canyon Press’s 50th anniversary. Executive editor Michael Wiegers will moderate a discussion of Copper Canyon’s legacy and future in the poetry world with panelists Arthur Sze, Chris Abani, Tishani Doshi, and Alison C. Rollins.
This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream. Copies of A House Called Tomorrow, Copper Canyon’s special 50th anniversary anthology, will be available for sale.
Chris Abani is a novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. Born in Nigeria to an Igbo father and English mother, he grew up in Afikpo, Nigeria, received a BA in English from Imo State University, Nigeria, an MA in English, Gender and Culture from Birkbeck College, University of London and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. He has resided in the United States since 2001.
Tishani Doshi publishes poetry, essays and fiction. Recent books include the poetry collection Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods, shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award, and a novel, Small Days and Nights, shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize and a New York Times Bestsellers Editor’s Choice. For fifteen years Tishani worked as a dancer with the Chandralekha group in Madras, India. A God at the Door, her fourth full-length collection, is published by Copper Canyon Press, and was shortlisted for the 2021 Forward Poetry Prize.
Alison C. Rollins was named a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow in 2019. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Iowa Review, The New York Times Magazine, and elsewhere. A Cave Canem and Callaloo fellow, she was a 2016 recipient of the Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship. In 2018, she was a recipient of the Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award and in 2020, the winner of a Pushcart Prize. Her debut poetry collection, Library of Small Catastrophes was a 2020 Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award nominee.
Arthur Sze has published eleven books of poetry, including The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems; Sight Lines, which won the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry; and Compass Rose, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Sze is the recipient of many honors, including a 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, a Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers, a Lannan Literary Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Michael Wiegers has been editing poetry at Copper Canyon Press for 30 years, advocating for poets at every stage of their writing lives. He is the editor of A House Called Tomorrow as well as What About This: Collected Poems of Frank Stanford.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here.
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here.
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/visit/accessibility
Accessibility: ASL interpreter, live captions
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-house-called-tomorrow-copper-canyon-at-50-tickets-519984466537
Join us for the Chicago celebration of Copper Canyon Press’s 50th Anniversary with readings by Copper Canyon authors Chris Abani, Tishani Doshi, Alison C. Rollins, Arthur Sze, and Javier Zamora.
This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream.
Chris Abani is a novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter and playwright. Born in Nigeria to an Igbo father and English mother, he grew up in Afikpo, Nigeria, received a BA in English from Imo State University, Nigeria, an MA in English, Gender and Culture from Birkbeck College, University of London, and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. He has resided in the United States since 2001.
Tishani Doshi publishes poetry, essays and fiction. Recent books include the poetry collection Girls Are Coming Out of the Woods, shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award, and a novel, Small Days and Nights, shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize and a New York Times Bestsellers Editor’s Choice. For fifteen years Tishani worked as a dancer with the Chandralekha group in Madras, India. A God at the Door, her fourth full-length collection, is published by Copper Canyon Press and was shortlisted for the 2021 Forward Poetry Prize.
Alison C. Rollins was named a National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow in 2019. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Poetry Review, Iowa Review, The New York Times Magazine, and elsewhere. A Cave Canem and Callaloo fellow, she was a 2016 recipient of the Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship. In 2018, she was a recipient of the Rona Jaffe Writers’ Award, and in 2020, the winner of a Pushcart Prize. Her debut poetry collection, Library of Small Catastrophes was a 2020 Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award nominee.
Arthur Sze has published eleven books of poetry, including The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems; Sight Lines, which won the 2019 National Book Award for Poetry; and Compass Rose, a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Sze is the recipient of many honors, including a 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize for Lifetime Achievement from the Poetry Foundation, a Shelley Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America, the Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers, a Lannan Literary Award, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He is a professor emeritus at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Javier Zamora was born in La Herradura, El Salvador in 1990. In his debut New York Times bestselling memoir, Solito, Javier retells his nine-week odyssey across Guatemala, Mexico, and eventually through the Sonoran Desert. Zamora was a 2018-2019 Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard University and holds fellowships from CantoMundo, Colgate University (Olive B. O’Connor), MacDowell, Macondo, the National Endowment for the Arts, Poetry Foundation (Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg), Stanford University (Stegner), and Yaddo. He is the recipient of a 2017 Lannan Literary Fellowship, the 2017 Narrative Prize, and the 2016 Barnes & Noble Writer for Writers Award for his work in the Undocupoets Campaign. Javier lives in Tucson, AZ.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here.
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/visit/accessibility
Accessibility: ASL interpreter, live captions,
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/copper-canyon-50th-anniversary-reading-tickets-519975008247
Join us in person for a lecture by artist Torkwase Dyson followed by an audience Q&A.
Location: The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
Working in painting, drawing, and sculpture, Torkwase Dyson combines expressive mark-making and geometric abstraction to explore the continuity between ecology, infrastructure, and architecture. Dyson deconstructs, distills, and interrogates the built environment, exploring how individuals—particularly Black and Brown people—negotiate, negate, and transform systems and spatial order. Throughout her work and research, Dyson seeks to confront issues of environmental liberation, envisioning a path toward a more equitable future.
This event is free, non-ticketed and open to the general public.
This event will be live captioned by Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services. The auditorium is wheelchair accessible and hearing assisted devices are available. For additional access requests, visit saic.edu/access.
This free event celebrates music and freedom movements from Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa and the United States. Featuring guest artists master djembekhan Sekou Conde and renowned soprano Audrey DuBois Harris, as well as Uniting Voices Chicago singers from every zip code of the city, the event – and the learning experience surrounding it – aims to go back and retrieve what has been lost.
Uniting Voices Chicago, formerly Chicago Children’s Choir, is a nonprofit organization that empowers and unites youth from diverse backgrounds to find their voice and celebrate their common humanity through the power of music. Please join us for this pillar performance with ASL interpretation by ASL Artist Brandon Kazen-Maddox and Director of Artistic Sign Language Marsellette Davis.
Monday, February 27
10:45am Pre-Show
11am-12:30pm Concert
Chicago Symphony Center
220 S. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60604
Accessibility: ASL interpreter
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScls1bFuN_8cO-jhgdbG3ILWKvAnG9DJIymPWYHzHwopAeyZA/viewform
Join us for a reading and celebration of the diverse voices, rich experiences, and powerful words of poets from around the country, and the world. Poets working in the online poetry workshop and discussion, Forms & Features, will share work created in this online creative community.
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/celebrating-the-poets-of-forms-features-online-tickets-525887893847
Join us for an intimate look at the painter Alex Katz’s extensive collaborations with poets, followed by a poetry reading by his son, Vincent Katz. This event will feature the premiere of a video dialogue between Alex and Vincent, looking closely at some of the works on view in this exhibition. Spanning works created over the past 60 years, the exhibition includes print portfolios, editioned books, portraits of poets and unique cutouts, all centering on poets and poetry.
Organized by the Poetry Foundation with guidance from the artist and his son, and with support from GRAY, the exhibition offers a unique opportunity to experience Katz’s deep interest in an art form whose forms and tactics he considered “more stimulating than painting.”
Alex Katz Often associated with the Pop Art movement, Katz began exhibiting his work in 1954; since that time he has produced a celebrated body of work that includes paintings, drawings, sculpture, and prints. His earliest work took inspiration from various aspects of mid-century American culture and society, including television, film, and advertising.
Vincent Katz is a poet, translator, curator, and critic. Katz is the author of numerous collections of poetry, including Broadway for Paul, Southness, Swimming Home, and Rapid Departures . He is also coauthor of Fantastic Caryatids, a collaboration with Anne Waldman, and his book collaborations with artists include Alcuni Telefonini with Francesco Clemente and Judge with Wayne Gonzales, among others. Katz also edited and wrote the introduction to Poems to Work On: The Collected Poems of Jim Dine.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance.
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance here.
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide.
The pre-show touch tour will begin 90 minutes before the show and the performance directly after the touch tour will offer live audio description (touch tour at 9:30am, show at 11:00am). This event is FREE and open to the public, but reservations are strongly encouraged.
About Extra Yarn:
While her parents work tirelessly at the local factory, Annabelle discovers a small wooden box in the snow filled with yarn that seemingly never ends. Armed with her love of friends and family, and her grandmother’s knitting needles, she effortlessly knits sweaters for the whole town! But the Archduke isn’t too pleased and will stop at nothing to get that never-ending yarn for himself. Bundle up with the discovery of family, friendship, and fighting for what’s right in this world premiere musical by the team that brought you We Found a Hat.
Touch Tour, Audio Description, and Free
Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, Executive Order 9066 led to the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII. Every year, the Japanese American community in Chicago comes together to commemorate E.O. 9066 as a reminder of the fragility of civil liberties in times of crisis and the importance of remaining vigilant in protecting the rights and freedoms of all.
The film “Resettlement: Chicago Story” tells an intergenerational story of the Yamamoto family several years after camp, as they struggle to rebuild their lives and make ends meet through their family dry cleaning business.
The film screening will be followed by a presentation of the companion learning website and Q&A. There will be a reception with complementary food and beverages following the program. The program will have ASL and CART/Live Captioning provided, the film will be presented with Open Captions and Open Audio Description.
Reception: ASL interpreter and CART
Film: Open Caption and Audio Description
Join us for a celebration of University of New Mexico Press’s landmark anthology Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry, featuring editor Ruben Quesada and poetry readings from ten contributors. This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream.
Latinx Poetics: Essays on the Art of Poetry collects personal and academic writing from Latino, Latin American, Latinx, and Luso poets about the nature of poetry and its practice. At the heart of this anthology lies the intersection of history, language, and the human experience. The collection explores the ways in which a people’s history and language are vital to the development of a poet’s imagination and insists that the meaning and value of poetry are necessary to understand the history and future of a people. The Latinx community is not a monolith, and accordingly the poets assembled here vary in style, language, and nationality. The essays not only expand the poetic landscape but extend Latinx and Latin American linguistic and geographical boundaries.
Ruben Quesada is a poet, translator, and editor. He is the author of Revelations and Next Extinct Mammal and the translator of a collection of selected poems by Luis Cernuda titled Exiled from the Throne of Night. He has served as an editor and coordinator for The Rumpus, Kenyon Review, AGNI, Pleiades, and the National Book Critics Circle board. He lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Daniel Borzutzky is a poet and translator who lives in Chicago; his most recent book is Written after a Massacre in the Year 2018. Borzutzky’s 2016 collection, The Performance of Becoming Human won a National Book Award in Poetry. He teaches in the English and Latin American and Latino Studies Departments at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Blas Falconer is the author of three poetry collections, including Forgive the Body This Failure, and a coeditor of two essay collections, The Other Latin@: Writing Against a Singular Identity and Mentor and Muse: Essays from Poets to Poets. Falconer’s poems have been featured by Poetry, Kenyon Review, and The New York Times, and his awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Tennessee Arts Commission, and Poets and Writers.
Sean Frederick Forbes is an assistant professor-in-residence of English and the director of the creative writing program at the University of Connecticut. Providencia, his first book of poetry, was published in 2013. He serves as the poetry editor for New Square, the official publication of the Sancho Panza Literary Society, of which he is a founding member. In 2017, he received first place in the Nutmeg Poetry Contest from the Connecticut Poetry Society.
Raina J. León, PhD, is Black, Afro-Boricua, and from Philadelphia. A poet and writer, she is the author of Canticle of Idols, Boogeyman Dawn, sombra : (dis)locate, and the chapbooks profeta without refuge and Areyto to Atabey: Essays on the Mother(ing) Self. León has received fellowships and residencies from Cave Canem, Obsidian Foundation, and Vermont Studio Center, among others. She also is a founding editor of the Acentos Review, an international online quarterly journal devoted to the promotion and publication of Latinx arts.
Sheryl Luna’s Magnificent Errors received an Ernest Sandeen Poetry Prize from University of Notre Dame; her other collections include Seven and Pity the Drowned Horses. Luna has received fellowships from Yaddo, Anderson Center, and CantoMundo, and she has received an Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Foundation Award, and was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters.
Carlo Matos is the author of twelve books, including As Malcriadas or Names We Inherit and We Prefer the Damned. Matos has received grants and fellowships from Disquiet ILP, CantoMundo, Illinois Arts Council, Sundress Academy for the Arts, and La Romita School of Art. He is a founding member of the Portuguese American writers collective Kale Soup for the Soul and a winner of the Heartland Poetry Prize.
Orlando Ricardo Menes is professor of English at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches in the MFA program and edits the Notre Dame Review. Menes is the author of seven poetry collections, including The Gospel of Wildflowers & Weeds, Memoria, and Fetish. His poems have appeared in several prominent anthologies and in such literary magazines as Poetry, Southern Review, Prairie Schooner, Yale Review, Harvard Review, and Hudson Review, among others.
Tomás Q. Morín is the author of several books, including the poetry collection Machete and the memoir Let Me Count the Ways. Morín’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Nation, Poetry, Slate, and Boston Review. He is a Civitella Fellow and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, and teaches at Rice University and Vermont College of Fine Arts.
ire’ne lara silva is the author of four poetry collections, including furia and Blood Sugar Canto, two chapbooks , and a short story collection, flesh to bone, which won a Premio Aztlán. silva coedited Imaniman: Poets Writing in the Anzaldúa Borderlands with Dan Vera. Her awards include a 2021 Tasajillo Writers Grant, a 2017 NALAC Fund for the Arts Grant, a Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Award, and the 2021 Texas Institute of Letters Shrake Award for Best Short Nonfiction.
Born in Mexico, Natalia Treviño grew up in South Texas, and is the author of the poetry collections VirginX and Lavando la Dirty Laundry, which has been published in a dual-language edition in Albanian and Macdonian. Treviño’s honors include an Alfredo Cisneros del Moral Award, a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize, and a Menada Literary Award. She is a professor of English and an affiliate Mexican American studies faculty member at Northwest Vista College.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/latinx-poetics-anthology-launch-celebration-tickets-470342827057
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/latinx-poetics-anthology-launch-celebration-tickets-470342827057
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide https://www.poetryfoundation.org/visit/accessibility
Join us for an Open Door reading with José Olivarez, Britteney Black Rose Kapri, Vic Chávez, and Raych Jackson, celebrating the launch of Olivarez’s book, Promises of Gold. The Open Door series highlights creative relationships in Chicago, including mentorship and collaboration. This is a hybrid event, which will be offered in-person and via livestream.
José Olivarez is a writer from Calumet City, IL. He is the author of Promises of Gold and Citizen Illegal.Citizen Illegal was a finalist for the PEN/ Jean Stein Award and a winner of the 2018 Chicago Review of Books Poetry Prize; it was named a top book of 2018 by The Adroit Journal, NPR, and the New York Public Library. Along with Felicia Chavez and Willie Perdomo, he co-edited the poetry anthology, The BreakBeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT. His poems are featured alongside photographs by Antonio Salazar in the multi-disciplinary poetic work, Por Siempre.
Britteney Black Rose Kapri is a semi-retired teaching artist, writer, performance poet, and playwright from Chicago. She has been published in Poetry, Vinyl, Day One, Seven Scribes, The Offing and Kinfolks Quarterly. She is a 2015 Rona Jaffe Writers Award Recipient. Her debut book Black Queer Hoe was released in 2018 through Haymarket Books.
Rachel “Raych” Jackson is a writer, educator, and performer whose poems have gained over 2 million views on YouTube. Jackson continues to instruct workshops through the Poetry Foundation, InsideOut Literary Arts, and more. She pushes educators to implement culturally relevant poetry within their curriculum using her five years of experience teaching in Chicago Public Schools. Jackson’s work has been published by many— including Poetry, The Rumpus, The Shallow Ends, and Washington Square Review. Her debut collection Even the Saints Audition won Best New Poetry Collection by a Chicagoan from Chicago Reader in 2019. Jackson currently lives in Chicago.
Vic Chávez is a queer Mexican poet from the Chicago suburb of Berwyn. They have a BA in Creative Writing from Columbia College Chicago, where they were an assistant editor for Columbia Poetry Review and an assistant copyeditor for Hair Trigger. Their work has been published in Southside Weekly, Breakbeat Poets Vol. 4: LatiNEXT, and in Columbia College’s Poetry Review and Allium Journal. Find Vic on Twitter and IG at @_vichavez.
In-Person Attendance
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask. Guests are encouraged to register in advance at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-door-jose-olivarez-britteney-kapri-vic-chavez-raych-jackson-tickets-488760745547
Livestream Attendance
The livestream link will be shared with registered guests on the day of the event. In order to receive the livestream details, please register in advance at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-door-jose-olivarez-britteney-kapri-vic-chavez-raych-jackson-tickets-488760745547
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This event will include CART captioning and ASL interpretation. For more information about accessibility at the Poetry Foundation, please visit our Accessibility Guide at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/visit/accessibility
ASL Interpretation is available.
In honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, gather with us on-site at the Museum for a live opera performance of the first act of Two Remain: Out of Darkness, in partnership with Chicago College of Performance Arts, Roosevelt University.
Her Jewish identity hidden, Krystyna Zywulska was a political prisoner at Auschwitz-Birkenau. In secret, she composed lyrics to inspire fellow prisoners, even as she carried out her harrowing job in the Effektenkammer (storage room) cataloging the personal effects of thousands of prisoners before they were murdered in the gas chambers next door. Many years after the war, a journalist asks Krystyana to share her stories, hoping to record them on a tape player. Haunted and helped by the ghosts of her past— Zosia, Edka, Mariola and her younger self, Krysia — she struggles to find the words.
Join us for this unique and compelling commemorative performance that will exhibit the power of art to uplift the heart and cradle of the soul, and the strength found in the fight for survival.
Cast: Aaron Hunt, Stage Director; Andrea Jones, Soprano; Alexis Neal, Mezzo-Soprano; Dana Brown, Conductor; Pianist; Raphael Chou, Daniel Zhao, Mezzo-Soprano; Kaleigh Watkins, Soprano; and Tanya Landau, Soprano.
There will be a post-performance Q&A with Roosevelt University featuring Dana Brown, conductor and Associate Professor of Opera, Roosevelt University; Tanya Landau, M.M. Voice Performance Candidate; David Kjar, Moderator and Associate Professor of Music, Roosevelt University
Please reserve your spot here: https://www.ilholocaustmuseum.org/events/ellen-v-philip-l-glass-holocaust-commemorative-series-international-holocaust-remembrance-day-two-remain-out-of-darkness-act-one/
Community Partners: Congregation Kol Emeth; Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago; Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany Chicago; The Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest
About the Virtual Event
Join us for a conversation with artist Martine Syms, whose solo exhibition Martine Syms: She Mad Season One is on view at the MCA through February 12.
Syms is joined by exhibition curator Jadine Collingwood, assistant curator at the MCA, and Dr. Allyson Nadia Field, professor at the University of Chicago, whose research focuses on African American film from silent-era cinema to the present. The three discuss Syms’s practice, extending their dialogue to include the past—and the present—of Black cinema and media production.
MCA Talks highlight cutting-edge thinking and contemporary art practices across disciplines. This presentation is organized by Daniel Atkinson, Manager of Learning, Adult Interpretive Programs, and the MCA’s Visual Art and Learning teams. Special thanks to Dr. Michael Anthony Turcios, Mancoch Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University, for development of this program.
This event takes place on Zoom. ASL interpretation and CART captioning provided
Cost: Free or Pay What You Can
Mindful Connections is a free monthly program that offers engagement between adults living with dementia and works of art. Join Rubin Museum staff and docents for an hour of close looking, discussion, and interpretation of traditional and contemporary Himalayan art.
Presented in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera Guild
Mozart’s The Magic Flute demonstrates the incredible effect of contrast, whether good vs. evil, order vs. chaos, or indulgence vs. sacrifice. The composer’s final opera is heavily inspired by folk traditions and his involvement in freemasonry. Join the Met Opera Guild to watch clips and learn more about this Enlightenment-era piece, which contains many beloved characters and some the highest and lowest notes sung in all of opera!
This event is part of Lincoln Center Moments, a free performance-based program specially designed for individuals with dementia and their caregivers.
Virtual programs are 90 minutes long, including live and recorded performances and activities facilitated by educators and music therapists that explore the work through discussion, movement, music, and art-making. These programs are open to audiences impacted by dementia anywhere in the country with access to Zoom.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact the Access Team at 212-875-5375 or access@lincolncenter.org.
Presented in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera Guild
Mozart’s The Magic Flute demonstrates the incredible effect of contrast, whether good vs. evil, order vs. chaos, or indulgence vs. sacrifice. The composer’s final opera is heavily inspired by folk traditions and his involvement in freemasonry. Join the Met Opera Guild to watch clips and learn more about this Enlightenment-era piece, which contains many beloved characters and some the highest and lowest notes sung in all of opera!
This event is part of Lincoln Center Moments, a free performance-based program specially designed for individuals with dementia and their caregivers.
Virtual programs are 90 minutes long, including live and recorded performances and activities facilitated by educators and music therapists that explore the work through discussion, movement, music, and art-making. These programs are open to audiences impacted by dementia anywhere in the country with access to Zoom.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact the Access Team at 212-875-5375 or access@lincolncenter.org.
Presented in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera Guild
Mozart’s The Magic Flute demonstrates the incredible effect of contrast, whether good vs. evil, order vs. chaos, or indulgence vs. sacrifice. The composer’s final opera is heavily inspired by folk traditions and his involvement in freemasonry. Join the Met Opera Guild to watch clips and learn more about this Enlightenment-era piece, which contains many beloved characters and some the highest and lowest notes sung in all of opera!
This event is part of Lincoln Center Moments, a free performance-based program specially designed for individuals with dementia and their caregivers.
Virtual programs are 90 minutes long, including live and recorded performances and activities facilitated by educators and music therapists that explore the work through discussion, movement, music, and art-making. These programs are open to audiences impacted by dementia anywhere in the country with access to Zoom.
If you have any questions about this event, please contact the Access Team at 212-875-5375 or access@lincolncenter.org.
We invite you to our newest fundraising campaign, in which we raise awareness and funds for people with myositis. Funds will help patient programs, enhance professional education efforts, and research for cures. We will have a non-competitive walk, fitness demonstrations and activities, nutrition and wellness components, and family fun!
We support patients with this rare disease that involves the inflammation of the muscles, causing weakness, swelling, and muscle damage that appears gradually. When patients are diagnosed with myositis, they may have problems grabbing objects, getting up from a chair, going upstairs, putting their arms up, and many more complications.
Free entrance, but donations are much appreciated – https://www.funfitflex.org/
DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center
10 AM – 12:30 PM
740 E 56th Pl, Chicago, IL 60637
Join us in person for a lecture by art critic Holland Cotter followed by an audience Q&A.
Location: The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave. (doors open at 5:45pm)
Holland Cotter is co-chief art critic and a senior writer at the New York Times. He has received the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award for Writing on Art from the College Art Association, and the inaugural award for Excellence in Criticism from the International Association of Art Critics. Cotter is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
This event will be live captioned by Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services. For additional access requests, visit saic.edu/access.
This September, come celebrate Chicago’s South Side. We’re partnering with South Shore Works to host a day-long Arts Party at the South Shore Cultural Center: Pop in and out of mural painting, collaborative art installations, tours of South Shore, poetry readings, house music on the lawn (with food vendors!), and more. Plus, join in on the big-name events CHF is known for: a chat with award-winning food blogger Michael Twitty on Black and Jewish cuisine, a podcast taping of the popular Some of My Best Friends Are… on what it means to be a Chicagoan, and live musical performances from the legendary Great Black Music Ensemble and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.
https://www.chicagohumanities.org/events/attend/south-shore-arts-party/
On Sunday, September 18 from 8-10am, Lincoln Park Zoo is offering Sensory-Friendly Morning hours for guests with disabilities to experience the zoo grounds and animal buildings in a comfortable and inclusive environment. Modifications include limited capacity and muted attractions. This is a free event, but it does require advanced registration. Tickets may be reserved at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sensory-friendly-morning-at-lincoln-park-zoo-tickets-393799554067
Sensory-Friendly Morning is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the zoo without crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes guests with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, and dementia to name a few.
During Sensory-Friendly Morning, Gift Shop will be open at 8am and Landmark Café will sell beverages starting at 8:30am. AT&T Endangered Species Carousel and Lionel Train Adventure will operate with music and noises muted. Not all animal buildings may be open, and some animals may not be in their public viewing spaces.
At 10am, the zoo will be open to the public and begin typical operations.
View the zoo’s accessibility map and accessibility page to help plan your visit.
Wheelchairs are available at Searle Visitor Center for temporary use by guests. Availability is first come, first served. Guests must deposit a picture ID or refundable $20.
Guests may only enter at West Gate and East Gate, and they need to present their registration email to zoo ushers.
Paid parking is available at the zoo’s parking lot located at Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive (2400 N. Cannon Drive). The zoo is also accessible by train via the Armitage and Fullerton stations and by bus via the 22, 36, 151, and 156 routes.
All Lincoln Park Zoo events take place rain or shine. We have some wonderful animal buildings you can still enjoy if it rains, and the carousel is covered.
There is no smoking at Lincoln Park Zoo for the health of the animals in our care.
Pets are not allowed at the zoo, but licensed service animals are welcome.
Tickets will not be available day of the event.
For any questions, please email access@lpzoo.org.
Kohl Children’s Museum was specifically designed to be inclusive of all children and adults regardless of ability. The Museum’s 17 exhibits and 2 acres of outdoor explorations are designed for play with a purpose and encourage linguistic, cognitive, motor, and social skills for children ages birth through 8. The Museum works collaboratively with community organizations to invite families with children with special needs to the Museum to explore the exhibits while closed to the general public. These FREE events, titled Everyone at Play, usually occur on specified afternoons. This provides opportunities for calm, creative, and collaborative play.
Join us for a popup event for disability pride. The event will have art-making, creative writing, a pop up book shop, open mic and book talk.
About this event
Disability Pride Pop-Up Event with Women & Children First
Join Access Living and Women and Children First for an afternoon of celebration in honor of disability pride!
Women and Children First Bookstore is having a Pop-up book shop, where you can find books authored by disabled writers and books that talk about disability experiences and culture. You are invited to join our creative art stations, where you can make personalized wearable buttons and participate in the Re-Wired Project (see description below)
Program:
1:00-6:00pm Pop-up book shop and creative stations where participants can:
– make buttons
– create personal narratives of disability identity and pride; and
– be a part of the Re-Wired Project
4:00-4:30pm Featured readers & open mic for those who self-identify as a member of the disability, Deaf, neurodivergent or psychiatric survivor community to share short personal narratives of disability
4:30pm Book talk, Q&A session, and book signing with Liat Ben-Moshe, author of Decarcerating Disability: Deinstitutionalization and Prison Abolition
5:30pm Book talk from disabled artist Riva Lehrer, author of GOLEM GIRL
Please note that masks are required for entry into the Access Living building and must be worn at all times.
What is Re-wired Project?
THE RE-WIRED PROJECT is inspired in part by the moving and powerful expressions of solidarity that emerged as chalky sidewalk slogans and impassioned murals throughout the City in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. The walls, sidewalks, front yards, and windows of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods have long served as a canvas, reflecting individual and community values.
Join us and create texts and wire sculpture that represents our disability and/or Deaf community, culture and values.
Dates and Times:
Monday, 7/25, 1:00-6:00pm
Location:
Access Living
115 West Chicago Avenue, 4th floor
Chicago, IL 60654
Who can participate?
This event is open to the public. All members of the disability community and allies are welcome to attend. Participants do not need any art/craft experience or skills.
Cost:
The event is free to attend. All art-making activities will be no cost. There will be books available for purchase.
Ready to sign up?
Space is limited due to Covid safety precautions, please sign up soon by using the Eventbrite link, or email Beth Bendtsen at bbendtsen@accessliving.org. You can also call Beth at (312) 640-2156 with any questions, concerns or access needs.
Access Information:
Access Living is a scent free building. Please refrain from wearing scented products, such as scented lotion, perfume and cologne. All areas of the building are wheelchair accessible. ASL interpretation services and CART will be provided during the open mic and book reading. Please contact bbendtsen@accessliving.org with other access requests.
Organizers’ Information:
This event is brought to you by the Arts and Culture Project at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities, and the Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL), a teaching lab housed under the department of art therapy and counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. As a platform for creative disability art and advocacy projects, DCAL uses a peer support and collective care model in which disability community members and art therapy graduate students collaborate as disability culture makers for social change.
The contents of this event were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RTCP0005). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this event do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Join us for THE RE-WIRED PROJECT to create work that represents our disability and/or Deaf community, culture and values.
Let’s talk about mental health: Re-Wired Project at Access Living
THE RE-WIRED PROJECT is inspired in part by the moving and powerful expressions of solidarity that emerged as chalky sidewalk slogans and impassioned murals throughout the City in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. The walls, sidewalks, front yards, and windows of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods have long served as a canvas, reflecting individual and community values.
Access Living is collaborating with THE RE-WIRED PROJECT to create work that represents our disability and/or Deaf community, culture and values. If you consider yourself a member of the disability, Deaf, neurodivergent or psychiatric survivor community, please join us. We will share conversations about mental health, and also learn to unleash our creativity together!
Dates and Times:
Monday, 7/11, 2:00-5:00pm
Monday, 8/8, 2:00-5:00pm
Location:
Access Living
115 West Chicago Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60654
Who can participate?
Anyone who self-identifies as a member of the disability, Deaf, neurodivergent or psychiatric survivor community. Participants do not need any art/craft experience or skills.
Stipend:
To honor the participants’ time and labor for a 3-hour long workshop (with breaks, of course!), we are offering a $75 stipend to each participant.
Ready to sign up?
Space is limited due to Covid safety precautions. Please sign up via Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-talk-about-mental-health-re-wired-project-at-access-living-tickets-375472527437
OR email Beth Bendtsen at bbendtsen@accessliving.org.
You can also call Beth at (312) 640-2156 with any questions, concerns or access needs.
Access Information:
Due to high demand for live captioning (CART) and ASL interpretation services during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are asking participants to submit access requests 2-3 weeks in advance. Please contact bbendtsen@accessliving.org with requests.
Organizers’ Information:
This series of workshop is brought to you by the Arts and Culture Project at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities, and the Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL). Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL) is housed under the department of art therapy and counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. DCAL is a platform for creative advocacy projects and disability allyship training. In partnership with Access Living’s Arts and Culture Project, DCAL provides teaching and hands-on learning guided by disability justice–a framework that examines disability in connection to other forms of oppressions and identities.
Using a peer support and collective care model, disability community members and art therapy graduate students collaborate as disability culture makers for social change.
The contents of this workshop were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RTCP0005). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this workshop do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Image Description:
Banner has a light green background. Title reads “Let’s talk about mental health: Re-Wired Project at Access Living in text that is navy, gold and white. ” Below the title is the date and location of the event. There is also an image of Re-wired art: multi-colored wire spells out the words Courage, Strong and Proper, and various other wire designs including spirals, branches and others stand out against a white wall.
Join us for THE RE-WIRED PROJECT to create work that represents our disability and/or Deaf community, culture and values.
Let’s talk about mental health: Re-Wired Project at Access Living
THE RE-WIRED PROJECT is inspired in part by the moving and powerful expressions of solidarity that emerged as chalky sidewalk slogans and impassioned murals throughout the City in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. The walls, sidewalks, front yards, and windows of Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods have long served as a canvas, reflecting individual and community values.
Access Living is collaborating with THE RE-WIRED PROJECT to create work that represents our disability and/or Deaf community, culture and values. If you consider yourself a member of the disability, Deaf, neurodivergent or psychiatric survivor community, please join us. We will share conversations about mental health, and also learn to unleash our creativity together!
Dates and Times:Monday, 8/8, 2:00-5:00pm
Location:
Access Living
115 West Chicago Avenue,
Chicago, IL 60654
Who can participate?
Anyone who self-identifies as a member of the disability, Deaf, neurodivergent or psychiatric survivor community. Participants do not need any art/craft experience or skills.
Stipend:
To honor the participants’ time and labor for a 3-hour long workshop (with breaks, of course!), we are offering a $75 stipend to each participant.
Ready to sign up?
Space is limited due to Covid safety precautions. Please sign up via Eventbrite:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/lets-talk-about-mental-health-re-wired-project-at-access-living-tickets-375472527437
OR email Beth Bendtsen at bbendtsen@accessliving.org.
You can also call Beth at (312) 640-2156 with any questions, concerns or access needs.
Access Information:
Due to high demand for live captioning (CART) and ASL interpretation services during the COVID-19 pandemic, we are asking participants to submit access requests 2-3 weeks in advance. Please contact bbendtsen@accessliving.org with requests.
Organizers’ Information:
This series of workshop is brought to you by the Arts and Culture Project at Access Living, an independent living center for people with disabilities, and the Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL). Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL) is housed under the department of art therapy and counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. DCAL is a platform for creative advocacy projects and disability allyship training. In partnership with Access Living’s Arts and Culture Project, DCAL provides teaching and hands-on learning guided by disability justice–a framework that examines disability in connection to other forms of oppressions and identities.
Using a peer support and collective care model, disability community members and art therapy graduate students collaborate as disability culture makers for social change.
The contents of this workshop were developed under a grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR grant number 90RTCP0005). NIDILRR is a Center within the Administration for Community Living (ACL), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The contents of this workshop do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, or HHS, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
Image Description:
Banner has a light green background. Title reads “Let’s talk about mental health: Re-Wired Project at Access Living in text that is navy, gold and white. ” Below the title is the date and location of the event. There is also an image of Re-wired art: multi-colored wire spells out the words Courage, Strong and Proper, and various other wire designs including spirals, branches and others stand out against a white wall.
On Sunday, July 24 from 8-10am, Lincoln Park Zoo is offering Sensory-Friendly Morning hours for guests with disabilities to experience the zoo grounds and animal buildings in a comfortable and inclusive environment. Modifications include limited capacity and muted attractions. This is a free event, but it does require advanced registration. Tickets may be reserved at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sensory-friendly-morning-tickets-373533056427
Sensory-Friendly Morning is a free program for all people who benefit from visiting the zoo without crowds and other sensitive environmental elements. This includes guests with sensory sensitivities, disabilities, autism, PTSD, and dementia to name a few.
During Sensory-Friendly Morning, Gift Shop will be open at 8am and Landmark Café will sell beverages starting at 8:30am. AT&T Endangered Species Carousel and Lionel Train Adventure will operate with music and noises muted. Not all animal buildings may be open, and some animals may not be in their public viewing spaces.
At 10am, the zoo will be open to the public and begin typical operations.
View the zoo’s accessibility map at https://www.lpzoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/LPZ_Accessibility-Map_JAN-2022_v6.pdf
View the zoo’s accessibility page at https://www.lpzoo.org/visit/accessibility/
Wheelchairs are available at Searle Visitor Center for temporary use by guests. Availability is first come, first served. Guests must deposit a picture ID or refundable $20.
Guests may only enter at West Gate and East Gate, and they need to present their registration email to zoo ushers.
Paid parking is available at the zoo’s parking lot located at Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive (2400 N. Cannon Drive). The zoo is also accessible by train via the Armitage and Fullerton stations and by bus via the 22, 36, 151, and 156 routes.
All Lincoln Park Zoo events take place rain or shine. We have some wonderful animal buildings you can still enjoy if it rains, and the carousel is covered.
• Outside food and beverage is prohibited.
• There is no smoking at Lincoln Park Zoo for the health of the animals in our care.
• Pets are not allowed at the zoo, but licensed service animals are welcome.
• Lincoln Park Zoo’s Code of Conduct can be found at https://www.lpzoo.org/guest-guidelines-and-code-of-conduct/.
Tickets will not be available day of the event.
For any questions, please email access@lpzoo.org.
Unfolding Disability Futures is a multi-organization, site-specific performance and installation by local disabled artists throughout The Plant, a former meatpacking facility. Over the past decade, this space has been revitalized to highlight the importance of sustainable agriculture and community collaboration. Unfolding Disability Futures embraces the importance of sustainability and community care in artistic practice and performance. Performances and installations unfold throughout the space, highlighting how The Plant has been redeveloped to make the building accessible in ways that are both functional and beautiful and proposing access not as a drain but a plentiful resource in and of itself.
Unfolding Disability Futures takes place over four events on June 4-5 & 11-12. Each performance cycle, audiences will be guided through The Plant in groups of ten, experiencing six original dance works set in various locations throughout the building, as well as the six visual artist spotlights. Performance cycles begin every half hour over the duration of all four events with a total of five performances per event. Each performance cycle runs about an hour. Thie set up is intended to build in the flexibility needed to respond to current COVID protocols to ensure the safety of audiences and dancers while simultaneously allowing audiences to fully experience the architecture, performances and visual art exhibits throughout The Plant.
Additionally, we will host a post-show artist talk after the final performance cycle concludes at 5pm on Sunday, June 12 and two community workshops in April 30 and on May 15 at 3:30pm.
Masks and vaccination/negative tests required for all events. See our website unfoldingdisabilityfutures.com for more information.
**ASL Interpreters will be available for all performance cycles on Sunday, June 5 and Saturday, June 11. If you require ASL interpreters, please register for any cycle on these dates.
This show contains some images containing partial nudity in the context of the performance of care tasks. Audiences will be notified before they encounter partial nudity and be given the option to forgo portion of the event.
MCA Advisory Partners Bodies of Work and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago invite you to Access Praxis, a collaborative and participatory event in The Commons. Combining theory and practice, “praxis” is ideas in action. Join disabled artist Justin Cooper, a former 3Arts/Bodies of Work Fellow, as he shares how narrative, accessibility, and disability aesthetics coalesce across his work in documentary film and photography. As part of Access Praxis, museumgoers will have the opportunity to meet Cooper and participate in a hands-on activity in and around the Commons related to their own experiences moving through the museum landscape.
mcachicago.org/calendar/2022/04/common-use-access-praxis-justin-cooper
This event will be live captioned by Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services. For additional access requests, visit saic.edu/access.
Join us live for a virtual lecture by artist Lauren Bon followed by an audience Q&A.
Lauren Bon is an environmental artist from Los Angeles. Her practice, Metabolic Studio, explores self-sustaining and self-diversifying systems of exchange that feed emergent properties that regenerate the life web. Some of her works include: Not A Cornfield, which transformed and revived an industrial brownfield in downtown Los Angeles into a 32-acre cornfield for one agricultural cycle; 100 Mules Walking the Los Angeles Aqueduct, a 240-mile performative action that aimed to reconnect the city of Los Angeles with the source of its water for the centenary of the opening of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Her studio’s current work, Bending the River Back into the City, aims to utilize Los Angeles’s first private water right to deliver 106-acre feet of water annually from the LA River to over 50 acres of land in the historic core of downtown LA. This model can be replicated to regenerate the 52-mile LA River, reconnect it to its floodplain, and form a citizens’ utility.
Lauren Bon is the 2021-2022 Mitchell Visiting Professor in SAIC’s Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects.
This lecture is supported by the William Bronson and Grayce Slovet Mitchell Lecture Series in SAIC’s Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects.
Join us for a live performance of songs from LYNX Project’s debut album, beautiful small things. These art songs, commissioned between 2017–2020 as part of the Amplify series, feature the poetry of neurodiverse young people who are primarily nonspeaking, set to music by celebrated classical composers. In addition to song performances, there will be a presentation on nonspeaking communication and readings of poems.
The Poetry Foundation and LYNX share a commitment to creating a welcoming and inclusive performance space. Sensory accommodations will be provided.
Poetry Foundation’s events are completely free of charge and open to the public. This reading will include live captioning and ASL interpretation. If you require any other accessibility measures, please contact us by emailing events@poetryfoundation.org.
All guests over the age of two must wear a mask inside the Poetry Foundation building. Guests over the age of five must show proof of vaccination and booster up to the level to which they are eligible for their age group. Guests over the age of 18 must show ID alongside their proof of vaccination. If you cannot meet these requirements, you will not be granted entry to the event. All in-person events will be made available online for free at poetryfoundation.org/video. Please note that some performers may choose to perform without a mask.
These guidelines are up to date as of March 7, 2022.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/events/156862/lynx-project-beautiful-small-things-in-person
Want your events to be more inclusive? Join us for a community building festival of movement workshops and access presentations! We will explore the concept of making inclusion part of the creative process from beginning to completion, as opposed to the “burden approach” of tacking it on at the end.
Kohl Children’s Museum was specifically designed to be inclusive of all children and adults regardless of ability. The Museum’s 17 exhibits and 2 acres of outdoor explorations are designed for play with a purpose and encourage linguistic, cognitive, motor, and social skills for children ages birth through 8. The Museum works collaboratively with community organizations to invite families with children with special needs to the Museum to explore the exhibits while closed to the general public. These FREE events, titled Everyone at Play, usually occur on specified afternoons. This provides opportunities for calm, creative, and collaborative play.The event includes one-on-one interactive activities with trained, registered therapy animals and other partners, a quiet room for stimulation breaks, museum staff providing play support and guidance, and a free family pass for 4 to return to the Museum.EAP is generously supported by the Edmond and Alice Opler Foundation, the Pajeau Children’s Foundation and the Walter and Caroline Sueske Charitable Trust. Capacity is limited and registration is required.
Kohl Children’s Museum welcomes children with special needs and their families for an afternoon of learning and play focused on them. Our Museum campus is designed for universal accessibility with a purpose to encourage linguistic, cognitive, motor and social skills for all children ages birth to 8. Events attendees will experience: 17 hands-on Museum exhibits, One-on-one interactive activities with trained, registered therapy animals and other partners, Quiet room for stimulation breaks, Museum staff providing play support and guidance, A free family pass for 4 to return to the Museum.
https://www.kohlchildrensmuseum.org/outreach-programs/eap/