Past Programs March 2005-August 2006

Women in Bush’s America
Date:    March 8, 2005 
Location: CCC Hokin Gallery
Partner:  CCC Women and Gender Studies program (Department of Liberal Education)

Institute Executive Director Jane M. Saks led a six-person panel discussion between artists, health workers, academics, and activists from various generations investigating a range of issues related to women in this particular time in our country and in the world.

From Prison To Parliament, An Afternoon Tea with Ahmed Kathrada
Date:  March 28, 2006, 3:00PM – 5:00PM
Location: 600 S. Michigan Avenue, Room 401
Partner:  The Liberal Education Department

Ahmed Kathrada, one of Nelson Mandela’s closest “comrades” visited Chicago to promote this critically acclaimed boo, Memoirs, where he writes about his journey from activist to political prisoner to Member of Parliament.  After serving 26 years in prison with Mandela.  “Kathy”, as he was affectionately known, was appointed Political Advisor to President Mandela.  He went to become the primary force behind turning the infamous Robben Island Prison into a museum.  People all over the world have been moved by his message, encapsulated in this quote:  “While we will never forget the brutality of apartheid, we do not want Robben Island to be a monument of our hardship and suffering.  We want it to be a triumph of the human spirit against small minds and pettiness, a triumph of courage and determination over human frailty and weakness.”

Gender Fusions
Date:    May 4, 2005
Location:   HotHouse, 33 W. Balbo Ave.
Partner:  CCC Office of LGBT Student Concerns

The Institute co-sponsored this panel discussion and performances with the Office of LGBT Student Concerns that investigated a wide range of gender issues.

Distant Parallels Film Festival: Views of Sexuality and Gender from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico

Screenings and lunch-time discussions
Date:  September/October 2005
Location:  Gene Siskel Film Center
Partners:   CCC Latino Cultural Affairs; The Nineteenth Step Film Collective;  Gene Siskel Film Center

The Institute hosted guests, including Columbia faculty, filmmakers, local scholars, visiting artists, and curators for selected film screenings and three lunch discussions of the work at the Distant Parallels Film Festival.  “Distant Parallels: Views of Sexuality and Gender from Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico” showcases “work done by emerging directors who, by virtue of their daring vision, are able to poignantly reveal the complexity of sexuality and life. These films and videos…offer a gaze into the many ways in which men and women continue to live, question and defy their traditional roles.”
The guests of honor at our luncheons were Santiago Mitre, director of Amor Primera Parte; Eli Bartolo, featured in the documentary Authentic and Intrepid Seekers of Danger, an elementary school teacher who talks about gender issues with children; and Ana Luiza Beraba, curator of the Brazilian portion of the festival.

Lunch Discussion with Margi Cole of Dance COLEctive
Date:  October 11, 2005
Location: Alexandroff Campus Center, Room 502

Ms. Cole discussed her then work-in-progress, Written on the Body, with a select group of Columbia faculty, staff, Dance COLEctive dancers, and a Columbia trustee. Her work is inspired by the writings and lives of the Brontë sisters, all of whom published works under male pseudonyms in the 1830's (Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey).  Written on the Body utilizes the Brontë's hidden lives as a framework for exploration of the male and female representation of ideas through the medium of dance. Cole has a cast of female and male dancers, representing both the Brontë sisters (Charlotte, Emily andd Ann) and their male alter-egos (Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell). Written on the Body features an original soundscore by musician Kevin O'Donnell, costumes by Atalee Judy and motion capture and graphics by Michael Cole.

Jeanne Gang, Marcelo Carvalho Ferraz, and Zeuler Lima in Conversation: the Legacy of Architect Lina Bo Bardi
Date:  November 1, 2005
Location: Museum of Contemporary Art
Partner:  Museum of Contemporary Art

Chicago architect Jeanne Gang, Brazilian architect Marcelo Carvalho Ferraz, and Zeuler Lima discussed the legacy of Lina Bo Bardi ¬-- architect, furniture and scenographic designer, and founder of the first museum of modern art in Brazil.  This lecture, attended by over 150 people, was sponsored in part by the Institute as part of the MCA’s Tropicália exhibition and the Stone Family Lecture Series. Tropicália, one of the most significant cultural movements to emerge from South America in the last five decades, marked a true revolution in Brazilian music, visual arts, theater, and cinema, while also influencing advertising, fashion, and television. This exhibition revisited this seminal moment in Brazilian culture, examining tropicálismo as a true force in popular culture and a continuing source of inspiration for several generations of artists, writers, and musicians. 

Crafty Culture: Feminism, Activism, and the DIY Ethic
Date:  November 3, 2005
Location: Film Row Cinema Theatre, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor

Crafting – knitting, needlepoint, beading, scrapbooking, sewing and more – can simply be a hobby, a way to unwind, a creative outlet – or a way to reclaim traditional women’s work with a modern spin, start one’s own business, reject prepackaged/sweatshop-produced goods, raise money for charitable causes, and mobilize for political action.  The Institute presented a panel discussion, attended by over 100 people, explored the possibilities of “craftivism.”  While crafting is often a solitary activity, the popularity of groups like Stitch ‘n’ Bitch, indie art/craft fairs, magazines like ReadyMade, and Web sites such as craftster.org have helped like-minded women (and men) to network, exchange ideas, and market their products.  The panel addressed questions such as: What does “crafty culture” mean for a new generation of feminists?  Why is this explosion of craft happening now?  How can we channel our creative passions into activism?   In an aesthetic environment obsessed with high design, what place do our handcrafted objects have – and as women’s work, are they truly valued in the economic system?  Do they have any cultural capital?  Is the do-it-yourself movement – with its roots in both punk culture and old-fashioned frugality -- inclusive to people of varied race and class or predominantly a white, middle class phenomenon – and why? Panelists included “craftivist” Cinnamon Cooper, Time Out Chicago editor Annie Tomlin, and painter/poet Alejandra Valera, three women active in the Chicago DIY community.  The panel was moderated by Annette Ferrara, founder of TENbyTEN magazine, managing editor of online arts and culture magazine Flavorpill Chicago, and an avid knitter.  This event was conceived and presented entirely by the Institute.

Art in the Time of Democratic Fever: the New South Africa
Breakfast conversation with Albie Sachs, Constitutional Court Justice of South Africa, and South African architect Vanessa September
Date:  January 13, 10am – 12pm
Location: Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave., 1st Floor
Partner:  CCC Office of the President

This special breakfast conversation features Albie Sachs, Constitutional Court Justice of South Africa, and South African architect Vanessa September speaking about art, democracy, the New Court House and Constitutional Hill in South Africa, activism, social change, community empowerment, creative process, and individual roles and responsibilities.  The audience is comprised of an invited group of 50 artists, activists, philanthropists, civic leaders, public representatives, cultural workers, Columbia colleagues – trustees, upper administrators, staff, faculty and students.

Women in Hip-Hop featuring Psalm One and Ang13
Date:  February 23, 4-6pm
Location: HotHouse, 33 W. Balbo Ave.
Partner:  Cultural Studies Department, Black World Studies Department

This program created a platform for performances by female Hip-Hop artists Psalm One and Ang13 followed by a question-and-answer session about the challenges of being female in the Hip-Hop world and the particular roles and responsibilities that female hip hop artists face.

Women of Color and Feminism Series:
African American Women Defining the ‘F’ Word
Latinas Defining the 'F' Word
Asian American Women Defining the 'F' Word
Date:  February-April 2006
Location: Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor
Partner:  Chicago Foundation for Women

These panel discussions focused on the state and perception of feminism among women of color.  This program attracted over 250 participants.

Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein
Date:  Performances and Educational Programming throughout February 2006
Location:  Museum of Contemporary Art
Partners:  About Face Theatre, Museum of Contemporary Art
CCC Departments of Theatre, Art + Design, English, Liberal Education

Loving Repeating was directed and adapted by two-time Tony Award winner Frank Galati, who was also a professor of Performance Studies at Northwestern, Associate Director of the Goodman Theatre and ensemble member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company.  Music and orchestrations were by Tony Award winner Stephen Flaherty.

The Institute was the educational partner of the production and a sponsor.  Educational programs included student-focused discussions with the director, producers, composer, and performers of Loving Repeating and visits to rehearsals of the production. Columbia students were able to attend preview performances and a select group of students from several disciplines including Theatre, Art and Design, English, Liberal Education and interdisciplinary acts participated in a series of discussions and special events with the principles in the production. The Institute co-presented an after performance panel discussion with Mr. Galati and several of the performers and a scholar and artist.

A description of Loving Repeating follows:
The Tony Award-winning creators of the blockbuster musical Ragtime—composer Stephen Flaherty and Chicago’s own Frank Galati—reunited for this endlessly fascinating chamber musical about one of America’s most original writers, Gertrude Stein.  Loving Repeating explores the romantic world of Gertrude Stein – her giddy love affair with language, self-expression, and with Alice B. Toklas.  Stein – the great modernist and artistic gadfly – is one of the most influential artists of the past century, and she and her expatriate milieu – including the likes of Picasso, Matisse, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, and her beloved “wife” Alice B. Toklas – changed the way contemporary artists see the world and express themselves.  Loving Repeating is a theatrical love song to one of the most lyrical, romantic, and daring writers of our era, created by two of the most important artists working in the American theatre. 

Women and Film: Producing, Exhibiting, and Making Media
Date:  March 8, 5:30 – 7pm
Location: Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor
Partner:  CCC Film and Video Department

For International Women’s Day, the Institute selected a distinguished panel comprised of female leaders in the film industry to discuss the challenges of women working in the film industry today.  The panelists spent time during the day with approximately 30 film and video students, critiquing their work, discussing their craft and answering questions giving students more direct time with the visitors.  After the public panel discussion, the Institute hosted a dinner with selected guests including cultural leaders in the field, trustees, prospective donors, and foundation leaders and Columbia colleagues.

Moderator:  Mara Tapp, Award winning Journalist, Columbia College Chicago faculty member
Panelists: 
Patricia Cardoso, Award-Winning Director, Real Women Have Curves
Judith McCray, Filmmaker and Founder, Juneteenth Productions
Gigi Pritzker, CEO and Co-Founder, Odd Lot Entertainment
Dianne Weyermann, Executive Vice President, Documentary Production at Participant Productions, Columbia College Chicago Alumni Film & Video


Sister Chicas
Date:  April 5, 6:00-8:00pm
Location: One E. Wacker Drive, 20th Floor
Partner:  Chicago Foundation for Women

The Lesbian, Latina, and Young Women’s Leadership Councils of Chicago Foundation for Women and the Institute hosted a reading, discussion and reception to celebrate the release of the novel Sisster Chicas (Penguin/NAL).  Written by Lisa Alvarado, Ann Hagman Cardinal and Jane Alberdeston Coralin, the novel tells the story of three young Latina friends in Chicago.  Addressing issues such as culture, body image, self-concept and sexuality, the novel presents the reader with an image of strong female relationships.

The Inauguration of the Institute’s Fellowship Program
Cheryl Lynn Bruce, First Institute Fellow
Date:  April 17th – May 19, 2006
Location: Columbia College Campus at the Institute

As the first Fellow of the Institute, actor, director and writer Cheryl Lynn Bruce will research and investigate the life, work and historical times of the poet and slave Phillis Wheatley.

She spent a month on campus researching and writing, meeting with students and faculty, as well as working with the Institute R.A. in support of the work’s development.  At a future date, the artist and the Institute will present a stage reading of the “work-in-progress” and host related conversations and gatherings with Columbia faculty, students and staff and external invited guests.

26th Annual Conference of the National Women & Theater Program
Date:  August 1 - 2, 2006
Location: Columbia College Chicago, Department of Art and Design
Partner:  Departement of Art and Design

The National Women & Theater program promotes the work of women in theater, performance, and activism, and is dedicated to engaging with the local community in which our conference takes place.  The Annual Conference draws 100-200 scholars and practitioners from across the U.S. and Canada and features panels, presentations, performances and workshops.   Teatro Luna, a Chicago-based Latina theatre troupe, was the keynote performance and Chicago’s About Face Theatre performed a staged reading of Jane Chambers’s classic lesbian play, Last Summer at Blue Fish Cove.  There was also a powerful performance by Karen Finley, the most famous artist of the “N.E.A.  Four”.