Upcoming Programs, Partnerships, Initiatives and Announcements

FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM UPDATES:

Institute Fellow, award-winning actor and director Cheryl Lynn Bruce stars in the World Premiere of "Head of Passes" by Tarell Alvin McCraney at Steppenwolf Theater, April 2-June 9, 2013.

In anticipation of her birthday, Shelah’s (Cheryl Lynn Bruce) family and friends gather at her home in the Head of Passes—the mysterious shifting marshlands at the mouth of the great Mississippi River. As the guests appear, so do ghosts from the past, and Shelah’s convictions about her life begin to dissolve, along with her home in the Louisiana rain. Steppenwolf ensemble members Tarell Alvin McCraney and Tina Landau team up again for this wise, warm world-premiere drama about faith, family and finding your place in the world.

Institute Fellow, award-winning author Achy Obejas to speak at Willson Center for Humanities and Arts, April 22, University of Georgia

For more information

Institute Fellow, Detroit-based Hip-Hop Artist Invincible will perform at Hendrick's Chapel at Syracuse University on April 23, 2013.

For more information

Institute/Goodman Theatre Fellow, Pultizer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage's,By the Way, Meet Vera Stark will open at Goodman Theatre (Chicago) on April 27 and run through June 2, 2013.
 
'By the Way, Meet Vera Stark' is a 70-year journey through the life of Vera Stark, a headstrong African-American maid and budding actress, and her tangled relationship with her boss, a white Hollywood star desperately grasping to hold on to her career. When circumstances collide and both women land roles in the same Southern epic, the story behind the cameras leaves Vera with a surprising and controversial legacy scholars will debate for years to come.
 
For more information and tickets

Institute Fellow, journalist Jean Friedman-Rudovsky recently published an article, "Blue Scorpion: Cuba's Miracle Drug" in the Miami NewTimes.

Read the article

PROGRAMS, PARTNERSHIPS, INITIATIVES and ANNOUNCEMENTS

Gender Fusions 9
Barnum and Gayley: The Queerest Show on Earth
Friday, April 19th
Stage II
618 S. Michigan 

The Institute is pleased to co-sponsor this program with the LGBTQ Office of Cultural and Community at Columbia College Chicago
 
6pm
Gender Circus
Join in the fun under the big top and over the little bottom. Balloon animals! Sword Swallowers! Clowns! A flaming Thrower! Face Painting! Ball Juggling! Magic tricks! Cornhole! SnaXXXs! MockCOCKtails. And more.

7pm
Gender Fusions 9: Barnum and Gayley
Celebrate nine years of the queerest spectacle in town! Featuring some of Columbia's best student, faculty and staff talent and special guest appearances by some of Chicago's hottest LGBTQ professionals.

Suggested Donation
$5 Students and Seniors
$7 General Public
Tickets at the Door

For more information

5 Broken Cameras Film Screening

Academy Award Nominee: Best Documentary Feature
Winner: World Cinema Directing Award, Sundance Film Festival
Winner: Special Jury Award and Audience Award, International Documentary Film Festival

Tuesday, April 23, 6:00-8:30pm
Columbia College Chicago Film Row
1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor
Screening begins at 6:15 pm | Brief discussion to follow
For more information, or to request ASL services (48 hours notice), call 312.369.88

Brief Audience Q&A to follow will be moderated by:
 
Iymen Chehade, Columbia College Chicago, Department of Humanities, History and Social Science, lecturer on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Middle East.
 
Lynn Pollack, Jewish Voice for Peace member, Chicago-steering Committee and Co-Convener of the Chicago Faith Coalition on Middle East Policy.
 
FREE and Open to the Public

Co-Presenters: Ellen Stone Belic Institute for Women and Gender in the Arts and Media, Columbia College Chicago and Jewish Voice for Peace.

Presentation Partners: Columbia College Chicago, Education Department, Film & Video Department, First Year Seminar, Department of Humanities, History and Social Sciences, International Student Organization and Multi-Cultural Affairs.

An extraordinary work of both cinematic and political activism, 5 Broken Cameras is a deeply personal, first-hand account of non-violent resistance in Bil’in, a West Bank village threatened by encroaching Israeli settlements. Shot almost entirely by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son, the film was assembled by Burnat and Israeli co-director Guy Davidi. Structured around the violent destruction of each one of Burnat’s cameras, the filmmakers’ collaboration follows one family’s evolution over five years of village turmoil, as olive trees are bulldozed, protests intensify, and lives are lost.

"To me it's not just about making films. I put my life at risk. I was shot at. I was arrested twice. But that was not to make a film or to make money. The film was a way to reach my goal, and that is to tell people the truth about our lives, to tell the story of Palestine." -Emad Burnat, Los Angeles Times

Institute Executive Director Jane M. Saks was recently appointed as a Trustee -elect of the Nathan Cummings Foundation.

She has also been awarded Changing Worlds' Connecting Cultures Award and PrideIndex.com's Esteem Award.

Changing World's Connecting Culture Award: Saks, alongside Jim and Lakesha Rose, will receive the 2013 Connecting Cultures Award at Changing Worlds' annual benefit on May 8th.

For more information and to purchase tickets

PrideIndex.com Esteem Award: Saks will be honored with an Esteem Award in recognition of her significant contribution to the African American LGBT Community at PrideIndex.com's annual awards ceremony in July.

For more information and a list of past awardees

Institute Research Assistant Chelsea Rendlen appointed as the Secretary/Member Coordinator to Chicago Screenwriters Network Board of Directors.