Inst. for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media
Citizen Movement: Film Series
September 9, 16, 23. 6:30pm.
Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor
Free
Citizen Movement is a three-part Tuesday film series presented in conjunction with David Dorfman Dance that uses performance and film to investigate relationships between creativity, activism, politics, and history. Human beings exist in states of peacefulness and violence, self-reflection and consciousness, freedom and captivity. Citizen Movement uses three documentary films as catalysts to mine the impulses of human convictions and the impact of our actions on social systems.
September 9: Traces of the Trade, a feature documentary in which filmmaker Katrina Browne discovers that her New England ancestors were the largest slave trading family in US History.
September 16: John Brown's Holy War, chronicling one of history's most controversial and misunderstood figures, the life and legacy of abolitionist and (in)famous "race traitor" John Brown.
September 23: Weather Underground, an Academy Award nominee for best feature documentary exploring the rise and fall of the radical Weather Underground movement in 1969. Film screenings begin at 6:30pm and are followed by discussions with filmmakers and special guests.
This film series is in conjunction with David Dorfman Dance presenting two evening length works at The Dance Center. Disavowal (September 25 and 28) inspired by John Brown; and underground (September 26 and 27) exploring the principles of political activism. For more information or to purchase tickets to the performances visit: www.colum.edu/dancecenter
Hurricane Season: The Hidden Messages in Water
September 17-18, 2008. 7:30pm.
Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted Street
Hurricane Season is a two-woman show by the nationally acclaimed and award-winning performance duo, Climbing PoeTree, about natural disaster and a great shift in universal consciousness. Through a tapestry of spoken-word poetry, theater, video projection, dance, shadow art, and a sound collage of personal testimonies, Hurricane Season connects the issues that surfaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the “unnatural disasters” disenfranchised communities are experiencing nationwide on a daily basis. The post-show "solutions-cipher" will address the issues surfaced in Hurricane Season on a local level to cross-pollinate creative strategies for self-determination, and to turn the passion generated in the show into action manifested in the community. The Institute is proud to co-sponsor Hurricane Season, presented by Center on Halsted.
Tickets are required: $15 (or $10 for Students with Valid ID, available at the door). Visit www.centeronhalsted.org.
The Beat Generation Symposium
October 10-11, 2008.
Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th Floor
Free
The Institute is proud to be a co-sponsor of the two-day Beat Generation Symposim, which will include academic panel discussions, a lecture and performance entitled "Deaf/Def Poets and the Beats," and evening poetry readings by distinguished poets Joanne Kyger (October 10, 7:00pm) and Diane di Prima (October 11, 7:00pm). This symposium is coordinated by Tony Trigilio of Columbia College's English Department, in conjunction with the Beat Studies Association, an international organization that fosters scholarship on Beat Generation literature and art, and Illinois State University. The Symposium is part of a two-month initiative at Columbia College Chicago, centering on an exhibition of Jack Kerouac's iconic manuscript scroll of On the Road (Center for Book and Paper Arts, October 3-November 30, 2008). By presenting dozens of exhibitions and programs, the College celebrates and investigates the disparate group of poets, artists, filmmakers and musicians known as the Beat Generation.
For more information: www.colum.edu/beats.
Where Women Stand in Chicago Newsrooms: What’s Going on in Chicago Media Today
October 15, 2008. Ferguson Hall, 600 S. Michigan Avenue, 1st Floor. FREE
Top Chicago journalists and experts will discuss the nature of working in the Chicago news media business and the results of a recent survey documented in the report, "A Survey of Newsworkers in Chicago," being released by the Association for Women Journalists-Chicago and Bradley University. The Institute is proud to co-sponsor this program in partnership with Association for Women Journalists Chicago (AWJ-Chicago), a nonpartisan, non-profit organization offering members a network that supports women in journalism and promotes the respectful treatment of women by the news media (www.awj-chicago.org).
For more information, please call 312-369-8845.
CONGO/Women: National Exhibition and RAISE Hope for Congo Campaign Launch
October 2008.
Washington DC.
CONGO Women is a traveling photography exhibition featuring the work of Lynsey Addario, Ron Haviv, Marcus Bleasdale, and James Nachtwey highlighting the beauty and strength of the girls and women of the Democratic Republic of Congo who are currently battling an unprecedented wave of gender-based violence and a lack of essential medical care. In 2008, the exhibition and advocacy programming will commence a 24-month tour to schools, universities, and cultural centers throughout the U.S. and Europe. The national launch of the exhibition and the RAISE Hope for Congo campaign will take place in October in Washington, DC, with a preview of the exhibition and presentations by John Prendergast and Gayle Smith (co-chairs, ENOUGH Project), and other special guests. CONGO/Women is produced in partnership with Art Works Projects and the Institute. Major funding has been provided by the United Nations Populations Fund, and Columbia College Chicago. For a touring schedule and more information,visit www.congowomen.org and www.raisehopeforcongo.org.
Dancing Graves
October 18, 7:00pm.
International House-Assembly Hall, University of Chicago,
1414 E. 59th Street
The Institute is proud to be a co-sponsor of Dancing Graves, a groundbreaking theatrical performance that weaves together two narratives about Chicago's West side through an Afro-Cuban lens. Mercedes, the main character, leaves Cuba for the U.S. after a huge storm hits the island. This hurricane symbolizes that Mercedes should leave the island for the best interests of her family. The rest of the story explores Afro-Cuban (Yoruba and Bantu derived) religious mythology about death: where the world of the living is entangled with the ancestral spirit world along with the three divine cemetery orishas (Afro-Cuban deities): Oya, Obba and Yewa. The performance also includes sound bites from interviews with various Southside and Westside residents including community activists, Afro-Cuban immigrants, artists and youth discussing community violence and family deaths. The project features a diverse collaboration of emerging scholars, dancers, university students, Chicago youth, visual artists alongside a generation of Afro-Cuban folkloric song, dance and percussion virtuosos in the United States. The featured Afro-Cuban guest performers are from New York City (from Oriki Omi Odara and Raices Habaneras), Washington DC and Miami. Such a rare artistic collaboration in Chicago will powerfully reach out to diverse Chicago audiences and foster cross-cultural relations in a racially divided city. Other co-sponsors include The Lucumi Arts Association, The International House at the University of Chicago, and the Student Government of University Chicago and Uncommon Grant Fund.
For tickets or more information: www.dancinggraves.com.
Chicago Foundation for Women: The Art of Social Justice: How Creativity Complements Advocacy
October 31, 2008. 9:00am.
McCormick Place, 2301 S. Lakeshore Drive, Room E-353-B (Level 3)
As Chicago Foundation for Women’s centerpiece event, the Annual Luncheon and Symposium draws more than 2,000 people each year. This year, the Foundation welcomes Denyce Graves, renowned mezzo-soprano and star of the opera Margaret Garner (see below) to its 23rd celebration of women and girls. This year’s morning symposium is The Art of Social Justice: How Creativity Complements Advocacy. Moderated by the Institute’s Executive Director, Jane M. Saks, the Symposium will feature short presentations by panelists Katrina Browne (producer/director of “Traces of the Trade”), Romi Crawford (Assistant Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago), Susan Nussbaum (Access Living), and Coya Paz (Teatro Luna). There will also be a short performance by Teatro Luna and a talk-back discussion.
The Symposium is FREE and open to the public, but registration is required at www.cfw.org. Tickets are required for purchase to attend the Luncheon at 11:30am.
Meet the Creators: Margaret Garner
November 2, 2008. 11:30am - 12:30pm
Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Congress Parkway
The powerful new American opera by composer Richard Danielpour, with libretto by Nobel laureate Toni Morrison and starring Denyce Graves and Tracie Luck, will receive its Chicago premiere November 1-9, 2008 at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University. Based on the true story of a fugitive slave who chooses death for herself and children rather than a return to slavery, Margaret Garner is a heart-wrenching lesson in history and humanity--and a grim reminder of the desperate plight of many who lived in the antebellum South, that defining American epoch. The Institute is proud to present in partnership with the Chicago Humanities Festival, the Auditorium Theatre, and Roosevelt University, this opportunity to hear the creators discuss the genesis and development of this much-heralded production, which has previously visited Detroit, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, and Charlotte. Panelists will likely include Richard Danielpour, composer; Kenny Leon, director; Stefan Lano, conductor; and others. Moderated by David DiChiera, general director of Michigan Opera Theatre, which co-commissioned the work aand is co-producing this Chicago presentation.
Free and open to the public. RSVP required: audrsvp@auditoriumtheatre.org. For more information, 312-431-2340.
Publication Development: "Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?"
Spring 2009
The Institute will co-produce a new publication, Does Hip-Hop Hate Women? co-edited by Bakari Kitwana and Kara A. Young. This will be the first published anthology of its kind to introduce the critical new writings by fifteen artists and activists from the second wave hip-hop generation (those born after 1985). The project will support new and largely unheard voices in the current hip-hop movement whose views on gender, sex, and identity have been informed by a mainstream hip-hop driven by the corporate music industry. Building upon the dialogue of first wave hip-hop scholars, the book will offer contemporary and grassroots visions for a radical feminist agenda in today's hip-hop music and culture. The fifteen writers will be chosen through a competitive and comprehensive process. Most of the selected writers, primarily unpublished, will include emerging artists, journalists, and graduate students who address issues of masculinity, feminism, homophobia, violence, and misogyny. As a key partner in the project, the Institute will organize special editorial workshops and organize a Chicago book launch and community discussion upon publication presentation by the editorial team in February 2009 to a select group of hip-hop activists, educators and civic leaders. The editors will participate in classroom workshops with students to further engage young people in the developing project and movement. Publication of the anthology is expected in 2009, at which time the Institute will organize a national book launch and community event in Chicago, as well as be instrumental in a national book tour and related programming.