Sixty Inches From Center

Works Cited: Selva Aparicio on Life, Death, and Breaking Taboo

It goes without saying that so much of the labor in an artist’s practice goes unseen, ranging from the countless hours of trial and error experimenting with a medium before getting it right, to the often mind-numbing planning and prep work when starting a new piece. However, there is yet another layer below the surface of this complex production that is inherent to the...

Support for the Arts Supports Us All

Before I moved to Central Illinois, I hadn’t spent much time thinking about the ways arts and culture programs affect a community. Living in a mid-sized town/small city/micro-urban area for a little over a decade has changed the way I think about community and what it means to have access to those types of programs. Dynamic arts and culture programming signals that residents are...

Beyond the Page: Tanuja Devi Jagernauth

“Beyond the Page” digs into the process and practice of writers and artists who work at the intersection of literary arts and other fields. For this installment, I interviewed Tanuja Devi Jagernauth — Indo-Caribbean playwright, dramaturg, organizer — about how her practices in theater, prison abolition, healing justice, and transformative justice interconnect; creating spaces for BIPOC theater-makers; doing mutual aid during and beyond the...

The Blackivists’ Five Tips for Donating Your Materials

The Blackivists offer 5 quick tips if you’re considering donating your collection to an archives, museum, or other cultural heritage organization.

Maya-Camille Broussard, a testimony on invisible disability

Maya-Camille Broussard gives a glimpse into some of the challenges she experienced as a child and continues to experience in her daily life, and reminds us of why now, as always, Black Disabled Lives Matter and need to be uplifted when we talk about police violence.

Ireashia M. Bennett, a testimony on tenderness

A conversation with Ireashia M. Bennett, a Black queer new media artist from Suitland, Maryland who now calls Chicago home. Their work takes the form of photography, multimedia essays, short documentaries, and experimental films that poetically harness and affirm Black queer disabled perspectives and realities.

Rashayla Marie Brown, a testimony on (not) giving up

Rashayla Marie Brown weaves together elements of her past and present experiences, then connects them to the call for accountability and long-term commitment to addressing systemic anti-Black damage and misogyny within and beyond the arts sector.

Recursos Hacia la Liberación Negra

Esta lista es un punto de partida y su intención es dar un punto de entrada a los esfuerzos de organización que están y han estado ocurriendo a nuestro alrededor ya por mucho tiempo.

Resources Towards Black Liberation

150+ resources to build your knowledge and understanding of abolition and liberation movements, and community caretaking initiatives for Black and non-Black POC communities. And a list of Black-led and Black-owned efforts in and beyond Chicago to direct dollars, attention, and time to.

June (Virtual) Art Picks

This month we're highlighting events that uplift and fight for Black Lives and celebrate Black Queer Lives because the fight for Black Lives is the fight for Black artists, our Black Trans family, our Black Queer family, and the many branches of these communities.