Join Chicago Art Department for a Seeds: Healing Stages event in collaboration with Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative and Free Street Theater. This free event features an open mic, poetry reading, and pop-up exhibition. The exhibition includes props and costumes utilized in this year’s Free Street Theater performances and showcases the improvisational DIY magic of Free Street and their communities.
Seeds In My Pocket is an annual Chicago Art Department initiative that centers BIPOC voices along with Chicago neighborhoods. Seeds: Healing Stages bridges the performing and visual arts to amplify direct support for artists, performers, storytellers, and other creative practitioners from across Chicago’s diverse communities.
Free Street Theater is a femme-led arts and culture organization that centers original performance work by Black, Brown, and Immigrant communities; queer artists; youth artists; and work that is committed to the thriving and well-being of people on the South and West Sides of the city. Free Street believes in the theater as a space to uplift joy and justice, especially racial, economic, and environmental justice in Chicago.
Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative (SGLAI) was created by award winning teaching artist Elgin Bokari Smith to house multiple arts programs serving criminalized or incarcerated youth. SGLAI offers young people immersion in the visual, literary, and musical arts, mentorship, and production opportunities to become powerful authors of their unique experiences.
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An initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art in partnership with artists and organizations across the city, Art Design Chicago is a series of events and exhibitions that highlight the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.
