It's On Us: A Day of Art and Action

Ofreceremos traducción al español de 6:00 a 8:00 p.m.! Nos vemos allí!

It’s On Us is a day of art and action on Saturday, June 13th in celebration of Chicago freedom struggles. RSVP here to join us for the day's free activities, which include workshops, resources for resistance, soapbox speeches, and performances and art programming by Jamila Woods, Taína Asili, Damon Williams, Maria Gaspar, Kristiana Rae Colón, and the Social Justice Initiative at UIC.

It’s On Us invites us to imagine: what blooms when ICE melts? The answer is on us to manifest together. Under authoritarian conditions and in times of repression, we are encouraged to desensitize ourselves, to ignore what we see, hear, smell, taste and feel. On this day, we call our neighbors to awaken their senses and one another: to see clearly, to listen deeply, to touch the ground and each other in solidarity, to taste the sweetness of shared life, to smell the earth that sustains us. By engaging our senses together, we embody liberation and practice radical imagination, building community through mutual aid, mobilization, and solidarity. When ICE melts, what blooms next is not inevitable, it is something we grow and cultivate together. Freedom begins when we remember that it’s on us.

SCHEDULE
Click here to view the full schedule with descriptions.

9:00 AM - 3:00 PM: Citywide neighborhood Activations

• Blocks Together - 3711 W Chicago Ave - Feeding Freedom : Wellness Workshop, Yoga, Vegan Meal, and Garden Planting - 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
  • No RSVP needed
• Free Street Theater - 4625 S Ashland Ave - Social Justice Puppet-Making Workshop - 1:00 - 3:00 PM
  • RSVP: https://itsonusxFST.eventbrite.com
• HANA Center - 2741 W Montrose Ave (Horner Park) - IGNR Drumming Performance & Workshop, plus Community Picnic
  • RSVP by Monday, June 8: bit.ly/HANAJune13
• Kuumba Lynx - 4434 S Lake Park Ave (Kennicott Park Fieldhouse) - Interactive Poetry Workshop - 1:00 - 3:00 PM
  • No RSVP needed
• Sistas in the Village - 5800 S Ada St - Flower Bouquet Making, Flower Pressing, and Tea Making Workshops - 9:00 - 11:00 AM
  • RSVP here
• 18th Street Casa de Cultura - Good weather: outside 2057 W 18th St / Rainy weather: Casa Ilumina at 2032 W 18th St - Grabados para el Pueblo / Prints for the People - 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM
  • No RSVP needed

4:00 - 6:00 PM: Arts Activities, Workshops, and Resource Fair at the DuSable Black History Museum & Education Center

• DJ Rae Chardonnay
• Seed Songs with Maria Gaspar
• Disappearance Jail (Hole Punch Collage) with Maria Gaspar
• Mobile Street Art Cart with William Estrada
• Banners of Resistance with Yehimi Cambrón Álvarez
• Paper flower making for a mural and portrait frames with Kush Thompson and Silvia Inés Gonzalez
• Anímate Studio with Andrés Lemus-Spont and Marya Spont-Lemus
• Black Outside: Survival Kit with Jenna Anast (@journeyswithjenna)
• Ear Seeds & Wellness Corner with Toni Asante Lightfoot
• Tabling by community organizations, including Chicago Torture Justice Center, Walls Turned Sideways, Pilsen Arts & Community House (PACH), Free Street Theater, Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project (PNAP), Illinois Prison Project, Midwest Books to Prisoners, Nuestro Chicago Archives, Illinois Humanities, Skunk Cabbage Books, Equity and Transformation (EAT), and Contratiempo
• Soapbox speeches by Richard Wallace (Equity and Transformation), Rey Wences (Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights), Rev. Jaime L. Fluker (Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation), and more
• Screening of short film "We Call Each Other" by Sarah Oberholtzer
• And more!

6:00 - 8:00 PM: Performances and Soapbox Speeches at the DuSable Museum Theater
Featuring a Chicago Second Line procession with music and dance, leading in to poetry readings by Rania Salem, Bella BAHHS, and Benji Hart, and performances by Jamila Woods, Taína Asili, Kristiana Rae Colón, and Damon Williams

TRANSIT AND PARKING AT DUSABLE

The DuSable Museum is located at 740 E 56th Place, Chicago, in the heart of Washington Park. The museum is served by the 55 bus (which stops .2 miles away), the 4 bus (which stops across the street), and the 2 bus (which also stops across the street). Discounted parking is available for Museum visitors at the University of Chicago Medical Parking Garage B at 5631 S. Cottage Grove Ave. Free street parking is available in some of the surrounding blocks on Morgan Drive, Payne Avenue, and Cottage Grove Avenue, but please take care to look for street signage for any restrictions or further information.

We are grateful for the support of Illinois Humanities, Woods Fund Chicago, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, Crossroads Fund, and the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture at the University of Chicago.

QUESTIONS ABOUT ACCESSIBILITY?

Write to ItsOnUsChicago @ gmail.com

Sign up for updates about this event and other UIC Social Justice Initiative programming at go.uic.edu/subscribeSJI.