This September, come celebrate Chicago’s South Side. We’re partnering with South Shore Works to host a day-long Arts Party at the South Shore Cultural Center: Pop in and out of mural painting, collaborative art installations, tours of South Shore, poetry readings, house music on the lawn (with food!), and more. Plus, join in on the big-name events CHF is known for: a chat with award-winning food blogger Michael Twitty on Black and Jewish cuisine, a podcast taping of the popular Some of My Best Friends Are… on what it means to be a Chicagoan, and live musical performances from the legendary Great Black Music Ensemble and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

This event is rain or shine! If it's raining, outdoor events will move to alternate indoor locations.

Cooler by the Lake: South Shore Arts Party programs are presented in partnership with South Shore Works. The Festival's Social Justice & Equity Series is generously underwritten by The Allstate Insurance Company and ITW.

Events Schedule

All programming is free and open to everyone

Podcast Taping: Some of My Best Friends Are…

11:00am - 12:00pm

South Shore Cultural Center - Dining Room

Two guys from the South Side of Chicago host a podcast cleverly titled Some of My Best Friends Are… (you know, that thing some white people say to avoid talking about race and racism?). Here’s the difference: Khalil Gibran Muhammad (leading experts on race and racism) and Ben Austen (journalist and author) actually do talk about their interracial friendship and race in America. Join them for a live taping about what it means to be a Chicagoan. 

This program will have ASL interpretation and open captions.

South Shore Tours

Multiple tour opportunities are available!

11:00am - 12:00pm

1:00 - 2:00pm

3:00 - 4:00pm

5:00 - 6:00pm

Meet on the South Shore Cultural Center - Lawn

Hop on a trolley run by the South Shore Tourism Bureau & Center at The Quarry for tours of the South Shore to learn more about the fascinating history and present of these incredible neighborhoods. Explore murals of Michelle Obama, opposite the elementary school she attended, significant architectural sites, and stories about the beginning of South Shore.

These tours are presented in partnership with the South Shore Tourism Bureau & Center.

A Forum on Public Education

12:30 - 1:30pm

South Shore Cultural Center - Solarium

UIC faculty David Stovall (criminology, law, and justice) leads a public forum about the history and present of education in Chicago. Listen to Elizabeth Todd-Breland (Associate Professor of History - UIC), Jen Johnson (Chief of Staff at the Chicago Teachers Union), and Stovall engage in discourse; and join a discussion about how charter schools, often marketed as a path towards equity, can also be seen as starving public institutions; and the organizing strategies employed by communities, parents, and teachers to improve education.

This program will have ASL interpretation and open captions.

Sustenance for the Soul with Michael Twitty

2:00 - 3:00pm

South Shore Cultural Center - Dining Room

Famed blogger of African American foodways and their legacies, Michael Twitty has spent his career answering the question: How does food shape people? At CHF, this James Beard award-winning culinary and cultural historian explores the crossroads of Black and Jewish food and tradition. Join him for a chat about migration, memory, diasporas, and his latest book Koshersoul.

This program will have ASL interpretation and open captions.

A book signing follows this program.

• The Chicago Humanities Festival is pleased to partner with the Seminary Co-op Bookstores, a Chicago not-for-profit bookstore whose mission is bookselling. Pre-order your copy of Koshersoul through the CHF Box Office and save 20% while supporting local, independent bookselling. Add books to your cart when adding tickets. Your receipt will contain a book voucher, which you will show to the bookseller on site to pick up your book(s).
  

Great Black Music Ensemble of the AACM

3:30 - 4:45pm

South Shore Cultural Center - Paul Robeson Theatre

Join the Great Black Music Ensemble for a performance celebrating the musical legacies of Chicago’s South Side. As part of the internationally-renowned Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a non-profit organization and a collective of composers and musicians dedicated to nurturing, performing, and recording high artistic level programs designed to magnify creative music.

Great Black Music Ensemble members: Dee Alexander, Leon Q, Adam Zanolini, Fred Jackson Jr., Dushun Mosley, Edwin Daugherty, Ugochi Nwaogwugwu, Ed House, Mwata Bowden, Coco Elysses, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Harris, JoVia Armstrong, Khari B, Douglas R. Ewart, Ari Brown, Taalib-Din Ziyad

The AACM is a non-profit organization and a collective of composers and musicians dedicated to nurturing, performing and recording high artistic level programs designed to magnify creative music.

Artists featured in this event are part of the Chicago Band Roster and are supported by funding from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.

Poetry Reading and Conversation with Saeed Jones & Deana Dean

4:45pm - 5:30pm

South Shore Cultural Center - Solarium

Join celebrated poet Saeed Jones for a reading and conversation with Tiff Beatty at the South Shore Cultural Center, featuring his breathtaking work “Alive at the End of the World” (recipient of the 2015 PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry). The program opens with a reading by acclaimed South Shore poet and author Deana Dean (Merrill Avenue).

A book signing follows this program.

• The Chicago Humanities Festival is pleased to partner with the Seminary Co-op Bookstores, a Chicago not-for-profit bookstore whose mission is bookselling. Pre-order your copy of Alive at the End of the World through the CHF Box Office and save 20% while supporting local, independent bookselling. Add books to your cart when adding tickets. Your receipt will contain a book voucher, which you will show to the bookseller on site to pick up your book(s).
  

An Evening Concert with Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

5:30pm - 7:00pm

South Shore Cultural Center - Paul Robeson Theatre

Headlining a full day of programming for our South Shore Arts Party is the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a group of musicians from Chicago, many of whom are the sons of the late trailblazing jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran. At the South Shore Cultural Center, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (Bad Boys Of Jazz) will perform their dynamic repertoire, influenced by genres like hip hop, jazz, funk, rock, and calypso. 

Plus, drop in throughout the day for...

Interactive Art Making with Floating Museum

11:00am - 7:00pm

South Shore Cultural Center - Lawn

The Chicago-based art collective Floating Museum returns to CHF for the collaborative art-making exercise, Sticks and Tape: a crowd favorite where groups of all ages build any kind of structure imaginable using only strips of colorful duct tape and sticks. Join them at South Shore Cultural Center for a day expanding the boundaries of our architectural imagination.

And don’t miss Floating Museum’s on-site installation: “Founders” inflatable monument Exhibit Four Heads. This inflatable sculpture depicts a four-faced bust of the first non-native man to settle in what would become Chicago, the French Haitian Jean Baptiste Pointe Du Sable; his wife, Potawatomi tribe member Kitihawa; former Chicago mayor Harold Washington; and the face of a child.

Mural Making with Dorian Sylvain

11:00am - 5:30om

South Shore Cultural Center - Lawn

Paint a mural with Dorian Sylvain, a South Shore artist whose work focuses on beautification inspired by the colors, patterns, and architecture of the African diaspora. Sylvain and Mural Moves (a team of painters led by Sylvain, who create murals across Chicago) host a workshop where participants will create a mural for installation at 7100 South Jeffery Boulevard on the South Shore, as part of the Banking on the Artist Project. 

House Music with the Chosen Few

12:00pm - 5:30pm

South Shore Cultural Center - Lawn

The Chosen Few DJs are bringing house music and vibes to our Arts Party on the South Shore. Grab a blanket, pre-order a sandwich lunchbox, and chill or dance on the lawn of the South Shore Cultural Center with this iconic group of popular South Side DJs, including the legendary Wayne Williams and Terry Hunter. 

• Please visit our FAQ for more information about ticketing, books, accessibility options, and other event logistics.