CHICAGO, ILJuly 14, 2015Today the Chicago Humanities Festival ( CHF ) announced added newsmakers and cultural commentators for the 26th annual Fall Festival, who will explore the theme of Citizens, with more than 100 events Oct. 24-Nov. 8, 2015. On the heels of the Charleston, SC shooting and the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage, CHF will set the stage for some of today's most important voices on the issues confronting our nation. Presenters include Between the World and Me author and Atlantic columnist Ta-Nehisi Coates, leading gay rights activist Evan Wolfson, cultural critic and writer Roxane Gay, humorist Sarah Vowell, So You've Been Publicly Shamed author Jon Ronson, and House of Cards story editor and playwright Laura Eason.
A complete schedule will be released in August at chicagohumanities.org/citizens. Tickets to the 26th Chicago Humanities Festival go on sale to CHF Members on Tuesday, Sept. 8 and to the general public on Monday, Sept. 14.
"We are in a moment of rapid change," said Jonathan Elmer, CHF Artistic Director. "Embedded assumptionson race, sexuality, privacyare falling away. And radically new modes of association are emerging. These changes are not magic. They have been fought over, predicted, and imagined by the eloquent and visionary leaders that CHF provides a platform for in Chicago."
Confirmed Presenters for the 2015 Fall Festival Include:
Ta-Nehisi Coates is a leading critic on racial relations in the US. He comes to CHF to speak about his newly published book, Between the World and Me, an exploration, in a letter to his son, of America's racial history. Coates is a National Correspondent for The Atlantic, author of the memoir The Beautiful Struggle, former writer for The Village Voice, and contributor to Time, O, and The New York Times Magazine. He has received the Hillman Prize, the George Polk Award for his Atlantic cover story, "The Case for Reparations," and his Atlantic blog was named by Time as one of the 25 Best in the World.
Evan Wolfson is considered by many to be one of the foremost architects of the marriage equality movement that resulted in the recent Supreme Court decision. An attorney and gay rights advocate, Wolfson formed Freedom to Marry in 2001. Wolfson is also the author of Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry. On the heels of the June Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage, Wolfson will offer his front-and-center view of this struggle, its dark moments, its accelerating victories, and the work that lies ahead. This program is generously underwritten by Southwest Airlines.
Roxane Gay is an outspoken voice on gender, racial issues, and pop culture. A national contributor to the New York Times, her writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Best American Mystery Stories 2014, Best Sex Writing 2012, American Short Fiction, The New York Times Book Review, Bookforum, Time, The Los Angeles Times, The Nation, The Rumpus, Salon, and many others. She is the co-editor of PANK. She is also the author of the books Ayiti, An Untamed State, Bad Feminist, and Hunger, forthcoming from Harper in 2016. Lindsay Hunter, author of Don't Kiss Me, joins Gay in lively conversation about culture today.
A prominent humorist and nonfiction writer on American history, Sarah Vowell joins the Festival to speak about her new book, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States ( Oct. 20, 2015 ), a lively and insightful portrait of Revolutionary War hero Marquis de Lafayette. Her additional works on American history and culture include Unfamiliar Fishes, The Wordy Shipmates, and The Partly Cloudy Patriot. Vowell was a contributing editor for as well as an original contributor to McSweeney's. She has been a columnist for Salon, Time, and San Francisco Weekly, and has made numerous appearances on the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. This program is presented in partnership with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Visiting Artists Program and its Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series.
Jon Ronson is the New York Times bestselling author of So You've Been Publicly Shamed, an exploration of the high-profile public shamings that have dominated the last decade. The Welsh journalist and humorist's works include The Psychopath Test and Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries; the e-originals Frank: The True Story That Inspired the Movie and The Amazing Adventures of Phoenix Jones; and international bestsellers Them: Adventures with Extremists, as well as the screenplay for Frank, which debuted at Sundance 2014.
Laura Eason is a story editor on the Emmy Award-winning Netflix show and political thriller House of Cards. The Evanston-born Northwestern alumna and former Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre is the author of more than 20 full-length plays, including Sex with Strangers, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Around the World in 80 Days. Her latest musical, Days Like Today ( music and lyrics by Alan Schmuckler ), was produced in a critically acclaimed, sold out run at Writers Theatre in 2014. Eason will delve into the business and politics of writing off-Broadway and online. This annual lecture is supported by the Doris Conant Endowment for Programs on Women and Culture and is presented in partnership with Northwestern University School of Communication's MFA in Writing for Screen+Stage.
The Chicago Humanities Festival is proud to partner with The Chicago Community Trust
as its lead partner for the 2015 Fall Festival. For the past 100 years, the Trust has connected the generosity of donors with the needs of the community. In its role as CHF's first-ever lead partner, the Trust and CHF will work together to develop Fall Festival programming that explores themes of civic engagement and philanthropy in all its forms-time, treasure, and talent. This will include several Centennial-specific programs, details of which will be released later this summer.
UPDATES:
Anna Deavere Smith, previously announced in May, is unable to present at the Fall Festival due to a scheduling conflict. CHF plans to reschedule her event for a later date.
SAVE THE DATES:
Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2015 - CHF Gala Benefit featuring a public program with Walter Isaacson.
Saturday, Oct. 24, 2015 - Fifth annual Morris and Dolores Kohl Kaplan Northwestern Day on the Northwestern University campus in Evanston.
Sunday, Oct. 25, 2015 - Ninth annual Hyde Park Day on the University of Chicago campus.
Monday, Oct. 26-Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015 - Chicago Humanities Festival in and around downtown Chicago.
TICKETS:
Tickets to the 2015 Chicago Humanities Festival go on sale to CHF Members on Tuesday, Sept. 8 and to the general public on Monday, Sept. 14. Tickets for the public program with Walter Isaacson will go on sale separately, later this summer. The full schedule of all programs will be available at chicagohumanities.org/citizens in August. To become a member, visit supportchf.org . CHF Box Office hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
About the Chicago Humanities Festival
For 25 years, the Chicago Humanities Festival has celebrated the questions that shape and define us as individuals, communities, and cultures. For the curious at heart, CHF's vibrant year-round programming and robust Fall Festival offer the opportunity to engage with some of the world's most brilliant minds. Collaborating with leading arts, cultural, and educational organizations, it presents scholars, artists and architects, thinkers, theologians, and policy makers that change how we see the world, where we're from, and where we're going. CHF also presents the spring Stages, Sights & Sounds, Chicago's only international performance festival for young audiences. Under the leadership of Executive Director Phillip Bahar, Marilynn Thoma Artistic Director Jonathan Elmer, and Associate Artistic Director Alison Cuddy, CHF is one of Chicago's most vital presenting organizations.
The Chicago Humanities Festival has grown fromeight programs in one day at a single venue in 1990, to160 programs year-round at more than 25 venues in and around Chicago. Over the past 25 years, CHF hasput on more than 2,600 programs and performances, and presented more than 3,300 speakers and artists, including: 10 Nobel Prize winners, 70 Pulitzer Prize winners, 52 MacArthur Award recipients, 16 Tony Award winners, 10 Grammy Award winners, and seven Academy Award winners. Visit chicagohumanities.org for more information.
About The Chicago Community Trust
The Chicago Community Trust, our region's community foundation, partners with donors to leverage their philanthropy in ways that transform lives and communities. Since its founding in 1915, the Trust has awarded approximately $2.3 billion in grants to thousands of local and national nonprofits, including $164.5 million in 2014. Throughout its Centennial year, the Trust will celebrate how philanthropy in all its formstime, treasure and talent-strengthens our region and impacts the lives of its residents in countless ways.