This fall the Chicago Humanities Festival invites its fans to slow down during the 27th annual fall festival, Speed. CHF's flagship fall festival will feature nearly 100 programs between October 29 and November 12.
The line-up of confirmed presenters includes activist Gloria Steinem, Daily Show hostTrevor Noah, Homegoing author Yaa Gyasi, architect Marshall Brown, and New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.
Steinem's program on Thursday, October 13 at Northwestern University Law School's Thorne Auditorium will serve as an official festival kick-off as the United States races toward a presidential election unlike anything in its history. Friedman will deliver the Richard J. Franke Lecture in Economics as he headlines the Humanities Festival's annual benefit gala. His talk, on Monday, October 17, will focus on keeping pace in a dizzying age of acceleration.
"This fall, we will examine the headlong speed of daily life as well as the space of meditation and reflection, the politicians that urge us to hurry up and the artists that force us to slow down, all that ties us to timeless cycles as well as what changes the world in the blink of an eye," says Marilynn Thoma Artistic Director Jonathan Elmer.
"The theme of Speed is full of contradictions—that's why we like it!" Elmer says. "You can find commuters flipping through thousand page novels on the L, but they expect that book will arrive with same-day delivery," he says. "Our elaborately plotted television series are all dropped at once—so we can binge watch.
"At the same time, against the demands of a faster-paced, on-demand life," Elmer says, "people are willing to wait in line for slow food and hand-muddled cocktails that take forever to make."
Beyond the headliners, other programs will ask audience members to consider other phenomena of speed—from how we find dates, play games, or experience art, to how we develop policy in an age of immediacy, or "hear" gravitational waves across cosmic time.
"One symptom of our accelerated life is the expectation that every presentation offers a fix, a solution," says Executive Director Phillip Bahar. "The Chicago Humanities Festival is committed to the pursuit of public inquiry—we believe the best outcome of a festival is developing complex questions, not simple answers," he says.
In addition, CHF will continue its commitment to hosting programs in Chicago's neighborhoods with an evening in historic Bronzeville.
A complete line-up for the festival will be released on September 8 and available atchicagohumanities.org/speed with some additional names announced throughout the summer.
Tickets to the 2016 Chicago Humanities Festival's two kick-off events featuring Gloria Steinem and Thomas Friedman go on sale to CHF Members on Tuesday, August 16 and to the general public on Tuesday, August 23. Tickets for the rest of the 2016 Chicago Humanities Festival go on sale to members Tuesday, September 20 and to the general public on Tuesday, September 27. Tickets are available by phone or online attickets.chicagohumanities.org .
To become a member, visit supportchf.org .
Confirmed presenters include:
Marshall Brown
An architect and urban designer, Marshall Brown was chosen to represent the United States at the 2016 Venice Biennale. Brown is an associate professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture. Brown has worked on a number of projects in Chicago including the recent redevelopment of Navy Pier.
Thomas L. Friedman | The Richard J. Franke Lecture in Economics
Thomas Friedman is a Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist and the author of a number of monumental works on globalization and the forces of change including The World is Flat, and Hot, Flat, and Crowded. Friedman is also a Pulitzer Prize winning foreign correspondent and the recipient of the 1989 National Book Award in nonfiction for his book, From Beirut to Jerusalem.
Yaa Gyasi
Born in Ghana, raised in Alabama, and a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, Yaa Gyasi is the author of the highly anticipated debut novel, Homegoing, a multi-generational epic story that traces a pair of Ghanaian half-sisters and their descendants through their divergent lives.
Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah is the host of The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Noah, a comedian originally from South Africa, took over The Daily Show in September 2015. Noah's most recent stand-up special, Trevor Noah: Lost in Translation, debuted November 2015.
Gloria Steinem
A world renowned writer and political activist, Gloria Steinem is a co-founder of Ms. Magazine and the author of many books including My Life on the Road and Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions. She now hosts Woman on VICELAND. Steinem received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2013.
SAVE THE DATES:
— Thursday, Sept. 8, 2016 - Full Speed line-up announced
— Thursday, Oct. 13, 2016 - Gloria Steinem Speed kick-off program
— Monday, Oct. 17, 2016 - The 27th Anniversary Gala Benefit honoring John W. McCarter, Jr. and Ariel Investments, featuring a public program with Thomas Friedman for the Richard J. Franke Lecture in Economics
— Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016 - Morris and Dolores Kohl Kaplan Northwestern University Day
— Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 - 10th annual Hyde Park Day on the University of Chicago campus
— Monday, Nov. 1, 2016 - Saturday, Nov. 12, 2016 - 2016 FallFest events throughout Chicago
About the Chicago Humanities Festival
For more than 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. 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. Visitchicagohumanities.org for more information.
