Out at CHM
The Out in Chicago exhibition has brought a vital part of our shared history out of the shadows and into the light. Before each Out at CHM event participants will have exclusive access to this exhilarating exhibition.
> Learn more about Out in Chicago
When Identities Collide: Sexuality & Black Feminism
Saturday, February 18, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Join us for an insightful look at the role lesbians play in Black feminism with scholar Kimberly Springer, author of Living for the Revolution: Black Feminist Organizations, 1968-1980, an essential reference on the history of the women's movement.
1:00 p.m.
Our program begins with self-guided tours of the critically-acclaimed exhibition, Out in Chicago, spanning diverse stories and perspectives to explores issues of language, gender expression, identity, the role of LGBT people in politics and culture, and family relationships.
2:00 p.m.
After touring the exhibit, Kimberly Springer will explore the history of lesbians in the Black feminist movement and the future of queer, feminist, women of color organizing. Jennifer Brier, co-curator of Out in Chicago and Acting Director of Gender and Women's Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will share insights on gender, community and identity and the heritage of Chicago's diverse LGBT community.
Cost: Free. Reservations required.
In collaboration The Public Square, Gender and Women's Studies Program at University of Illinois at Chicago, and Center for the Study of Race, Politics, & Culture at the University of Chicago.
Curators Bare All
Thursday, March 8, Cocktails begin at 5:30 p.m.; programs begin at 6:30 p.m.
In a moderated conversation with Northwestern University professor Bill Savage, Out in Chicago co-curators Jill Austin and Jennifer Brier will share their experiences developing the exhibition which closes March 26, 2012. Within the walls of a mainstream, public history space like the Museum, they dared to declare that LGBT history is woven into the very fabric of Chicago history itself. So, just how queer could the city’s oldest cultural institution get?
As curatorial partners who collaborated for three years to create Out, Austin and Brier talk about what was possible—and what wasn’t. They will share examples of stories that they felt they could do justice to and ones they couldn’t, reflecting on what they saw they did well and what they felt they did not complete. As a result, the evening will explore what can happen when themes such as diversity, identity, privacy and the struggles of urban life relating to LGBT people, as they emerged from both the collection vaults of history and from the streets of our contemporary communities, to queue up for curatorial interpretation in a gallery experience available to broader visitors at large. We’ll hear from them---and then get audience feedback as Out at CHM takes on Out in Chicago.
Out at CHM 2012 is sponsored by The Pauls Foundation