THE DREAM: A People’s Salon

Fairouz AbuGhazaleh joined Illinois Humanities in March of 2022 as the Director of Statewide Programs. Prior to this, she was the Director of Immigrant Outreach at the New American Welcome Center at the University of Illinois YMCA in Champaign. She also coordinated an immigrant and refugee integration program in rural Colorado as part of a larger statewide initiative. She has worked as a women’s rights advocate, a journalist in the Middle East and a freelance writer and translator. She has published articles in the National Civic Review, the Denver Post, Minnesota Women’s Press, the Daily Iowan as well as several publications of the University of Iowa International Programs. Fairouz majored in journalism and sociology at the University of Iowa and later returned to Iowa City for an MA in International Development, which focused on women and economic development.

Singer Zeshan B’s breakout album Vetted was released in April 2017 to commercial and critical acclaim with the album debuting at #8 on Billboard's Top 10 Albums (World Music) and peaking at #1 on iTunes’ World Music chart. The album also garnered praise from Rolling Stone, NPR, ABC, NBC, PBS, Salon, Democracy Now and the Times of India.

In August of 2017, Zeshan made his US television debut with a stirring rendition of his hit single Crying in the Streets on CBS’s Late Night w/ Stephen Colbert. This was followed by a PBS News Hour special entitled Groovin’ for Change.

Since then, he has made appearances at iconic venues and festivals such as Lincoln Center, Bonnaroo, Electric Forest, House of Blues, Kennedy Center, and the Blue Note. Zeshan has also performed for two US Presidents--Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.

Zeshan’s newest album O Say, Can You See – an orchestral soul record that premiered on NPR in July 2024 – was hailed by MSNBC & Variety as a “classic, gospel-infused R&B [album} with passionate lyrics about American social justice. Learn more at shorefire.com/roster/zeshan-b.

(Photo by Vince DeSantiago)

Faylita Hicks is a queer Afro-Latinx interdisciplinary artist, writer, hoodoo practitioner, and cultural strategist advocating for marginalized people directly impacted by the carceral system. 

Hicks is an Artivist--someone who integrates transformative justice theory into their creative practice, using much of their work to advocate for the lives of marginalized people who make up our global majority. 

The winner of the 2020 Sappho Poetry Award and the Best of Net Prize for Poetry, they are a voting member of the Recording Academy/GRAMMYS, a new board member with Chicago’s Guild Literary Complex, and the author of A Map of My Want (Haymarket Books, 2024) and HoodWitch (Acre Books, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry.

Their memoir-in-essays, A Body of Wild Light, is forthcoming in 2026 from Chicago's own Haymarket Books.

Willy Palomo (he/they/she) is the son of two refugees from El Salvador. He is author of Wake the Others, a winner of the Foreword Indie Prize in Poetry. 

In 2023, he released Enter Da BoomBow, a hip-hop and reggaeton project. A veteran of the Salt Lake City slam scene, his writing and translations can be found across print and web pages, including the Best New Poets 2018, Latino Rebels, The Wandering Song: Central American Writing in the United States, and more. 

He has performed at or keynoted the SUU Pride Film Festival, el Festival Internacional de Poesia Amada Libertad in El Salvador, el Festival Trinacional de Poesia de Oriente in Guatemala, and more. 

Currently, he serves as a Youth Activities Coordinator for RefugeeOne, where he runs an after-school for refugee children. Learn more at palomopoemas.com.

(Photo by Corrin Rausch)

Bindu Poroori wishes for the annihilation of class, caste, and race. 

They are the Interim Director of Community Organizing at Arts Alliance Illinois, and an organizer with @chicagodesiyouthrising (CDYR), UChicago Alumni for Palestine (@uchialum4pal), Cultural Workers for Palestine (@culturalworkers4palichi), and Rad Rogers Park (@radrogerspark). 

Bindu also sings with the surf punk-Bollywood cover band, Do The Needful - playing next at the NLG annual gala on September 28th! (@dtn_chicago). 

She loves green mango dal and doing the crossword with as many people at once as possible.

Iván Resendiz, originally from Mexico City, began his classical guitar studies at the Escuela Superior de Música and continued his education in Chicago with maestros Norman Ruiz and Denis Azabagic. 

He earned a bachelor’s degree with honors from Roosevelt University. He has refined his skills through masterclasses with renowned guitarists such as Eliot Fisk and Sergio Assad and has won thirteen international awards in competitions across Mexico, the United States, and Europe. 

Iván has performed worldwide, from Jordan Hall in Boston to the Teatro Gran Mariscal in Bolivia, and his work has been featured on Univision Chicago and ABC News. His album “Tales of the Journey” honors the undocumented Latin community, while “Pilsen Soundtrack 2” reflects his collaboration with local Chicago artists. 

He directs the Latin American Guitar Festival of Chicago, teaches in various public schools in Chicago, and provides affordable private lessons in his community studio.