Spring Into the Season: A People’s Salon Returns With Fresh Energy

Spring is on the horizon, and we’re thrilled to welcome back A People’s Salon. Launched in 2024 and now entering its third season, A People's Salon is returning and bursting with fresh themes, performances, presentations, conversations, and yes, plenty of food and drink.

Mark your calendar for March 25, 2026 and join us for WE THE PEOPLE: A People’s Salon. 

While you wait, take a look at last season’s highlights to get a taste of the energy, creativity, and community that make the Salon so special.

Our second season of A People’s Salon once again featured Illinois Humanities program partners, grantees, Odyssey students, artists, board members, and new friends. As 2025 sped by, the series provided meaningful opportunities to take a breath, learn, reflect, and connect, thanks to a terrific array of engaged presenters and participants alike.  

(RE)GENERATION: A People’s Salon (April 23, 2025)

As spring sprang, we gathered for our first salon. Our presenters ruminated on the concept of tilling (metaphorical) soil and making way for fresh growth – nourished by the life, lessons, and loss that came before. Members of Free Street Theater’s ensemble shared scenes from the upcoming play Parched 2.0, which addresses issues related to water security and climate change. Using puppetry and spoken word, the performers encouraged us to think about the world we have inherited and the world we want to leave behind for future generations. Eleanor Kahn’s on-site activation invited people to share their wishes for the future of water and pin them to a translucent rain cloud that was later installed in the lobby throughout the run of Parched 2.0. SK Kerastas shared a deeply moving story about the way their relationship with their mother deepened and shifted while they were healing from top surgery, prompting us to remember that our relationships are as capable of transformations as our bodies or anything else in the physical world. Linda Pitts shared images and footage from home videos captured by her parents when she was a baby, along with some riveting back story about where and who she comes from.

The footage she shared was donated to the South Side Home Movie Project for safe-keeping in its archive, so it was only fitting to close out the evening with a presentation from Camille Townson of SSHMP. Camille shared an overview of the organization as well as insight into what it takes and what it means to hold onto our roots and let our inherited experiences position us to learn as we move toward the future. Each person in the room received a copy of Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò’s Reconsidering Reparations, thanks to our friends at Haymarket Books. 

PERMANENT RECORD: A People’s Salon (May 26, 2025)

The theme of May’s salon provoked questions and multiple interpretations, which was fitting given the promotional language for the night: “Fixedness is an illusion. Words, deeds, monuments, and archives – all are subject to interpretation by the people and times that encounter them. 

The first presenter of the evening was Reuben Miller, MacArthur Fellow and author of Halfway Home: Race, Punishment, and the Afterlife of Incarceration. Reuben shared both research and personal perspective as he illuminated the deep and abiding impacts that incarceration has on individuals, families, and communities. Matthew Collin Clark, a history and civics teacher at Bowen High School, shared an engaged history project he undertook with his class when a student inquired about the origin of the tradition of not stepping on the grass at HBCUs. Writer, curator, and founder of Sixty Inches From Center Tempestt Hazel read a piece about the precarity of Black American archives and the incredible acts of foresight and tenacity that enable us to hold these histories close. And Damon Locks, director of Black Monument Ensemble and an instructor with the Prison + Neighborhood Arts Project, talked about his practice of sampling archival audio and weaving it into pieces of music that create a new sound and a “new time,” after which he demonstrated this practice with a live-mixed performance. In keeping with the theme, Haymarket Books donated a copy of The Gate of Memory: Poems by Descendants of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration edited by Brandon Shimoda and Brynn Saito to everyone in attendance.

MIGHTY REAL: A People’s Salon (June 25, 2025)

During the month of Juneteenth and Pride, the presenters for June’s salon invited us to celebrate resilience, liberation, and one another. EdVetté Jones, a recent graduate of Illinois Humanities’ Odyssey Project and longtime Illinois Humanities partner through Envisioning Justice and Chicago Style, kicked off the evening with some words about their sense of style and their perspective on community. Rapper, librarian, and founder of The Rapbrary Roy Kinsey performed a couple of fabulous songs and read his forthcoming children’s book, Dandelions: Gods Don’t Cry. DJ, organizer, and educator Rae Chardonnay shared a film she made about spending time in nature as a Black woman, inviting us into a new practice (film) with which she has been experimenting. To witness an artist’s process and practice in approaching new work is a great gift, and we were honored to receive this one. 

The legendary Dorothy Burge talked about her journey to becoming a “quiltivist” and shared some of her stunning quilts: namely, a quilted portrait of Eric Blackmon and another quilt depicting a poem he wrote about the 16 years he spent incarcerated under a wrongful conviction. And then AnnMarie Brown, another longtime Envisioning Justice and Chicago Style partner, shared the inspiration behind her new clothing line, Rafasi, after which we were treated to a short fashion show featuring three new looks from the line! Earlier in the evening, attendees had been invited to work with scraps of fabric and various embellishments to adorn themselves to feel fabulous, and once AnnMarie’s models finished walking, all were invited to strut their stuff and be celebrated. Each person who joined us that evening received a copy of How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, edited by Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor, courtesy of Haymarket Books.

We were delighted to partner once again with Haymarket House and Haymarket Books for the three salons in 2025. The fabulous folks at TXA TXA Club returned to craft delicious meals for each event, and Chef Daniel Parker wrote a piece that tied the food to the theme for each salon, adding another layer of depth and flavor to the experience. 

We enjoyed libations from Kestral Wine & Spirits and Revolution Brewing, and we were thrilled to continue collaborating with designer Eleanor Kahn to create experiential activations and decor that enhanced each salon’s theme. All the action was captured by the phenomenal photographers at GlitterGuts Photography.

We extend our sincere gratitude to our partners, presenters, performers, and supporters. Your dedication and contributions are essential to the success of the Salons, and we are truly grateful for your continued support.

We look forward to the possibility of welcoming you this spring and stay tuned for additional information about upcoming Salons.