Community Outreach Program
The Elastic Arts Community Outreach Program shares the fellowship we generate within our venue by exploring and creating new space(s) across the city. Through outreach, Elastic expands its focus beyond our four walls, providing free programming by working with peer organizations both in our own neighborhood at the intersection of Logan Square and Avondale, and with organizations rooted in neighborhoods on the South and West Sides.
By building strong partnerships, we strive to bring new sounds and experiences, special events, workshops, and mentorship to the artists, communities, and organizations we aim to uplift and inspire.
As we reach both our 25th anniversary and 16 years of service to the neighborhoods of Logan Square and Avondale, we recognize the importance of outreach and the impact that our mission-driven programming has brought to the South and West Sides of Chicago. The Elastic Arts Outreach Program intends to share space and community by expanding outside our walls and into the communities and people we want to celebrate and uplift. With this program, we intend to build a broader coalition of like-minded organizations, platforms, and people, to help them showcase, educate, and inspire all artists to create, especially those centered in non-traditional, unorthodox, or experimental work.
Our 2023 Programming
The Outreach Program kicked off in summer 2023 with a four-part events series, Power of The Word, centering the power of the arts to amplify the voices of artists and community members to oppose injustice, to support healing, and to imagine positive futures. The program features participants in our Dark Matter Residency for emerging BIPOC artists along with other local artists performing in their own neighborhoods.
We began this series partnering with Solidarity Triangle with our Afro-Futurist Gospel Explosion, with Special Guests Marvin Tate and the Cosmic Mass Choir directed by Angel Bat Dawid. This was followed by the "Coming Home" festival in collaboration with Fourtune House Art Center, ft. special guest Bronzeville’s own nombreKARI and Dark Matter Resident Panty. Throughout the summer, we were elated to have Dark matter Resident Sharon Udoh, for her Theater Y Collaboration in Production of ‘The Wiz - Neighborhood Walk’, and a Youth Summer Writing workshop with Marvin Tate - July 22nd - August 12th 2023. In addition to her special performance with The Aggregation ft. Justin Dillard with special guest Corey Wilkes at the Stone Temple Community Garden in the neighborhood of North Lawndale. We closed out our summer with the Austin Art and Culture walk in collaboration with Front Porch Art Center, with special performances by Austin natives UNIQ’KA and Camíla, along with Dark Matter Resident Carissa Lee.
In addition to the amazing Power of The Word Outreach events, with special performances by this year's Dark Matter Residents, we expanded our long time partnership with Kuumba Renaissance and programing with mobile stage, The Culture Coach. This year, the Culture Coach participated in nine Argyle Night Markets, Thursdays in July and August 2023. 6 DCASE Maxwell Street Markets, began a new partnership with Hyde Park Jazz Festival, presenting 4 Back Alley Jazz events, and pushed programming in the neighbors of North Lawndale, Pilsen, Uptown and more throughout the summer of 2023.
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Elastic Arts presents four free, outdoor performances that focus on the power of the arts to amplify the voices of community members and artists in the fight against injustice and healing from trauma. The series presented performances of song, rap, poetry, spoken word, and storytelling that centered civic action and healing. It also includes an open mic, where community members share stories, jokes, poems and songs, and also presentations by youth writing workshop participants. Rather than parachuting into south- and west- side neighborhoods, assuming we know what people there need and want, we partner closely with organizations rooted in those neighborhoods to find spaces to present our programming, and to construct events that would resonate with the folks there.
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In partnership with Kuumba Renaissance, Elastic Arts presents music and performance on a mobile stage called the Culture Coach, which enables us to present free, outdoor programming in areas of Chicago that lack arts infrastructure. Culture Coach presents between 30 and 40 free events each year at the Argyle Night Market in Uptown, the Maxwell Street Market downtown, at Gallery Guichard in Bronzeville, and many other locations from Roseland to Rogers Park to North Lawndale.
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Participants in Elastic’s Dark Matter residency for emerging BIPOC artists are encouraged and supported to take part in Elastic’s existing Outreach programming, or structure their own events that take place beyond Elastic’s walls. Summer 2023, each artist had the opportunity to work directly with community as apart of our program this summer, taking part in performing their works, hosting workshops, and writing and composing for community projects.
