Our 2025 Programming!

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 in our own neighborhood 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.

In 2025, we are working to expand our Outreach program and share The Power of the Word Initiative, focused on the power of the arts to amplify the voices of community members and artists in the fight against injustice and healing from trauma.

We’ll host four events taking place in Austin, Avondale, Bronzeville, and Southshore!

Saturday, June 14th 2025 - 12:00pm - 4:00pm | Solidarity Triangle - N Kimball Ave, Chicago, IL 60618

Celebrating Juneteenth, our first Outreach event of 2025 features Rocio “Chio” Cabrera, Dark Matter Resident Mayda del Valle, Anthony-Michael Stokes, and alumni resident Leah Lara. In collaboration with Los Logansitos, a youth theater group, this event will showcase a puppetry and theater performance for all to enjoy.

Aliyah Jones With Visual Insulation by Dark Matter Resident Avin Hannah Smith | Saturday, July 12th 2025 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm. Oakland Museum and Garden - 4116 S Lake Park Ave Chicago, IL, United States

Aliyah Jones - Aliyah Jones is a vocalist, composer, and curator from the southside of Chicago. Rooted in the traditions of Black Music and the deep study of Black Aesthetics, her art moves with purpose—telling stories that seek truth and connection. 

Aliyah is the founder and host of Indigo Sessions, a show series meant to highlight the creations of Black Women and Black Queer creatives. Indigo Sessions was born from Aliyah’s personal longing—for safety, for kinship, for a place where We could show up fully, without apology. It has found home in beloved spaces like Dorothy and The.BlkRoom, continuing to grow as a living archive of community, artistry, and liberation.

Aliyah is currently a resident artist at Epiphany Center for the Arts, where she continues to expand her work across performance and curation.

Instagram: @indigoesblues 

Avin Hannah Smith - Avin HannahSmith makes work that deals with color theory and the examination of spatial relativity. An analytical and organic approach brings about compositions of plateaus, edges, and forms.

He is a multidisciplinary artist searching for truth within this world. My current work is about how BIPOC creates grids of societal understanding to sort through systems of oppression that have been forced upon them. The grids symbolize language, histories, and lineage of people that aim to create a space for themselves within the capital impositions. Everyday routines, happenstance and ripples of societal and historical events are categorized deep within pockets of autonomous spiritual locations.Spiritual geo-locational mapping is what interests me about locations and Afro-Identity.

The JuJu Exchange and Opening Set by Dark Matter Alumni Amyna Love | Saturday, August 9th 2025 - 6:00pm - 8:00pm. South Merrill Community Garden - 7030 S Merrill Ave, Chicago, IL 60649, United States

The JuJu Exchange - The JuJu Exchange is a musical partnership of three childhood friends from Chicago: Nico Segal, Julian Davis Reid and Nova Zaii. They are a jazz alternative group whose music invites wonder and trust. They hope their music inspires the listener to participate in the kinds of exchange the world desperately needs. Their latest release is Somebody Caught Me, a song that is all about the embrace we receive when we fall. Listen on all streaming platforms.

Amyna Love is A chi-town hidden jewel, Amyna Love is a classically trained, independent artist with a range of musical influences such as Paramore, Lianne la Havas and Ella Fitzgerald. Her alternative sound is a fusion of punk and soul sprinkled with the African influences of her upbringing. Love has opened for artists such as Goapele and Maimouna Youssef (Mumu Fresh).

Dark Matter Resident Eva Supreme | Saturday, October 12, 2025 - Noon - 2:00 PM. James Stone Freedom Square -3615 W Douglas Blvd, Chicago, IL 60623

Eva Supreme - Eva Supreme is a dynamic vocal artist whose soulful voice spans theater, opera, jazz, and beyond. A Chicago Southside native, she draws from gospel and blues traditions to craft a sound that embodies sonic generational soul. With over a decade of experience, Eva captivates audiences with her emotional depth and genre-blending artistry.

Passionate about music’s healing power, she continues to push creative boundaries as a vocalist, composer, arranger, thespian, producer, dancer, and educator. Eva lives by the mantra, “The only way to do your thing is to do your thing!” Her artistry redefines musical expression, inspiring listeners to experience sound in profound ways.