National Public Housing Museum and WBEZ partner for a free summer concert in Millennium Park
A free concert on August 25 features artists with meaningful connections to public housing.
The National Public Housing Museum and WBEZ Chicago are hosting a free concert in Millennium Park on Friday, August 25 (6-9 p.m.), featuring artists with meaningful connections to public housing. The National Public Housing Museum is the only cultural institution dedicated to telling the story of public housing in the United States.
Legendary rapper Roxanne Shanté will host the evening with music by legendary hip-hop icon DJ Spinderella and will host the evening, which will also include performances by local favorites acclaimed R&B and soul musician Isaiah Sharkey and celebrated ragtime pianist Reginald Robinson and surprise appearances by special guests. The evening will kick off with a community conversation hosted by Erin Allen, host of WBEZ’s daily Rundown podcast.
DJ Spinderella, who is also the curator of the museum's music room exhibition and lived in the Pink Houses in New York City, NY, said "The National Public Housing Museum's On the Lawn concert at Millennium Park is a vibrant evening of performances by artists with meaningful connections to public housing. I'm looking forward to celebrating the significant impact of public housing on American music and culture on August 25.”
"I can't wait to host the evening and share the stage with other talented artists with connections to public housing. As I reflect on major music history milestones, like the 50th anniversary of hip hop this year, I'm continually inspired by public housing's profound influence on American music and culture more broadly," said Roxanne Shanté, who lived in Queensbridge Houses in New York City, NY.
A weekend-long installation throughout the park will complement the concert and will be focused on civic love and engagement based on the National Public Housing Museum's 36 Questions for Civic Love, a toolkit that helps strangers get to know one another toolkit. This program is made possible by a grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events with funding from the Millennium Park Foundation and Pritzker Foundation.
Civic love is one’s love for society, expressed through a commitment to the common good. According to the National Public Housing Museum, it is a belief in the idea that we’re all better off, when we are all better off, and is manifested through all kinds of actions like volunteering, marching, speaking against systemic injustice, and making reparations. Learn more.
Registration information:
On the Lawn: Hosted by Roxanne Shanté with Music by DJ Spinderella
Friday, Aug. 25, 6-9 p.m., Millennium Park (Jay Pritzker Pavilion), 201 East Randolph Street, Chicago, Ill., 60601
Free! Register here
About the National Public Housing Museum
Over the past century, more than 10 million people across the United States have called public housing home. In the late 1990s, as thousands of public housing units across the country were being demolished, public housing residents began to dream about creating a museum to preserve their collective voices, memories, and the histories of public housing across the nation. They wanted their children and grandchildren, and the public at large, to know more about their place in the American experience and to understand the public policies that helped to shape their families. In 2007, civic leaders, preservationists, historians, cultural experts, and many others joined with residents to help incorporate the National Public Housing Museum, which has since then offered transformative programs that connect the past with contemporary issues of social justice and human rights. The Museum's permanent home is under construction at the historic Jane Addams Homes at 1322 W. Taylor St. in Chicago's Near West Side and is set to open to the public in 2024.
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For more information, please contact:
Emily Breidenbach, Director of Communications
National Public Housing Museum
ebreidenbach@nphm.org / 847-997-3790