Congressional District: 9

Southern Indiana Taiko will bring world renowned professional taiko drummers Tiffany Tamaribuchi and Eddie Yates to rural Columbus, Indiana to conduct a three day workshop for Southern Indiana Taiko performers and students. The workshop will focus on ergonomically correct taiko techniques and both artists will be featured in an open to the public community performance.

Lotus Blossoms 2025 is an annual four-week series of artist performances and workshops, focused on outreach and education, that provides audiences with globally and culturally diverse music and arts experiences via national and international touring artists.

In a master class led by a professional stained glass artist, Campanella members and refugee families will collaborate in creating stained glass panels symbolizing fragility, tempering, and strength. In the hands-on process of creating glass art panels followed by the stained glass exhibition and choir concert, they will live through and feel the transformative power of art in healing brokenness.

Chicago Tap Theatre will create opportunities for various populations in Chicago to learn from Black Canadian and former Chicagoan Lisa LaTouche, including: viewing her film Trax, a Q&A on the findings of her research (in conjunction with Chicago-based historians), 2 classes and a Q&A with students at a majority Black school and a culminating event that ties the themes of the project together.

In a cross-industry collaboration, Joel Hall Dancers & Center, Ruth Page Center, and Graceland Cemetery will activate an underutilized public space with a free public program celebrating Chicago’s diverse dance community.

ARTSiE's literacy through the arts project focuses on Evanston's Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center where we will work with local artists to create its first community mural and provide year-round enrichment programming to under-represented students in Evanston’s 5th ward. This public mural will celebrate cultural diversity, environmental stewardship and intergenerational collaboration.

Emily Wilson Gillespie is one of nine winners of the 2024 Midwest Award for Artists with Disabilities. This award is designed to support accessibility in the arts and celebrate the exceptional work of disabled Midwestern visual artists.

The Evanston Public Library will celebrate “A Year of Joy and Gratitude” by exploring the themes in Ross Gay’s Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude. In addition to poetry workshops and reading, EPL will curate unique programs, such as gardening, birding, and fabric arts, that encourage active engagement in this poetry and builds greater connections to where we live, our land and nature, and ourselves.

The Bristol Public Library, Washington County Public Library, and Birthplace of Country Music Museum have come together to host community events focused on Ron Rash's Burning Bright. Through these programs, we will foster community connections, expand minds, and provide space for transformative dialogue on the theme of “Where We Live.”

The Arts & Justice Collective hosts Big Read Cape Cod, exploring themes within "Citizen: An American Lyric." We are a group of non-profit or mission driven organizations based on Cape Cod, MA that uses our collective strengths, missions, and resources to empower each other and our community to create a culture of belonging for members of historically-excluded groups through art and social justice.