Upcoming Events at Columbia College Chicago

PhotoJean Chen Ho, author of the acclaimed novel ”Fiona and Jane” will read at the Efroymson Creative Writing Reading Series on April 10.
A summary of upcoming public events at Columbia College Chicago.

The Columbia College Chicago calendar is filled with exciting cultural and educational experiences. We invite the campus community and the public to explore our wide range of musical performances, art exhibitions, lectures, and learning events - all designed to inspire and engage the Chicago community. 

April 2024

April 4, 6 p.m. 
Community Binding Workshop 
Columbia College Chicago Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104 S. Wabash Ave., first floor  
Admission: Free  
Community Binding is a shared endeavor that brings people together in a comfortable setting where craft and social interaction are combined. Non-adhesive stitching methods work well in Community Binding sessions and techniques are introduced in three basic steps: folding signatures, making covers, and stitching the parts together. Both traditional and non-traditional modes of production will be shared, and participants will leave with 3-4 handbound books, from zines to pamphlet variations. All materials and tools are provided. This workshop is part of Regin Igloria’s “Seven Skins” exhibition. 

April 5, 7 p.m. 
Regina Taylor’s Black Album Mixtape Block Party 
Columbia College ChicagoMusic Center Concert Hall, 1014 S. Michigan Ave. 
Admission: Free 
Join Golden Globe award-winning actress, director, and playwright Regina Taylor in this showcase event featuring original music, theater, and film work from students. The Black Album Mixtape is a collaboration between Columbia College Chicago and Regina Taylor that elevates art of all disciplines that engages with social issues, and this culminating concert will celebrate the winners of this year’s submissions while showcasing student performers. 

April 8, 6 p.m.  
Collaboration: A Potential History of Photograph, Talk and Book Signing 
Columbia College Chicago Ferguson Lecture Hall, 600 S. Michigan Ave., first floor 
Admission: Free 
Join Wendy Ewald and Susan Meiselas as they discuss concepts behind the new publication “Collaboration: A Potential History of Photography," authored by Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Wendy Ewald, Susan Meiselas, Leigh Raiford, and Laura Wexler. This pioneering work redefines photographic history and authorship through the lens of collaboration. With over 600 photographs, it dismantles the notion of a solitary creator by revealing the intricate web of relationships, exchanges, and interactions involved in the creation and evolution of photographs and archives. The talk will be followed by a book signing.

April 10, 1 p.m.  
The Efroymson Creative Writing Reading Series 
Columbia College Chicago Conaway Center, 1104 S. Wabash, first floor 
Admission: Free 
The Efroymson Creative Writing Reading Series at Columbia College Chicago is one of the most dynamic, aesthetically diverse events of its kind in the city. Hosted by the English and Creative Writing Department, the series attracts prestigious, award-winning fiction writers, poets, and nonfiction writers who perform, engage, and educate on a myriad of topics and traditions. This event will feature Jean Chen Ho, author of acclaimed novel “Fiona and Jane” and Garnett Kilberg Cohen, Columbia Creative Writing faculty member of 25 years and author of three story collections: “Lost Women,” “Banished Souls; How We Move the Air,” and “Swarm to Glory.” Virtual option available. Email ecwdepartment@colum.edu to RSVP.

April 11-12, 7:30 p.m. 
Spring Forward: Student Performance Night 
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave. 
Admission: Free with RSVP 
A sample evening of new, original, short works by promising student choreographers – some sharing pieces on the Dance Center’s stage for the first time – lit by Columbia College Chicago Theater Department’s rising lighting designers. 

Hillary Irene Johnson: Unity: Roots, Seaweed, Dinosaur Feathers, Snow in the Woods, Axons, Dendrites, and Human Beings
April 11-29
Columbia College Chicago C33 Gallery, 33 E. Ida B. Wells Dr., first floor
Admission: Free
This immersive, multi-sensory exhibition explores beauty, encounters with the self, and inner knowing. The work investigates unity of experience, perception, and expression between human and other-than-human. Hillary Irene Johnson emphasizes the presence and labor of the artist through the extensive use of handmade abaca paper created in an alchemical, labor-intensive process, requiring deep care and attention. Opening Reception on April 11, 5–7 p.m. Brief remarks from the artist at 5:30 p.m.

April 12, 5–7 p.m. 
Regin Igloria: Seven Skins Reception and Catalog Release Party 
Columbia College Chicago Glass Curtain Gallery,
1104 S Wabash Ave., first floor 
Admission: Free 
Regin Igloria, a Manila-born multidisciplinary artist and educator based in Chicago, presents "Seven Skins," reflecting on the idea that every seven years, the body undergoes a complete cellular replacement. At forty-nine, the exhibition serves as a mid-life re-evaluation, exploring themes and preoccupations prevalent in Igloria's work while revisiting past interests and identities.

April 12, 10 a.m. 
Earth Day Symposium and Clean-Up 
Columbia College Chicago Conway Center, 1104 S. Wabash, first floor 
Admission: Free with RSVP  
This year Columbia College Chicago’s Earth Day Cleanup will start with a symposium surrounding Environmental Sustainability from 10-11:30 a.m, followed by a campus clean-up.

April 12, 5:30-7 p.m. 
Art | Design Open Studios 
Columbia College Chicago Film Row Cinema, 1104 S Wabash Ave., basement level 
Undergraduate and graduate students in Columbia's Art | Design Department showcase their art and spaces.

April 13, noon-2 p.m. 
Family Day: Paper Quilting Workshop with Jason Wesaw 
Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave. 
Admission: Free with RSVP 
Join the Museum of Contemporary Photography for a family-friendly art workshop creating paper quilts. Inspired by Wendy Red Star’s collages integrating family photos into Apsáalooke star quilt patterns, bring your own family photographs to weave into your artwork. Led by Jason Wesaw, a Potawatomi Nation member known for his diverse art practice, including ceramics, textiles, and works on paper, blur the lines between mediums as we explore creative techniques. Guests are invited to bring their own family photographs, inspired by Wendy Red Star’s collages that weave photographs of her family into Apsáalooke star quilt patterns. 

April 13, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
INK Fest 2024
Columbia College Chicago Student Center, 754 S. Wabash
Admission: Free
Illustration and Krafts (INK) Fest is an annual art festival hosted at Columbia College Chicago by the Illustration Student Group (ISG) to celebrate new illustrators, make connections throughout the Columbia community, and encourage up-and-coming student illustrators to showcase their work. INK Fest Chicago serves as a networking opportunity for Illustration/Visual Arts students at Columbia to get to know their peers at different stages of their careers.

April 15 
Summer at Columbia Registration Deadline 
Columbia College Chicago welcomes young creatives ages 15 to 18 to participate in the Summer at Columbia program. Through this program high school students can take college-level courses from Columbia faculty members that can transfer for real college credits. Students from around the U.S. and the world can take courses in Cinema and Television Production, Game Development, Illustration, and Photography. Space is limited.

On display until April 16. Gallery Hours: Mon.–Fri. 9 a.m.–10 p.m., Sat. 8 a.m.–6 p.m. 
After Everything 
Columbia College Chicago Hokin Gallery, 623 S. Wabash, first floor 
Admission: Free 
What comes after a loss, a systemic failure, a jarring change? Will it all remain, will it all be transformed, or will it be anything at all? “After Everything” features artworks created by current Columbia College Chicago students, who through their work explore the scope of conflict and what will remain true to them, after everything. 

April 17, 6-7:30 p.m. 
Lecture in Photography: Kris Graves 
Columbia College Chicago Ferguson Lecture Hall, 600 S. Michigan Ave., first floor 
Kris Graves, an artist and publisher in New York and California, addresses societal issues through art. Using conceptual and documentary approaches, he captures the nuances of power dynamics and their effects on society's structures. His work delves into the influence of capitalism and power on everyday life, aiming to elevate representation of people of color in fine art and spark discussions on race, representation, and urban living. Through photography, Graves preserves collective memory.

April 17, 6 p.m. 
Art Now! Speaker Series: Laura Perdrizet 
Nomadic Mythologies: Mapping > Translation < Perception 
Columbia College Chicago Film Row Cinema, 1104 S Wabash Ave., eighth floor  
In her talk, Laura Perdrizet explores "Nomadic Mythologies," her latest work, diving into the fusion of mapping, sensory experience, and interdisciplinary aesthetics. Through various media and technologies, she blurs the lines between permanence and transience, redefining maps as portals to understanding our relationship with place and nature. This interactive lecture encourages the audience to join in creating a journey through critical imaginings, prompting reflection on personal perceptions of space and place.



April 19-27 
Chicago Artist Spotlight Festival 
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave. 
Admission: $50 Festival Pass, $30 public single ticket, free to Columbia College Chicago students 
Four award-winning Chicago artists showcase the vibrancy of Chicago’s dance ecosystem over a two-week festival that pushes concert dance in new ways. Dancemaker and poet J’Sun Howard (BFA'19), kinetic philosopher Ayako Kato, pop-fringe creator Erin Kilmurray (BA '08) with Kara Brody, and artist/activist SJ Swilley will engage audiences on a journey throughout Grant Park and the Dance Center.

 

April 25-May 4
Pippin
Columbia College Chicago Courtyard Theatre, 72 E. 11th St.
Admission: $10
This dark musical is the story of the heir to the Frankish throne, the young prince Pippin, who is in search of the secret to true happiness and fulfillment. He seeks it in the glories of the battlefield, the temptations of the flesh and the intrigues of political power (after disposing of his father, King Charlemagne the Great.)

 

April 25, 5-8 p.m.
Opening Reception: GET UP! STAND UP!
Columbia College Chicago Student Center, 754 S. Wabash Ave.
Admission: Free
Presented in collaboration with the Columbia College Chicago Archives and Special Collections and is produced by students in the Gallery Management Practicum course, this exhibit commemorates the 30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's election and celebrates Chicago's role in the anti-apartheid movement. The exhibit features protest posters, historical artifacts, and new video interviews with Chicago activists who fought against apartheid. It serves as a call to action for continued social justice efforts. It will be on display until September 30.

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