Columbia Spotlight: Upcoming Events

Judy with Lawnmower, 2018. From Paul D'Amato's "Midway" exhibition, on display at the Chicago Cultural Center through January 4.

A range of performances and experiences showcasing student and faculty artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines.

Learn more about our performance spaces at www.colum.edu/spotlight

Ongoing Events

Dawit L. Petros: Prospetto a Mare
On display until December 20
Museum of Contemporary Photography (MoCP), 600 S. Michigan Ave.
Admission: Free
The Balbo Monument, a gift from Benito Mussolini to commemorate Italo Balbo’s 1933 flight, stands between Soldier Field and Lake Michigan. “Prospetto a Mare” by Eritrea-born artist Dawit L. Petros investigates Italian colonialism’s influence on visual culture and memory, focusing on Chicago’s hidden colonial ties and the propaganda used in Italy’s colonial projects. Curated by Karen Irvine, this exhibition is part of Art Design Chicago, funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Andy Warhol Foundation. Petros, an associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has exhibited internationally, including at Tate Modern and the Studio Museum in Harlem.

Paul D'Amato's Midway
On display until January 4
Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago Rooms, 78 E. Washington St., 2nd Floor North
Admission: Free
Photographer and School of Visual Arts faculty member Paul D’Amato captures life in the neighborhoods surrounding Chicago's Midway Airport—communities marked by strip malls, motels, and constant airplane noise. For over a decade, D’Amato has documented these often-overlooked places, portraying lives caught between city and suburb, survival and success. A professor at Columbia College Chicago, his work is featured in major collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA.

Columbia College Chicago x Patagonia Worn Wear Showcase
On display until January 6
Columbia College Chicago, 618 S. Michigan Ave. And Patagonia x Worn Wear, 1115 W. Fulton Market
Admission: Free
Experience the future of fashion at Columbia’s School of Fashion student showcase in partnership with Patagonia. For the Worn Wear Competition, Columbia fashion students will create new products from Patagonia Worn Wear merchandise and showcase their designs in the 618 S. Michigan windows on November 1. The public is invited to view these innovative designs and vote for their favorite on social media. Then the winning designs will be on display at Patagonia x Worn Wear through January 6.

Cecilia Beaven: Flickering Cocoon
On display through June 1
Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Avenue
Admission: Free
In “Flickering Cocoon,” artist and Columbia faculty member Cecilia Beaven creates a vibrant sanctuary where spirituality and physicality intertwine. Influenced by her Mexican heritage, her work explores life, death, and transformation with neon-hued imagery of animals, plants, and female forms, playfully embracing the cycle of life. Blending traditional illustration with modern murals, textiles, and sculpture, Beaven brings Mesoamerican myths to life and reinterprets Cipactli, a mythical crocodile, as a powerful symbol of creation.

November 2024

HAIR
November 7-8, 7:30 p.m.; November 9, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; November 13, 7:30 p.m., November 15, 7:30 p.m. (ASL-interpreted performance) November 16, 7:30 p.m.; November 17, 2 p.m.
Getz Theatre Center, Courtyard Theatre, 72 E. 11th St.
Admission: $25
This musical, first performed in 1967, tells the story of “the tribe," a group of politically active, long-haired hippies of the Age of Aquarius living a bohemian life in New York City and fighting against conscription into the Vietnam War. Claude and his friends struggle to balance their young lives, loves, and the sexual revolution, with their rebellion against the war, their conservative parents, and society. Ultimately, Claude must decide whether to resist the draft like his friends, or to serve in Vietnam, compromising his pacifist principles and risking his life.

Textile Dances Workshop by Rachel Damon
November 8, 10:30 a.m.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.
Admission: $15, free to Columbia College Chicago students
Part of the Dance Center’s Friday Class Series, this workshop, inspired by Rachel Damon's Textile Dances, integrates modern dance, martial arts, and needlecraft choreographies using weighted textiles made through arm knitting. Participants are encouraged to expand their movement potential by lifting and manipulating textiles. All experienceslevels are welcome.

The Efroymson Creative Writing Reading Series: Cynthia Manick and CM Burroughs
November 14, 3:30 p.m. and online
Admission: Free
Columbia College Chicago Conaway Center, 1104 S. Wabash, first floor
The Efroymson Creative Writing Reading Series is a dynamic, aesthetically diverse event that draws prestigious, award-winning fiction writers, poets, and nonfiction writers. Cynthia Manick is a poet, editor, and curator, known for her collections “No Sweet Without Brine” and “Blue Hallelujahs.” She founded the Soul Sister Revue and has received fellowships from Cave Canem and Hedgebrook. Her work explores identity and culture, appearing in publications like the Academy of American Poets. CM Burroughs is a poet and associate professor at Columbia. She authored “The Vital System” and “Master Suffering,” the latter longlisted for the National Book Award. Her work often explores identity and the body, and she has received fellowships from Yaddo and MacDowell.

Kendrick Scott Residency Concerts
November 14-16, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. November 17, 4 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Jazz Showcase, 806 S. Plymouth Court
Admission: From $20
Kendrick Scott, a Houston native, began drumming at age 8 and studied at HSPVA before attending Berklee. He's toured with prominent jazz musicians and released several albums on Blue Note, including “Corridors” with Walter Smith III and Reuben Rogers.

FREE FALL: Student Performance Night
November 14-15, 7:30 p.m.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.
Admission: Free
The Dance Center presents a sampler evening of original, brand-new, short works by student choreographers. Lit by Theatre’s rising lighting designers, these eagerly anticipated concerts feature audiences as electric as the performers.

Poetry Workshop with Ladan Osman
November 18, 5-6:30 p.m.
Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave
Admission: Free with RSVP
In this writing workshop led by Somali-American author Ladan Osman, guests will have the opportunity to explore themes of migration, diasporic place-making, and the resonances of colonial built environments. This workshop offers guests a space to step into their poetic practice as a means of deeply engaging with the exhibition Prospetto a Mare.

Choreographic Projects
November 21-December 6, 7:30 p.m.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.
Admission: Free
Engage with dance that resists compartmentalization and showcases what promising choreographers are inspired to create. Each weekend’s program is distinct. Featuring work by Violet Czerwinski, Kaya Gross, Kayla Hansen, Konnie Kakridas, Shannon Lane, Adrean Maxwell, Vi McMahon, Aly Owens, Lauren Payne, Sophia Peck, Devon Saxman, and Rhianna Young.

Fabulation or the Re-education of Undine
November 20-22, 7: 30 p.m.; November 23 2 p.m. and 7: 30 p.m.; December 4, 7:30 p.m.; December 5, 7:30 p.m. (ASL-interpreted performance) December 6, 7: 30 p.m.; December 7, 2 p.m.
Getz Theatre Center, Patinkin Theatre, 72 E. 11th St.
A successful African American business owner has everything going for her: great career, handsome husband, and success by any measure of the word. Only, she has given up her past to get there. Then one day she loses it all, to find that what she has given up is just what she needs to be able to renew her life. Recent Jeff Award-winning director Aaron Reese-Boseman will direct this hilarious social satire.

Afro Contemporary Dance Workshop by Nautica Turner-Briscoe
November 22, 10:30 a.m.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.
Admission: $15, free to Columbia College Chicago students
This workshop, open to movers of all levels, explores African and contemporary movement styles in conjunction through movement exploration and choreography. Nautica Turner is a Chicago native and Columbia Dance alum. Her dance training stretches across various styles but is grounded in Afro Centric movement and Modern influences.

December 2024

ShopColumbia’s 16th Annual Holiday Market
December 2–20, 2024 | Monday–Thursday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
ShopColumbia, 619 S. Wabash Ave.
Discover unique, handcrafted gifts at ShopColumbia’s Annual Holiday Market, featuring original works by Columbia College Chicago artists. Find affordable items priced between $10 and $40, perfect for spreading joy and supporting local artists this season.

PAMOJA: Repertory Performance Works
December 12-13, 7:30 p.m.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.
Admission: $15 public, free for Columbia students
PAMOJA - Swahili for “together” - features works set on the kinesthetically fluid students of the Dance Center by alumni, faculty, and visiting artists. Featuring work by Bevara Anderson, Rachel Damon, Allen Desterhaft & Kelsa “K-Soul” Rieger-Haywood, Darrell Jones, Camila Rivero Pooley, Kia Smith, and a special performance by Central West Regional Senior Center during Friday’s matinee.

24-Hour Play Festival
December 13, 8 p.m.
Columbia College Chicago Getz Theatre Center, Courtyard Theatre, 72 E. 11th St.
Admission: Free
Columbia College Chicago presents the 24-Hour Play Festival, a unique theatrical event where students write, rehearse, and stage original short plays within a single day. The festival highlights the collaborative efforts of emerging playwrights, directors, and actors, showcasing their creativity and adaptability on stage.

January 2025

MARAÑA’S Organismo
January 23-25, 7:30 p.m.; January 25, 4p.m.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.
Purchase tickets through the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival box office
An immersion into an organism created from wool, sounds, colors, and textures combined with circus acrobatics, dance, rhythms, and music. Presented in partnership with the Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.

February 2025

Jonathan McReynolds Residency Concert
February 28, 7 p.m.
Columbia College Chicago Music Center Concert Hall, 1014 S. Michigan Ave.
Admission: $20 public; $5 Columbia College Chicago students
Chicago-born Christian music artist McReynolds is known for his soulful voice and inspirational lyrics. He's collaborated with artists like Stevie Wonder and Justin Bieber and is a faculty member at Columbia College Chicago.

Musical Theatre Dance Cabaret
February 20-21, 7:30 p.m.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, 1306 S. Michigan Ave.
Admission:
Dive into the newly created School of Theatre and Dance with student choreographers and performers from both Theatre and Dance bringing their original interpretations of classic musical theatre dance numbers.

March 2025

You on the Moors Now
March 5-7, 7:30 p.m.; March 8, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; March 12, 7:30 p.m., March 13, 7:30 p.m. (ASL-interpreted performance) March 14, 7:30 p.m.; March 15, 2 p.m.
Columbia College Chicago Getz Theatre Center, Sheldon Patinkin Theatre, 72 E. 11th St.
Admission:
Four literary heroines of the nineteenth century set conventionalism ablaze when they turn down marriage proposals from their equally famous gentlemen callers. What results is a confluence of love, anger, grief, and bloodshed, as the ensemble struggles to reconcile romantic ideologies of the past with their modern ideas of courtship. Everything you’ve learned about love from the pages of Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, and Little Women is turned upside down in this grand theatrical battle royale.

Efroymson Creative Writing Reading Series: Alumni Reading featuring Lor Clincy and Jeff Hoffmann
March 12, 5:30-7 p.m. and online
Admission: Free
Columbia College Chicago Conaway Center, 1104 S. Wabash, first floor
Lor Clincy is a Chicago-based poet and Columbia College Chicago MFA candidate who explores deep,personal experiences in her work, often addressing grief, loss, and the complexities of identity as a Black woman. Her poetry reflects on her upbringing and African American experiences, requiring readers to engage with perspectives outside the norm. Jeff Hoffmann’s debut novel “Other People’s Children” was published by Simon & Schuster in 2021. His second novel, “Like It Never Happened,” is set to be released in March 2024. He has received the Madison Review’s Chris O’Malley Prize in Fiction and was a finalist for the Missouri Review’s Jeffrey E. Smith Editor’s Prize.

April 2025

Body/Matter
April 5, 6-8 p.m. | On display until May 5
International Museum of Surgical Science, 1524 N. Lake Shore Drive
Admission: Free
This exhibition includes twelve wearable artworks by Columbia students that consider the body as an object and subject of medical inquiry. Drawing upon research conducted in the archives of the International Museum of Surgical Science, the designers explore concepts of bodily normalcy, fashion as prosthetic, and surgical voyeurism, among others. While cloth is the ‘matter’ of fashion design, flesh is the ‘matter’ of surgical science. Together, cloth and flesh function as the fragile barrier between the self and society; and these works ask us to contemplate where one ends and the other begins. Curated by Lauren Downing Peters.

Alium Release Party
April 17, 3:30 p.m.
Admission: Free
Columbia College Chicago Conaway Center, 1104 S. Wabash, first floor
“Allium, A Journal of Poetry & Prose” is a multi-genre print and online journal published by Columbia College Chicago’s School of Communication and Culture. Three issues are published yearly: two digital issues in the Fall and Summer and one print issue in the Spring. This event will feature Columbia faculty member, writer, and poet Lisa Fishman, plus contributors from the Spring 2025 issue.

May 2025

RENT
May 1, 7:30 p.m.; May 2, 7:30 p.m.; May 3, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; May 7, 7:30 p.m.; May 8, 7:30 p.m. (ASL-interpreted performance) March 9, 7:30 p.m.; March 10, 2 p.m.
Columbia College Chicago Getz Theatre Center, Courtyard Theatre, 72 E. 11th St.
Admission:
“RENT” follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS.

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