Chicago Humanities Festival Announces Fall Line-Up

This fall, the Chicago Humanities Festival is bringing some of the biggest names in film, politics, music, literature, and activism to stages across Chicago for entertaining, inspiring, and provocative conversations addressing the theme of "PUBLIC" and how we are all re-imagining our public lives today.

With whistleblower Chelsea Manning and Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova, CHF will ask what right the public has to information. Experts from The Verge will discuss the relationship between the public and Big Tech in a series called "The Social Mind." Marianne Williamson will address the role of public politics after the midterm elections. Reporter April Ryan and political advisor Valerie Jarrett will talk about how Black women can save the public. And poet Elizabeth Alexander, photographer Devin Allen, artist Jefferson Pinder, and scholar Margaret A. Burnham will all explore how racism still divides our American public. These PUBLIC issues-and more-will permeate all the conversations at CHF this fall.

As always at Chicago Humanities Festival, many events feature some of the biggest names in culture including legendary musician Patti Smith; Academy Award winner Jessica Lange; artist, filmmaker, and writer Miranda July; literary giants Jonathan Franzen and George Saunders; filmmakers Jim Jarmusch and Jonathan Ames; country singer Margo Price; and comedians Iliza Shlesinger, Kevin Nealon with Tim Meadows, and Chicago native Jeff Garlin talking with Curb Your Enthusiasm co-star Susie Essman.

"As we return to our first fully in-person Fall Festival since the start of the pandemic, we wanted to explore how each of us is returning to public life, how attitudes towards America's various publics have changed, and how we can use this transition to better engage in the vital public conversations of our time," says CHF's Executive Director Phillip Bahar. "From deep conversations about gun violence, religion and politics, to laugh-out-loud events with comedians and entertainers, we have a broad range of programs to tempt Chicagoans to come out and re-engage with the remarkable public life of our great city."

Most events will take place on various Neighborhood Days-where all of the events are held within walking distance in a specific neighborhood to encourage audiences to spend all day hopping from one event to another. Neighborhood Days include Northwestern on October 22, Hyde Park on October 29, Southport on November 5, and Lincoln Park on November 12.

Fall Festival

October 13 - December 9

For Information and Tickets

Full Fall Festival Schedule

October 13

7pm Award-Winning Comedian Iliza Shlesinger

October 22: Northwestern Day

10am April Ryan & Valerie Jarrett: Black Women Will Save the World

Noon Anand Giridharadas & David Corn: Is the Public Still Persuadable?

Noon Rick Lowe on the Transformative Power of Public Art

1:30 Miranda July on Art in All its Forms

3pm Innocent & Behind Bars with Daniel S. Medwed

3pm Will Bunch on the Higher Education Divide

4:30pm Extremism in America with Michael Fanone & Andy Campbell

5:30pm Somebody Feed Phil Comes to Chicago: Phil Rosenthal & Mindy Segal

8pm Jeff Garlin: Our Man in Chicago (with Susie Essman)

October 23

7pm Country Singer Margo Price

October 29: Hyde Park Day

11am Inside the American Presidency with Pete Souza & David Axelrod

11am Jonathan Franzen on the American Novel

1pm Michael Shermer: Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories

1pm Sudhir Venkatesh on Gun Violence

2:30pm Jefferson Pinder Conversation and Performance

3:30pm Legendary Reporter Seymour Hersh

3:30pm Margaret A. Burnham on the Jim Crow Legal System

5:30pm The Church, State, & the Information Crisis in America

5:30pm The Art of the Short Story with George Saunders & Peter Sagal

7:30pm Kevin Nealon & Tim Meadows: Brushes with Fame

November 5: Southport Day

10:30am Jerry Salz: Art is Life

Noon A Visual Tribute to Black Resistance with Devin Allen

1pm Jim Jarmusch in Conversation with Jonathan Ames

4:30pm Charlie Chaplin's The Kid: A screening with live music by Marc Ribot

7pm Whistleblower: Chelsea Manning with Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova

November 7

6pm Artmaking & Incarceration: Nicole R. Fleetwood with Maria Gaspar

November 12: Lincoln Park

10am Marianne Williamson on Love & Politics

Noon Reza Aslan on an American Martyr in Persia

2:30pm How Social Media Rewired Our Minds with Max Fisher and The Verge

4:30pm The Future of the Feed with The Verge

6:30pm Social Media and Young Mental Health with The Verge

7pm Jessica Lange: Capturing the Unplanned Moment

7:30pm The Verge Afterparty with Bitbash

Later in Fall

Nov 13, 7pm A concert with harpist Mary Lattimore

Nov 15, 6pm Elizabeth Alexander on the Trayvon Generation

Nov 20, 7pm Patti Smith: Songs & Stories

Nov 29, Noon Chicago's Public Spaces with Lee Bey & Blair Kamin

Dec 9, 7:30 Bill Frisell & Petra Haden in Concert

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