Chicago Humanities Festival

The Chicago Humanities Festival is a foundation which organizes an annual series of lectures, concerts, and films in Chicago. The main festival takes place in the first and second weeks of November. The festival was started in 1990 by the Illinois Humanities Council and became an independent foundation in 1997. The annual Festival is generally built around a theme.^[1] In 2010, the theme was the Human Body. The Foundation also presents other shows and lectures during the remainder of the year.

Mission

The Chicago Humanities Festival is designed to create opportunities for people to explore the humanities. In addition to its annual Festival of the Humanities, it presents programs throughout the year on the study and enjoyment of the humanities.^[2]

History

Under the aegis of the Illinois Humanities Council and its then-chairman Richard J. Franke, the notion of a "humanities day" was proposed, and then expanded into a "festival." Eileen Mackevich created the first Chicago Humanities Festival, a one-day affair, held on November 11, 1990 at the Art Institute of Chicago and Orchestra Hall, before an audience of 3,500 people. Eight programs addressed the theme Expressions of Freedom, including a keynote address by playwright Arthur Miller. Founding co-sponsor institutions included the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the University of Chicago.

In 1997, the Festival formally separated from the Illinois Humanities Council and established itself as an independent, nonprofit organization. Under Eileen Mackevich's leadership, by 2006, the independent Festival had expanded to nearly 150 programs over 16 days, in more than 30 venues, involving nearly 40 partner institutions and several hundred site volunteers, and attracting a combined audience of nearly 50,000.

A Children's Humanities Festival was introduced in 2000. In addition, a year-round slate of education programs is devoted to supporting classroom teachers and students. The Festival also expanded its presence year-round, offering public lectures, readings, concerts, and special events that anticipate and build interest in the November Festival.

In 2006 Lawrence Weschler was appointed as the first artistic director of CHF, and in 2007 Stuart Flack joined as Executive Director. Festival-sponsored exhibits and commissioned artworks are displayed.

Stages, Sights & Sounds (Spring 2009)

In 2009 the Children's Humanities Festival was renamed to Stages, Sights & Sounds to better reflect the full breadth of the spring festival. The spring festival’s emphasis on performance provides contrast to the fall festival’s adult-centered programming, which includes more lectures and discussions in exploration of a central theme that changes each year.

Past Festivals

CHF I: Expressions of Freedom (1990)
Notable Presenters: Arthur Miller, Ed Paschke, Philip Gossett

CHF II: Culture Contact (1991)
Notable Presenters: Toni Morrison, John Edgar Wideman, Michael Ondaatje, Sandra Cisneros

CHF III: From Freedom to Equality (1992)
Notable Presenters: John Updike, Czesław Miłosz

CHF IV: From Communication to Understanding (1993)
Notable Presenters: William Safire, David McCullough, Marlo Thomas

CHF V: Crime and Punishment (1994)
Notable Presenters: Tom Wolfe, Scott Turow, Sherman Alexie

CHF VI: Love and Marriage (1995)
Notable Presenters: Stephen Sondheim, Stevie Wonder, Diane Ackerman, Betty Friedan

CHF VII: Birth and Death (1996)
Notable Presenters: Edward Albee, Jane Urquhart, Stephen Ambrose

CHF VIII: Work & Play (1997)
Notable Presenters: Peter O’Toole, Amartya Sen, Michael Moore

CHF IX: He/She (1998)
Notable Presenters: Wendy Wasserstein, Edward Hirsch, Galway Kinnell

CHF X: New & Old (1999)
Notable Presenters: Yusef Komunyakaa, Mordecai Richler

CHF XI: NOW! (2000)
Notable Presenters: Alan Lightman, Harold Ramis, Alison Lurie

CHF XII: Words & Pictures (2001)
Notable Presenters: Leonard Nimoy, Jonathan Franzen, Witold Rybczynski, Junot Diaz, Art Spiegelman

CHF XIII: Brains & Beauty (2002)
Notable Presenters: Francis Fukuyama, Joyce Carol Oates, Jeffrey Eugenides, Francine Prose, Mira Nair

CHF XIV: Saving + Spending (2003)
Notable Presenters: Roberto Benigni, Oscar Hijuelos, Tom Wolfe

CHF XV: Time (2004)
Notable Presenters: August Wilson, Maxine Hong Kingston, Clive Barker

CHF XVI: Home and Away (2005)
Notable Presenters: Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Annie Proulx, Susan Orlean

CHF XVII: Peace and War (2006)
Notable Presenters: Paul Krugman, Azar Nafisi, Joel Meyerowitz, Frank McCourt, Joan Baez, Errol Morris, Wesley Clark, Garry Trudeau

CHF XVIII: The Climate of Concern (2007)
Notable presenters: Wangari Maathai, E.L. Doctorow, Philip Pullman, Majora Carter, Peter Singer, Roger Payne, Terry Tempest Williams, W.S. Merwin, Edward Burtynsky, Maya Lin, Dave Eggers, Colin Quinn, Cat Chow, Greil Marcus, Amartya Sen, and the head writers of The Onion

CHF XIX: Thinking Big! (2008)
Notable presenters: David McCullough, Jeffrey Sachs, Robert Darnton, Wendy Kopp, Erika Doss, Robert Irwin, Naomi Klein, Lawrence Lessig, Amitav Ghosh, Colonel Eileen Collins, Jonathan Alter, Ronald Mallett, and Laurence Tribe

CHF XX: Laughter (2009)
Notable presenters: Matt Groening, John Hodgman, Sarah Jones, Bob Sabiston, Lynda Barry, Jules Feiffer, Robert Mankoff, Barbara Ehrenreich, Paul Farmer, Claire McCaskill, Robert Reich, Billy Collins, Ronald K.L. Collins, Kay Ryan, Tim Reid, Tom Dreesen, Ian Frazier, John Adams (composer)

External links

• CHF Website

References

1. ^ http://www.nbcchicago.com/around-town/archive/Explore_Chicago_Humanities_Festival__.html
2. ^ http://www.chicagohumanities.org/About/Mission-And-History.aspx

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