Image: One of the first days of programming in Little Village, at La Villita Park. In the foreground, Simone Reynolds facilitates an activity reflecting on community and the senses. In the background, a multi-generational group improvisationally paints play objects with Andrés Lemus-Spont, Ebere Agwuncha, Nina Lemmenes, and Alex O’Neill. Photo by Marya Spont-Lemus.
Image: Gardeners and their families at LVEJO’s Semillas de Justicia Garden in Little Village discuss alternative ways to address problems happening in the neighborhood without involving the police. Photo by Andrés Lemus-Spont.
Image: Jasmin Cardenas and Teatro for Change members performing an original play on workers’ rights in La Villita Park. Photo by Andrés Lemus-Spont.
Week of August 8th, 2021
"Mobilize! Creative Blocks, Collective Dreams" is in Little Village
This summer, the Mobilize Creative Collaborative presents “Mobilize! Creative Blocks, Collective Dreams”: a series of weeklong community gatherings, happening outdoors in five neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and Southwest Sides, co-designed with a team of partner artists and partner organizers who are also rooted in these places. The Little Village gathering is offered in partnership with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and with additional support from Chicago Park District..
Neighbors of ALL AGES are invited to FREE creative workshops, critical conversations, and playful explorations focused around justice and your dreams for your communities. With participatory music, art, and theater activities, live performances, skill-sharing, and more, we hope to amplify and connect existing local efforts, as well as to cultivate spaces that center imagination, joy, and people-led solutions.
Location
La Villita Park (park address is 2800 S. Sacramento)
Litttle Village Schedule
Events are drop-in (participants are welcomed to come and go throughout), unless noted otherwise (for starred* events, please try to be there for the beginning). All workshop materials are provided.
This schedule may continue to be updated throughout the week.
Sunday, July 25th, from 2-6pm
2-6pm – Community resource fair (multiple organizations)
2-6pm – Various drop-in creative workshops/experiences
2-4pm* – Talking circle
Tuesday, July 27th, from 1-6pm
1-6pm – Various drop-in creative workshops/experiences
Thursday, July 29th, from 1-6pm
1-6pm – Various drop-in creative workshops/experiences
1-3pm* – Park clean-up with LVEJO
3-5pm* – Circle keeping session
4-6pm* – Defund CPD training
Friday, July 30th, from 1-8pm
1-7pm – Various drop-in creative workshops/experiences
7-8pm* – Teatro for Change performance
Saturday, July 31st, from 2-6pm
2-6pm – Healing event
2-6pm – Various drop-in creative workshops/experiences
Accessibility
Most events will be in English and Spanish (bilingual or interpreted). Most events will happen near the park's 28th/Troy entrance (near the yellow canopy). The park has paved paths and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. Events will take place on flat grass surfaces and/or concrete.
Meet the Little Village Team
Image Credit : @petetsai
William Estrada | Multidisciplinary Artist + Educator
William Estrada is an arts educator and multidisciplinary artist. His art and teaching are a collaborative discourse that critically re-examines public and private spaces with people to engage in radical imagination. He has presented in various panels regarding community programming, arts integration, and social justice curricula. He is currently a Teaching Artist at Telpochcalli Elementary and faculty at the School of Art and Art History at UIC. William is engaging in collaborative work with the Mobilize Creative Collaborative, Chicago ACT Collective, and Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative. His current research is focused on developing community based and culturally relevant projects that center power structures of race, economy, and cultural access in contested spaces that provide a space to collectively imagine just futures.
IG | @werdmvmnt FB | facebook.com/werdmvmnt Website | https://werdmvmntstudios.com
Image caption: Jasmin Cardenas
Image credit: Joel Maisonet
Image description/alt-text: This photo shows Jasmin Cardenas, a brown Latina, facing camera with her hair down, wavy curls swept back away from her face. Her right arm is up on the back of the wooden chair, her head leans into her hand. She wears a dark blue Jean blazer, hoop earrings and a prominent round white & blue ring.
Jasmin Cardenas | Arts Activist, Theater Deviser, Storyteller, Facilitator.
Jasmin Cardenas is a Chicago Theater Director/Deviser, published Storyteller, Educator, Facilitator and daughter of Colombian immigrants. Jasmin uses teatro & play in joyful resistance to the status quo reimagining whats possible and crafting a more JUST reality. Recognized for her arts & civic engagement work she was awarded a 2020-2022 LAB Fellowship by the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University. Working with low-wage temp workers she Founded TEATRO For Change and Co-Founded Workers Resistance Theater, fighting for workers rights using Theater of the Oppressed, a powerful tool for collective action, critical thinking, solution finding and healing. Lead Artist of Lookingglass Theater Company’s Civic Practice Lab she has also worked with Chicago Childrens Theater Company, Goodman Theater, Steppenwolf, Lifeline, Lookingglass, UrbanTheater and Collaboraction. Currently commissioned to write a solo play by 1st Stage Theater in Virginia, Jasmin is using teatro and story to view labor thru a more humane lens in her newest play, DISPOSABLE.
IG | @1JasminCardenas Professional FB Page | Facebook.com/JasminCardenasCreates
Website | https://www.jasmincardenas.com
Image caption: Selfie of Edith Tovar, Just Transition Community Organizer with the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) and lifelong resident of the Little Village community.
Image credit: Edith Tovar
Image description/alt-text: The photo shows Edith Tovar, a brown person, from the chest up and smiling slightly. Wearing white framed glasses, a black shirt of Berta Caceres and a striped black and gray sweater.
Edith Tovar | Organization of Little Village Environmental Justice Organization / Community organizer, creative, environmental justice urban planner, and a proud life-long resident of La Villita community
Edith Tovar (she/they) is a proud brown Mexican femme from Zhigaagoong / Chicago who grew up in the Little Village / South Lawndale community. Edith is a community organizer, creative, and environmental justice urban planner who loves to nerd out on everything monarch butterflies and astrology (Big 3: Scorpio Sun, Taurus Moon, and Sagittarius Rising). Edith has been part of various community movements / campaigns such as No Riot Fest in Douglass Park and was part of the founding members of Neighbors for Environmental Justice (N4EJ), addressing environmental racism in McKinley Park. In the summer of 2019, Edith joined the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization’s (LVEJO) Just Transition team. Edith focuses on the "Hell No Hilco" campaign, informing residents about the new Target warehouse facility at the former Crawford Coal Plant -- Exchange 55 -- and connecting ongoing EJ efforts across the community and city. #FueraHilco #HellNoHilco #DontTargetUs #Exchange55 #LaVillitaRespira
IG | @LVEJO20 or @yayedith Website | http://www.lvejo.org
