Concerts

Chicago band Anatomy of Habit have been around in various forms since 2008, sporadically releasing music that hammers together metal, industrial, postrock, avant-garde composition, and more. Originally a sort of floating supergroup with no fixed lineup, in the past few years they’ve solidified into a steady quintet around founder and front man Mark Solotroff. The band’s new fourth full-length, Black Openings (due February 24), recorded with Sanford Parker, features the same lineup as its predecessor, 2021’s Even If It Takes a Lifetime: guitarist Alex Latus, drummer Skyler Rowe, percussionist Isidro Reyes, and bassist and lap-steel player Sam Wagster. 

The moody 18-minute title track starts the record with a slinky, rolling pulse. Rowe’s drums and Reyes’s percussion drive a buildup that sets the stage for the first appearance of Solotroff’s vocals. From there, it’s a long, lovely journey that you can settle into, trusting that you’ll be alternately unsettled, soothed, creeped out, pummeled, and exalted, but never bored. In its harrowing climax, Solotroff screams, ”Remaining faceless / Slipping into a persona,” against militant percussion that sounds as if it’s beating his voice into a pulp.

The second and third tracks are both more than nine minutes long, allowing the band space to explore the full potential of each composition. “Formal Consequences” provides a bit of respite with its dreamy, gothic feel and slightly askew atmosphere of ominous melancholy. Sheets of shimmering guitars appear like torrential rains, giving way to a quiet interlude and a sinister sense of ritual catharsis. The bitter, biting “Breathing Through Bones,” the first song released from the album, evokes the loss and grief of a doomed romance, ending with a heavy slam of sound that’s drawn out to a clanging quiet. This show is a release party for Black Openings, and it features opening sets from dreamy local darkwave outfit Kill Scenes and Indiana goth project Twice Dark.

Anatomy of Habit Kill Scenes and Twice Dark open. Sat 2/11, 7 PM, Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland, $14.84, 17+

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The Racial Justice Writers’ Room is part of RICJ’s Racial Justice Reporting Hub and Writers’ Room is funded by the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation. DePaul University’s Center for Communication Engagement is donating resources for the group’s in-person meetings.

The project was launched under former Chicago Reader co-publisher Karen Hawkins, who will be among eight mentors to support the first cohort. Reader editor in chief Enrique Limón will also serve as a mentor. Each applicant proposed a story for a project of their choice, and they will receive guidance and mentorship from other journalists throughout the reporting process. They will keep the rights to their work, and will be able to pitch their stories to any media outlet upon completion.

She is the Senior Professional in Residence in DePaul University’s journalism program, teaching documentary production, social justice reporting, media ethics, and broadcast writing.

Meet the  eight participants in the first Racial Justice Writers’ Room cohort, which starts Feb. 13.

For more information on RICJ and the Chicago Reader, visit our about page.

Join the team! For current career openings visit our careers page.

Read More

Chris Inumerable of Classick Studios and Michael Kolar of Soundscape Studios Credit: Courtesy of Chris Inumerable

Last week, Classick Studios founder Chris Inumerable signed paperwork to buy the East Humboldt Park building occupied by the recently shuttered Soundscape Studios. Soundscape founder Michael Kolar had announced in late December that he was closing his studio after a 26-year run that’d made it a hub for the local hip-hop scene. Since late summer, he and Inumerable had been discussing the future of the Soundscape space. 

Their talks began in August, when the Classick Studios Instagram posted a photo celebrating its tenth anniversary at its current headquarters (2950 W. Chicago), which is around half a mile west of Soundscape (2510 W. Chicago). “I love fucking with people, so I texted Chris, ‘Congrats on ten years,’” Kolar says. “He hit back and said, ‘Thanks, neighbor.’ I was like, ‘How would you like to not be my neighbor anymore?’” 

“When this happened, I was flabbergasted, to say the least,” Inumerable says. For about five years, he’d been looking to expand Classick by adding a second location. In 2020, he made an offer for a building at Grand and Western, but someone else bought the place first. He kept looking, but he knew that even if he found a place he could afford, he’d still have to spend time and money building out a studio. Kolar didn’t just have a stand-alone building but also a fully operational top-line studio. “Building a studio of the caliber where Soundscape is right now, it takes time,” Inumerable says. 

Soundscape’s building also comes with history and prestige that can’t be bought. “I started my studio in the corner of my parents’ garage, with foam fingers glued up to the wall, cutting records on cassette tape,” Kolar says. “We’re fucking bootstraps DIY motherfuckers here.” After those humble beginnings in 1997, he moved Soundscape to two other locations—first to a factory on Fulton Street, then to a spot on South Wabash—before settling at the Humboldt Park spot. 

In the late 2000s, Soundscape became a hub for MCs throughout Chicago and beyond, in part due to a partnership Kolar developed with Chicago hip-hop blog Ruby Hornet. In 2009, that partnership birthed a more-or-less monthly series of recordings called Closed Sessions, which in turn evolved into one of the best indie labels in the city. And Soundscape’s Rolodex includes lots of locals who’ve shaped Chicago hip-hop, including King Louie, Kidz in the Hall, Crucial Conflict, Chance the Rapper, and Vic Mensa. Several of those artists have also worked with Classick Studios.

Inumerable first crossed paths with Kolar at a late-2000s GLC listening party at Chicago Recording Company, where Inumerable was then interning. “I heard a lot about Mike,” Inumerable says. “[He] kind of paved the way for a lot of people in my generation who really wanted to get into the music game.” 

Like Kolar, Inumerable founded his recording empire on his own. He started Classick in 2005, building out a studio in his childhood bedroom. Two years later, he moved the studio into the basement of that home. In 2010, he installed Classick’s headquarters in a different house, this time taking over the whole thing; the basement became the studio, and the living quarters housed collaborators. By the time Classick put down roots on Chicago Avenue in 2012, Innumerable and his studio were integral parts of the local hip-hop scene. He also developed a tight bond with a talented rapper-singer from Saint Louis named Smino, who recruited Inumerable to be his manager. Inumerable also began managing a frequent Smino collaborator, arty producer Monte Booker.

“Working with [Smino and Monte] for the last nine years, I’ve learned the ins and outs of the music business,” Inumerable says. “I feel like I want to give my own take and own perspective on how I can guide the next generation.” And Inumerable is doing that work. He’s president of Managers’ Special, a nonprofit collective aimed at helping Chicagoans who manage artists get a better foothold in the industry. A couple years ago, he began inviting local acts to perform on the rooftop of Classick’s Humboldt loft space for a YouTube series called 1Takes. And he hopes that expanding into Soundscape’s space will help him do more to build a supportive infrastructure for Chicago artists. 

“I want to be a little more intentional—a little more forward—about what I’m trying to accomplish here in Chicago, which is really build that guidance,” Inumerable says. “I want Classick Studios to basically be the studio-slash-management-slash-label in the city that people can really rely on.”

What Inumerable is doing is just the sort of thing Kolar had hoped would happen to his old studio space. “I wanted to make sure it stayed open,” he says. “The most important thing to me is elevating the music community.” Kolar’s former engineers will continue working under Inumerable, who aims to start sessions in the Soundscape space within a week or two. It’ll be the next step toward a grander goal that Inumerable has been pursuing for his entire time in the industry: to develop a local infrastructure and support network for musicians that rivals the biggest music cities in the country. 

“Everything that I do, I’m working with people in the city,” Inumerable says. “I’m not just doing it as Classick Studios. I’m trying to show people we can work together.”

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Chris Inumerable of Classick Studios and Michael Kolar of Soundscape Studios Credit: Courtesy of Chris Inumerable

Last week, Classick Studios founder Chris Inumerable signed paperwork to buy the East Humboldt Park building occupied by the recently shuttered Soundscape Studios. Soundscape founder Michael Kolar had announced in late December that he was closing his studio after a 26-year run that’d made it a hub for the local hip-hop scene. Since late summer, he and Inumerable had been discussing the future of the Soundscape space. 

Their talks began in August, when the Classick Studios Instagram posted a photo celebrating its tenth anniversary at its current headquarters (2950 W. Chicago), which is around half a mile west of Soundscape (2510 W. Chicago). “I love fucking with people, so I texted Chris, ‘Congrats on ten years,’” Kolar says. “He hit back and said, ‘Thanks, neighbor.’ I was like, ‘How would you like to not be my neighbor anymore?’” 

“When this happened, I was flabbergasted, to say the least,” Inumerable says. For about five years, he’d been looking to expand Classick by adding a second location. In 2020, he made an offer for a building at Grand and Western, but someone else bought the place first. He kept looking, but he knew that even if he found a place he could afford, he’d still have to spend time and money building out a studio. Kolar didn’t just have a stand-alone building but also a fully operational top-line studio. “Building a studio of the caliber where Soundscape is right now, it takes time,” Inumerable says. 

Soundscape’s building also comes with history and prestige that can’t be bought. “I started my studio in the corner of my parents’ garage, with foam fingers glued up to the wall, cutting records on cassette tape,” Kolar says. “We’re fucking bootstraps DIY motherfuckers here.” After those humble beginnings in 1997, he moved Soundscape to two other locations—first to a factory on Fulton Street, then to a spot on South Wabash—before settling at the Humboldt Park spot. 

In the late 2000s, Soundscape became a hub for MCs throughout Chicago and beyond, in part due to a partnership Kolar developed with Chicago hip-hop blog Ruby Hornet. In 2009, that partnership birthed a more-or-less monthly series of recordings called Closed Sessions, which in turn evolved into one of the best indie labels in the city. And Soundscape’s Rolodex includes lots of locals who’ve shaped Chicago hip-hop, including King Louie, Kidz in the Hall, Crucial Conflict, Chance the Rapper, and Vic Mensa. Several of those artists have also worked with Classick Studios.

Inumerable first crossed paths with Kolar at a late-2000s GLC listening party at Chicago Recording Company, where Inumerable was then interning. “I heard a lot about Mike,” Inumerable says. “[He] kind of paved the way for a lot of people in my generation who really wanted to get into the music game.” 

Like Kolar, Inumerable founded his recording empire on his own. He started Classick in 2005, building out a studio in his childhood bedroom. Two years later, he moved the studio into the basement of that home. In 2010, he installed Classick’s headquarters in a different house, this time taking over the whole thing; the basement became the studio, and the living quarters housed collaborators. By the time Classick put down roots on Chicago Avenue in 2012, Innumerable and his studio were integral parts of the local hip-hop scene. He also developed a tight bond with a talented rapper-singer from Saint Louis named Smino, who recruited Inumerable to be his manager. Inumerable also began managing a frequent Smino collaborator, arty producer Monte Booker.

“Working with [Smino and Monte] for the last nine years, I’ve learned the ins and outs of the music business,” Inumerable says. “I feel like I want to give my own take and own perspective on how I can guide the next generation.” And Inumerable is doing that work. He’s president of Managers’ Special, a nonprofit collective aimed at helping Chicagoans who manage artists get a better foothold in the industry. A couple years ago, he began inviting local acts to perform on the rooftop of Classick’s Humboldt loft space for a YouTube series called 1Takes. And he hopes that expanding into Soundscape’s space will help him do more to build a supportive infrastructure for Chicago artists. 

“I want to be a little more intentional—a little more forward—about what I’m trying to accomplish here in Chicago, which is really build that guidance,” Inumerable says. “I want Classick Studios to basically be the studio-slash-management-slash-label in the city that people can really rely on.”

What Inumerable is doing is just the sort of thing Kolar had hoped would happen to his old studio space. “I wanted to make sure it stayed open,” he says. “The most important thing to me is elevating the music community.” Kolar’s former engineers will continue working under Inumerable, who aims to start sessions in the Soundscape space within a week or two. It’ll be the next step toward a grander goal that Inumerable has been pursuing for his entire time in the industry: to develop a local infrastructure and support network for musicians that rivals the biggest music cities in the country. 

“Everything that I do, I’m working with people in the city,” Inumerable says. “I’m not just doing it as Classick Studios. I’m trying to show people we can work together.”

Read More

One of the more revealing scenes in City So Real—Steve James’s insightful documentary about Chicago politics, takes place in a Gold Coast penthouse.

It’s 2019. And James, chronicling the last mayoral election, is filming a dinner party hosted by Christie Hefner.

They’re talking politics and one of the guests—Norman Bobins, a retired banker—opines that no matter who wins the upcoming election, he hopes we don’t return to the days of Mayor Harold Washington.

Too much chaos, he explains.

To her credit, Hefner pushes back, pointing out that “the chaos” of Council Wars was instigated by a pack of white aldermen who tried to sabotage Washington’s administration at every turn.

I suppose I should appreciate that in his bluntness, Bobins revealed what you could call the corporate attitude toward democracy, which goes a little like this . . . 

It’s okay in principle, but let’s not let it get in the way of grownup stuff, like electing all-powerful mayors and rubber-stamp aldermen who know how to get things done. Even though the things they get done have at best only a trickle-down benefit for most of the people who live here.

It’s good to reflect on that salon scene as we head into the final month of what will most likely be the first round of the mayoral election. As no candidate will likely capture more than 50 percent of the vote.

At the moment, we seem to be heading in the opposite direction of corporatocracy.

That is, we seem to be at least experimenting with the concept of democracy and the diminishment of the mayor’s authority. In February, for instance, we will hold the first-ever elections of police district councils that will have a say in policing decisions.

This is partly a result of the cold-blooded execution of Laquan McDonald by a police officer in 2014. And the subsequent coverup by Mayor Rahm, who sat on the incriminating evidence for 13 months until a Cook County judge ordered him to release the videotape of McDonald’s murder.

We’re also only a few years away from electing a school board, which is the by-product of years of grassroots activism that mayors (and their corporate friends) generally abhor.

So many times over the last ten or so years, school activists thought they had the statehouse votes to pass an elected school board bill. Only to see the sure thing evaporate in the final moments of the legislative session—killed at the behest of the mayor by Illinois senate president John Cullerton or former Illinois house speaker Michael Madigan, who purportedly supported the bill.

Ah, the games that Madigan played.

There’s also a movement toward democracy in, of all places, the City Council, where alderpersons Sophia King and Matt Martin have led mini rebellions against the mayor’s control of council chairs.

Few things expose Chicago’s indifference toward democracy as the city custom of allowing the mayor to determine who gets to chair a committee.

The council, remember, is supposed to be a legislative check on the mayor’s power. But since Mayor Daley was elected in 1989, it’s been a mayoral rubber stamp in part because the mayor controls the flow of legislation by controlling council chairs. The mayor chooses council chairs as a reward for their past subservience and a promise that they’ll use the power of the chair to kill legislation the mayor opposes.

This tradition continues, as we saw last November when Mayor Lightfoot stifled the attempt of leftist alders to approve, or even hold a meeting to consider approving, the Bring Chicago Home ordinance. That ordinance would pay for the construction of low-income housing by slapping a tax on the sale of high-priced real estate.

The traditional argument for all-powerful mayors is that they know how to get things done. But in the case of the Bring Home Chicago ordinance, it’s more like they know how to keep things from being done—even if that means more homeless people living in tents under viaducts.

As to Alderperson Martin . . .

He was the vice chair of the council’s ethics committee, when its chair, 43rd ward Alderperson Michele Smith, suddenly resigned last summer with about nine months left in her term. By retiring, Smith enabled Mayor Lightfoot to name a successor—Timmy Knudsen—who now has the advantage of “incumbency” in the February election.

Not sure what’s ethical about any of this.

Martin proposed that he be named council chair, as he was the vice chair. Mayor Lightfoot resisted on the unstated grounds that Martin’s never been a rubber stamp, so why should he get any privileges? 

On January 23, Martin convened an ethics committee meeting anyway, as though he actually were the chair. Mayor Lightfoot sort of looked the other way—apparently too busy with her re-election campaign to try to block Martin. 

By chance, I recently moderated a forum in the 30th ward, where four candidates are running to replace Alderman Ariel Reboyras, who by virtue of his loyalty to the last two mayors, got to be a committee chair. I asked the candidates what I called “the Matt Martin question.” 

That is—did they believe aldermen or the mayor should select council chairs?

All of the candidates said they sided with Martin.

I was impressed by their dedication to democracy until skepticism set in. My guess is that council democracy is like TIF reform—a concept candidates know enough to endorse when they’re running for office. Once in office—well, that’s another thing.

So, I can’t predict where these currents of democracy will eventually lead us. I can easily see Chicago going back to the old ways, with future mayors—cheered on by future Norman Bobins—acting as though democracy was just too chaotic to abide by.

Instead, they’ll say we need a powerful mayor and a rubber-stamp council, like in the good old days. Even though those days really weren’t so good for ordinary Chicagoans.

The Latest from the Ben Joravsky Show

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Maybe the Chicago mayoral campaign is getting to me, but I’m tired of candidates who think any of the city’s problems can be solved by one person. (It’s even worse when that person wants to increase the police budget again.) On Leaving (Fire Talk), the new second album from Chicago indie-rock outfit Fran, front woman Maria Jacobson confronts some of the world’s potentially terminal problems—but she’s acutely aware of the limitations of the individual. On Leaving single “Palm Trees,” for instance, she evokes the harms of climate change—in one stanza, plants are threatened by a cold front, and in the next they catch fire. She delivers these words at a brisk pace but with a relaxed delivery, her downy voice providing a soft landing for her blunt descriptions. What can anyone do? It’s as though she’s gently asking that question, and gently answering: You may feel powerless to effect change alone, but we can find faith in one another and in our shared moment. All of Leaving seems to draw its strength from that hope, rooted in the collective will. On the album Jacobson worked with an ensemble of gifted locals—including members of Bret Koontz & Truancy Club, with whom she’s recorded as a flutist and vocalist—and the detailed delicacy of the subtly folky music will nudge you to savor every bit of its ephemeral beauty.

Fran The Hecks open. Fri 2/10, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N Western Ave, $15, 21+

Read More

One of the more revealing scenes in City So Real—Steve James’s insightful documentary about Chicago politics, takes place in a Gold Coast penthouse.

It’s 2019. And James, chronicling the last mayoral election, is filming a dinner party hosted by Christie Hefner.

They’re talking politics and one of the guests—Norman Bobins, a retired banker—opines that no matter who wins the upcoming election, he hopes we don’t return to the days of Mayor Harold Washington.

Too much chaos, he explains.

To her credit, Hefner pushes back, pointing out that “the chaos” of Council Wars was instigated by a pack of white aldermen who tried to sabotage Washington’s administration at every turn.

I suppose I should appreciate that in his bluntness, Bobins revealed what you could call the corporate attitude toward democracy, which goes a little like this . . . 

It’s okay in principle, but let’s not let it get in the way of grownup stuff, like electing all-powerful mayors and rubber-stamp aldermen who know how to get things done. Even though the things they get done have at best only a trickle-down benefit for most of the people who live here.

It’s good to reflect on that salon scene as we head into the final month of what will most likely be the first round of the mayoral election. As no candidate will likely capture more than 50 percent of the vote.

At the moment, we seem to be heading in the opposite direction of corporatocracy.

That is, we seem to be at least experimenting with the concept of democracy and the diminishment of the mayor’s authority. In February, for instance, we will hold the first-ever elections of police district councils that will have a say in policing decisions.

This is partly a result of the cold-blooded execution of Laquan McDonald by a police officer in 2014. And the subsequent coverup by Mayor Rahm, who sat on the incriminating evidence for 13 months until a Cook County judge ordered him to release the videotape of McDonald’s murder.

We’re also only a few years away from electing a school board, which is the by-product of years of grassroots activism that mayors (and their corporate friends) generally abhor.

So many times over the last ten or so years, school activists thought they had the statehouse votes to pass an elected school board bill. Only to see the sure thing evaporate in the final moments of the legislative session—killed at the behest of the mayor by Illinois senate president John Cullerton or former Illinois house speaker Michael Madigan, who purportedly supported the bill.

Ah, the games that Madigan played.

There’s also a movement toward democracy in, of all places, the City Council, where alderpersons Sophia King and Matt Martin have led mini rebellions against the mayor’s control of council chairs.

Few things expose Chicago’s indifference toward democracy as the city custom of allowing the mayor to determine who gets to chair a committee.

The council, remember, is supposed to be a legislative check on the mayor’s power. But since Mayor Daley was elected in 1989, it’s been a mayoral rubber stamp in part because the mayor controls the flow of legislation by controlling council chairs. The mayor chooses council chairs as a reward for their past subservience and a promise that they’ll use the power of the chair to kill legislation the mayor opposes.

This tradition continues, as we saw last November when Mayor Lightfoot stifled the attempt of leftist alders to approve, or even hold a meeting to consider approving, the Bring Chicago Home ordinance. That ordinance would pay for the construction of low-income housing by slapping a tax on the sale of high-priced real estate.

The traditional argument for all-powerful mayors is that they know how to get things done. But in the case of the Bring Home Chicago ordinance, it’s more like they know how to keep things from being done—even if that means more homeless people living in tents under viaducts.

As to Alderperson Martin . . .

He was the vice chair of the council’s ethics committee, when its chair, 43rd ward Alderperson Michele Smith, suddenly resigned last summer with about nine months left in her term. By retiring, Smith enabled Mayor Lightfoot to name a successor—Timmy Knudsen—who now has the advantage of “incumbency” in the February election.

Not sure what’s ethical about any of this.

Martin proposed that he be named council chair, as he was the vice chair. Mayor Lightfoot resisted on the unstated grounds that Martin’s never been a rubber stamp, so why should he get any privileges? 

On January 23, Martin convened an ethics committee meeting anyway, as though he actually were the chair. Mayor Lightfoot sort of looked the other way—apparently too busy with her re-election campaign to try to block Martin. 

By chance, I recently moderated a forum in the 30th ward, where four candidates are running to replace Alderman Ariel Reboyras, who by virtue of his loyalty to the last two mayors, got to be a committee chair. I asked the candidates what I called “the Matt Martin question.” 

That is—did they believe aldermen or the mayor should select council chairs?

All of the candidates said they sided with Martin.

I was impressed by their dedication to democracy until skepticism set in. My guess is that council democracy is like TIF reform—a concept candidates know enough to endorse when they’re running for office. Once in office—well, that’s another thing.

So, I can’t predict where these currents of democracy will eventually lead us. I can easily see Chicago going back to the old ways, with future mayors—cheered on by future Norman Bobins—acting as though democracy was just too chaotic to abide by.

Instead, they’ll say we need a powerful mayor and a rubber-stamp council, like in the good old days. Even though those days really weren’t so good for ordinary Chicagoans.

The Latest from the Ben Joravsky Show

Read More

Maybe the Chicago mayoral campaign is getting to me, but I’m tired of candidates who think any of the city’s problems can be solved by one person. (It’s even worse when that person wants to increase the police budget again.) On Leaving (Fire Talk), the new second album from Chicago indie-rock outfit Fran, front woman Maria Jacobson confronts some of the world’s potentially terminal problems—but she’s acutely aware of the limitations of the individual. On Leaving single “Palm Trees,” for instance, she evokes the harms of climate change—in one stanza, plants are threatened by a cold front, and in the next they catch fire. She delivers these words at a brisk pace but with a relaxed delivery, her downy voice providing a soft landing for her blunt descriptions. What can anyone do? It’s as though she’s gently asking that question, and gently answering: You may feel powerless to effect change alone, but we can find faith in one another and in our shared moment. All of Leaving seems to draw its strength from that hope, rooted in the collective will. On the album Jacobson worked with an ensemble of gifted locals—including members of Bret Koontz & Truancy Club, with whom she’s recorded as a flutist and vocalist—and the detailed delicacy of the subtly folky music will nudge you to savor every bit of its ephemeral beauty.

Fran The Hecks open. Fri 2/10, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N Western Ave, $15, 21+

Read More

The Racial Justice Writers’ Room is part of RICJ’s Racial Justice Reporting Hub and Writers’ Room is funded by the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation. DePaul University’s Center for Communication Engagement is donating resources for the group’s in-person meetings.

The project was launched under former Chicago Reader co-publisher Karen Hawkins, who will be among eight mentors to support the first cohort. Reader editor in chief Enrique Limón will also serve as a mentor. Each applicant proposed a story for a project of their choice, and they will receive guidance and mentorship from other journalists throughout the reporting process. They will keep the rights to their work, and will be able to pitch their stories to any media outlet upon completion.

She is the Senior Professional in Residence in DePaul University’s journalism program, teaching documentary production, social justice reporting, media ethics, and broadcast writing.

Meet the  eight participants in the first Racial Justice Writers’ Room cohort, which starts Feb. 13.

For more information on RICJ and the Chicago Reader, visit our about page.

Join the team! For current career openings visit our careers page.

Read More

The Racial Justice Writers’ Room is part of RICJ’s Racial Justice Reporting Hub and Writers’ Room is funded by the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation. DePaul University’s Center for Communication Engagement is donating resources for the group’s in-person meetings.

The project was launched under former Chicago Reader co-publisher Karen Hawkins, who will be among eight mentors to support the first cohort. Reader editor in chief Enrique Limón will also serve as a mentor. Each applicant proposed a story for a project of their choice, and they will receive guidance and mentorship from other journalists throughout the reporting process. They will keep the rights to their work, and will be able to pitch their stories to any media outlet upon completion.

She is the Senior Professional in Residence in DePaul University’s journalism program, teaching documentary production, social justice reporting, media ethics, and broadcast writing.

Meet the  eight participants in the first Racial Justice Writers’ Room cohort, which starts Feb. 13.

For more information on RICJ and the Chicago Reader, visit our about page.

Join the team! For current career openings visit our careers page.

Read More