Six elements, three parks
The structure repeats at every site. The film stays the same; the voices around it change, re-curated with artists from each community.
Documentary Premiere & Screening
An outdoor screening at dusk of the original film on 63rd Street Beach — its design history, its pavilion, and the families and drummers who made it theirs — followed by a moderated conversation with the filmmaker and people who appear in the film.
Visual Arts Showcase
Local artists present original renditions and interpretations of the shoreline in painting, photography, textile and mixed media, displayed as an open-air gallery walk under canopies. Artists are on site to talk about the work.
Spoken Word & Oratory
Poets deliver pieces written for the site — its memory, its water, its surroundings, whatever it is in the park that catches them. Each roster includes poets recruited through the park’s anchor partner.
The Living Heartbeat
Freelance drum sessions run on and off throughout the day, anchored by lead facilitators and open to anyone who brings a drum — loaner drums available. It honors the rhythm that has sustained the pavilion and the shore for decades.
Original Musical Performances
Musicians perform compositions written about the park, its people and its legacy. Ground-level performance area, no riser over 24 inches, levels held inside standard park limits.
Community Open Mic & Voices
A dedicated stage where neighborhood residents, elders and beachgoers say what the park has meant to them, and still means. Every attendee who wants a slot gets one. Recordings become part of a public archive that outlives the event.
Why this belongs in the parks
- It is about a park. Not a concert placed in a park — a program whose subject is the park itself, its design history and the people who have used it. It leaves behind a documentary and an audio archive.
- It is participatory. The drum circle and the open mic are not performances to watch. Roughly half the programmed hours at each site are open to any attendee who walks up.
- It plays in threes. One site in each park district region — South, North, Central — which the program names as a funding priority.
- It pays artists. Every artist on the series is paid at rates reflecting current standards, from emerging poets to seasoned musicians.
- It is family-first and all ages. Daytime programming is built for children and families; the evening screening is all-ages. No alcohol, no ticket, nothing to buy.
- It is culturally specific and open. Rooted in Caribbean and African Diaspora practice, programmed to meet each park where it is — including Spanish-language programming and materials at Humboldt Park.
On the film
The documentary is in production with a rough cut complete. A password-protected screener accompanies the application. A companion submission to Chicago Onscreen, the Park District’s local film showcase, is planned as a separate channel for the finished film.