Events
What constitutes a “good” school, and for whom? Who is included in the vision of education as the great equalizer, and who is left out? This winter, Cinema 53 curator Eve L. Ewing explores the central role that race has played in the experience of schooling in America with a series of documentaries and discussions. Tonight, Ewing hosts a screening of American Promise, a rare look into the lives of two middle class Black families as they navigate the ups and downs of educating their sons. From PreK to high school, we see the families struggle with stereotypes and identity, navigate learning differences that later become diagnoses, and ultimately take increasingly divergent paths on their road to graduation. (Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, 2013, 45 min) Followed by conversation with Amanda Lewis, Director of the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, UIC.
What constitutes a “good” school, and for whom? Who is included in the vision of education as the great equalizer, and who is left out? This winter, Cinema 53 curator Eve L. Ewing explores the central role that race has played in the experience of schooling in America with a series of documentaries and discussions. Tonight, Ewing hosts a screening of Precious Knowledge (Ari Luis Palos and Eren Isabel McGinnis, 2012, 75 min), which follows what happened when Arizona lawmakers passed a bill giving unilateral power to the State Superintendent to abolish ethnic studies classes, and teachers and student leaders fought to save the program using texts, Facebook, optimism, and a megaphone. Film followed by conversation with Ray Salazar, Board Certified CPS teacher and award-winning ed writer.
What constitutes a “good” school, and for whom? Who is included in the vision of education as the great equalizer, and who is left out? This winter, Cinema 53 curator Eve L. Ewing explores the central role that race has played in the experience of schooling in America with a series of documentaries and discussions. Tonight, Ewing hosts a screening of Tested (Curtis Chin, 2015, 90 min), featuring education experts Pedro Noguera and Diane Ravitch in an award-winning exploration of access to a high-quality public education, affirmative action, and the model-minority myth. Followed by conversation with Tested director Curtis Chin.
Past events
On the fiftieth anniversary of 1968, Cinema 53 presents revolutionary films and films about revolution, co-curated by artist Cauleen Smith and UChicago film scholar Robert Bird. This evening’s screening features Born in Flames (Lizzie Borden, 1983, 90m), and will be followed by a conversation with Bird, Smith and UChicago film scholar Kara Keeling.
The Gray Center is pleased to announce the launch of Portable Gray, a new journal dedicated to the weirdness found at the heart of the arts and scholarship(s). Free food. Free drinks. Meet contributors. Complimentary copies of the inaugural issue.
This project stages an improvisational collaboration between local electronic musician Brother El from the south side of Chicago with actors and musicians from Ilkhom and Bata theaters of the post-Soviet south, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.