Chicago is a city where artists work and are of the working class. The tradition, across genre, has produced a broad and proud history of realist portraiture documenting, reflecting, refracting and re-imaging the Chicago(s) around us.

Join WBEZ and Young Chicago Authors for a rich discussion, where those gathered will be reading and sharing and working towards the building of a Chicago “cannon” to debate the Chicago aesthetic.

Each discussion – May 16th at the WBEZ West Side Bureau, May 23rd at the WBEZ South Side Bureau, and May 30th at the WBEZ North Side Bureau – will aim to explore how educators can create new narratives in hip-hop poetic/prose workshops, as well as find new ways to bring this work into the classroom and community centers of our city.

This event is a co-production of Chicago Public Media (WBEZ-Chicago) and Young Chicago Authors, which encourages self-expression and literacy among Chicago’s youth through creative writing performance and publication. With a process that emphasizes artistic development and mentorship, YCA aims to create safe spaces where a young person’s life matters. The organization and its leadership believes that through their words, young people can promote tolerance and remove barriers, transforming their lives and society.

Support for Chicago Public Media’s South Side Community Bureau is provided in part by Polk Bros. Foundation, Dr. Scholl Foundation, Met Life Foundation, and Crown Family Philanthropies.