Chicagoland Tibetan Community Celebrates Resilience and Success

Exiled Tibetans pray as they mark the birthday of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, in Dharmsala, India, Thursday, April 25, 2019. The Panchen Lama is an important religious leader second only to the Dalai Lama in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy.
Exiled Tibetans pray as they mark the birthday of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, in Dharmsala, India, Thursday, April 25, 2019. The Panchen Lama is an important religious leader second only to the Dalai Lama in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy. Ashwini Bhatia / AP Photo
Exiled Tibetans pray as they mark the birthday of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, in Dharmsala, India, Thursday, April 25, 2019. The Panchen Lama is an important religious leader second only to the Dalai Lama in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy.
Exiled Tibetans pray as they mark the birthday of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gendhun Choekyi Nyima, in Dharmsala, India, Thursday, April 25, 2019. The Panchen Lama is an important religious leader second only to the Dalai Lama in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy. Ashwini Bhatia / AP Photo

Chicagoland Tibetan Community Celebrates Resilience and Success

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Following the passage of the Immigration Act of 1990, the U.S government issued 1,000 visas to Tibetans in exile, allowing them to resettle in cities across the country. Among those Tibetans were 93 refugees living in India and Nepal who in 1992 resettled in Chicago. The Tibetan Resettlement Project-Chicago, since renamed the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago, was established to provide the group with immigration services related to visas, housing, language classes and more. This Friday, the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago will launch its new exhibit “Tibetans in Chicago: A Story of Resilience and Success” in celebration of the local Tibetan community, which now consists of nearly 400 people in the Chicagoland area. Joining the show to tell us more about the community and its upcoming exhibition are Jeff Libman and Tenzin Jamyang. Libman is a musical artist and former executive director of the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago. Jamyang is a member of the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago.

“Tibetans in Chicago: A Story of Resilience and Success” opens Friday, May 17, 2019 at 6:00 p.m. at the Notes Cultural Arts Center in Evanston. The exhibit runs through August 23, 2019.