Find your next stop.

Arabic 8-class Course for Beginners

By Beit Nabala

Online, Nabala Cafe · Uptown · Sep 20 – Nov 8

This beginner Arabic course introduces students to the fundamentals of Arabic reading, writing, and pronunciation of a Palestinian dialect. Students will learn the Arabic alphabet, letter forms, vowels and diacritical marks, and practice reading and writing. Participants will be provided with the content as well as worksheets to ensure regular, structured practice. The course comes as a bundle of 8 classes (6 online lessons every Sunday, 2 in-person lessons at Nabala). The instructor is Yasmin Amin, an educator born and raised in Palestine. She began teaching cultural and language-based programs as a means of re-empowering individuals who have lost connection to their Arab heritage while living in the diaspora.

Oracle of Evergreen: Black Plant-It Exhibit

By Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance

Garfield Park Conservatory · Garfield Park · Sep 24 – Nov 15

The Oracle of Evergreen positions nature not merely as landscape, but as wisdom keeper. This year’s Black Plant It exhibition invites artists to explore the regenerative intelligence embedded in land, ritual, and Black cultural memory. Through plant dyes, botanical materials, earth pigments, textile manipulation, and weather-resistant sculpture, participating artists interpret nature as both archive and prophecy — a living system that carries ancestral knowledge forward. The exhibition, curated by Art West Chicago, foregrounds nature-centered practices in contemporary art, including works infused with indigo, turmeric, chlorophyll, rust, clay, and organic fibers. Sculptural submissions are encouraged to engage with durability and environmental responsiveness, acknowledging the conservatory setting as both site and collaborator. Installations may evoke gardens, altars, seed banks, ceremonial objects, or speculative ecological futures.

Vampire Playlist

By Concrete Content

El Schomburg · Humboldt Park · Oct 2 – Oct 31

No, f'real: Why are vampires always European and listening to bad techno in movies? Vampire Playlist counters cliché and asks what if undead bloodsuckers were Latino? What songs would they listen to? Those queries are answered in Concrete Content's latest production, Vampire Playlist, a 75-minute piece immersive theatrical experience that mixes cultural memory, movement, and music in a site-specific play in El Shomburg. Lose yourself in this dark, brown, bloody, and biting theatrical experience. Showings on Fridays and Saturdays in October.

Where Memory Lives: 40 Years of Día de Muertos

National Museum of Mexican Art · Pilsen · Sep 25 – Nov 29

Rooted in ancient Mesoamerican beliefs and Catholicism, Day of the Dead has transformed over centuries, with each region of Mexico incorporating its own customs and beliefs into memorial celebrations. Mexican families on both sides of the border and worldwide gather each November 1 and 2 to welcome back the souls—and the memories—of their loved ones. This year's exhibition is in honor of Dr. Gilberto Cárdenas (1947-2026), a dedicated scholar, pioneer of Chicano Studies, and a dear friend of the Museum. Gilberto believed in the power of art to honor the histories and voices of Mexican, Chicana/o, and Latinx communities in the US. His vision contributed to our Permanent Collection, and his legacy lives on through the art and memories the community preserves together.

Street Signs

By Chicago Film Archives

Epiphany Center for the Arts · Near West Side

Presented by journalist Alexandra Salomon and followed by a post-screening conversation with director Susan Dobinsky, artist Sandra Antongiorgi, and photographer Ivan Justiniano. In the late 1980s, filmmakers Susan Dobinsky and Julia Kurtz were at work on Street Signs, a film about murals and muralists in Chicago. They filmed street scenes punctuated by images of the powerful and colorful murals in the city’s Pilsen, Little Village, West Town, and Humboldt Park neighborhoods, along with interviews with artists, educators, students, and activists who lived on these communities. Though their film was never completed, CFA is presenting a work-in-process edit completed in 1990, featuring the voices and works of artist Sandra Antongiorgi, muralist Jose Guerrero, and photographer Ivan Justiniano, among others.

Afghanistan 25 Years Later: Teach-In & Discussion

By Kalaam Project and CODEPINK Chicago

Pilsen Community Books · Pilsen

Join CODEPINK Chicago and Kalaam Project in Chicago on Thursday, October 8th at 6pm for "Afghanistan 25 Years Later" a teach-in and discussion with the directors of CODEPINK and Kalaam Project to mark the 25th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and occupation of Afghanistan. The discussion that follows will focus on the impact of the U.S. war and occupation, the lead up to the invasion, the legacy a 20 year occupation leaves behind, and what could lie ahead.

Bridges Built Studios Grand Opening

By Mercedes Zapata

3138 W Cermak Rd, Chicago IL 60623 · Little Village

Bridges Built Studios is having a Grand Opening for its holiday season location! Expect a Dia De Los Muertos portrait set (more info soon), artwork for sale, stationary and goods. This studio is photographer and artist Mercedes Zapata's first storefront. It’s also the home of her studio where you’ll catch her painting, sewing, and of course photographing.

Citizenship for All: Storytelling Through Nonggi Making

HANA Center · Albany Park · Oct 10 – Oct 17

Artist Aram Han Sifuentes will facilitate an ongoing NongGi (Korean folk banners) making workshops for multi-generational, multi-ethnic immigrant communities in Chicago through storytelling and hands-on creation to achieve immigrant and racial justice. Learn about the history of NongGis and how to make them using sewing, quilting, painting, and other creative techniques. No prior skill required and family, children friendly!

Double Book Launch: Aya Khalil and Razan Abdin

Women & Children First · Andersonville

Join authors Aya Khalil and Razan Abdin at Women & Children First to celebrate their new children's books, A Party of Colors and Splendidly Sawsan.

Echoes of the Past & Future Promises: An Evening of Cambodian Arts and Culture

By National Cambodian Heritage Museum & Killing Fields Memorial

Northeastern Illinois University, Recital Hall · North Park

Experience melodies that echo from ancient temples, royal palaces, and the Cambodian countryside. Music is living history. Dance is an inherited language. Stories preserve memory, and art brings our heritage to life. Together, they reflect the rich diversity and enduring unity of the Cambodian community. On this special evening, the National Cambodian Heritage Museums & Killing Fields Memorial becomes a living museum as artists, musicians, dancers, and storytellers transform our archives into living experiences. Different generations come together—each contributing their own voice while honoring those who came before. Their work reminds us that preserving culture is not only the mission of museums, but a shared responsibility. Your attendance and generosity help preserve these living traditions, care for our collections, expand educational programs, and inspire future generations to value and carry forward their cultural heritage.

Healing Arts Chicago 2026 Summit

By Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events

Malcolm X College · Near West Side

Healing Arts Chicago returns for the third annual Arts x Health x Wellness Summit, bringing together artists, community health workers, public health professionals, researchers, policymakers, community organizations, and Chicagoans for a day of making, connecting, and supporting Chicago’s overarching commitment to art and health. The event is presented by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), in partnership with Malcolm X College.

LEZIZAM Chicago: A Gathering for Queer Iranians

By BIYA BIYA Productions

Eli Tea Bar · Andersonville

Join BIYA BIYA for an in-person event for Iranian queers in Chicago! The event will create collages and zines that make space for cultural reflection and preservation. As we meet and mix, we will share creative space to make materials documenting our existence. Participants can contribute to a collection that will be donated to the Lesbian Herstory Archives, home to the world‘s largest collection of materials by and about lesbians and their communities since 1974. This space welcomes Iranians across the queer spectrum including and alike khānvāde (family) to find each other and build community. This event is exclusively for people of Iranian heritage. Considering the limitations on these types of spaces, attendees agree to center queerness, foster inclusivity, and be safe community members. Please make sure this is you before signing up to participate in this event.

Bollywood Garba Fusion

By Dance to Donate

The Menomonee Club · Near North Side

Mark your calendars because another Dance to Donate workshop is coming! This time, we’re celebrating garba season with a fusion workshop to Farooq Got Audio’s remix of Dola Re Dola. 100% of ALL ticket sales + donations will be going to Educate Girls, Ipas who is distributing dignity kits to Nepali women, and our awesome studio sponsor Syed Pillar Foundation!

Burnt Oranges

By Chicago Film Archives

Epiphany Center for the Arts · Near West Side

Presented by Nissa Rhee, journalist and cofounder of Borderless Magazine, and followed by a post-screening conversation with director Silvia Malagrino. Born in Buenos Aires, Silvia Malagrino left Argentina in 1978 when her life as a young university student became dangerously entangled with politics surrounding the “Dirty War” and the resistance movement which materialized under one of Argentina’s most brutal military dictatorships. In the midst of the disappearance of so many young protestors and their friends, Malagrino left her country of birth and settled in Chicago. While earning her Ph.D. at the University of Illinois-Chicago, she built a career as an educator, multimedia artist, photographer, and filmmaker. In the mid-1990s she returned to Argentina to film and record the voices of mothers and grandmothers whose children had been “disappeared” in the resistance. Burnt Oranges is a very personal and poetic memoir of this war and its continuing aftermath.

Pocho Poems Spanglish Slam & Multilingual Open Mic

By Slam Diaspora x Guild Literary Complex

Taqueria El Mezquite · Pilsen

The first and only Spanish language slam in Chicago returns in-person! All participants have a chance to compete at the international level at the final slam hosted by a Latinx country (TBD). Hosted and curated by Crystal Vance Guerra and Luis Tubens “Logan Lu.” Open to poets of all styles and ages! From anyone who is just starting, to anyone who has been writing for decades, are all welcome to participate. Requirements: Slam– 2 poems in Spanish/Spanglish Open Mic– Any genre of performance art in any language! We believe that poetry pertains to everyone, and that all of us carry it within us. This slam is to experiment, play, and to let the words flow.

Immigrant Owned: Solo Exhibition by Jonathan Michael Castillo

By OH Art Foundation

OH ART Center · Bridgeport · Oct 16 – Nov 13

Immigrant Owned presents recent photographic work by Jonathan Michael Castillo as one of two featured solo exhibitions in the 3rd Annual Latinx Festival of the Arts. The exhibition is installed in a storefront on South Morgan Street, a working commercial room on a block shaped by successive generations of arrival. Site and subject converge: photographs of immigrant-owned businesses are shown within one. Opening reception will be held on October 16 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the storefront gallery.

Poets for Chicago: A Night of Arts & Community Benefitting the ICIRR

By Chicago Poetry Center, Haymarket Books

Haymarket House · Buena Park

A night of arts and community featuring readings by Taylor Byas, Faisal Mohyuddin, Diego Báez, Snežana Žabić, and Lina María Ferreira Cabeza-Vanegas, with 100% of proceeds benefiting the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights.

Body, Border, & Collective Care Panel

Hyde Park Art Center · Hyde Park

Join artists and cultural workers Jasmin Cardenas, Érika Ordosgoitti, and Nazafarin Lotfi for a conversation moderated by Susan Gzesh as they explore the intersection of community arts, sanctuary, and civic action.

BMRC 2026 Virtual Annual Meeting

By Black Metropolis Research Consortium

Virtual · Virtual

Join the Black Metropolis Research Consortium for its 2026 Annual Meeting virtually, celebrating the work carried out during its 20th anniversary year. Special guests and BMRC research fellows will discuss their forthcoming book, Return to the Black Metropolis: New Histories of Black Chicago.

Lecture and Book Signing with Leigh Raiford

By Museum of Contemporary Photography, Columbia College Chicago, School of Visual Arts

600 S Michigan Ave · South Loop

MoCP and the School of Visual Arts at Columbia College Chicago welcome Leigh Raiford for a lecture and book signing as a partnership program between Lectures in Photography and the Art Now! Lecture Series. Leigh Raiford is Professor of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she teaches, researches, curates, and writes about Black visuality and world-making. Building on the practices of Black American artists and activists, her recent book, When Home is a Photograph (Duke University Press, 2026), asks how Black people use images to make home in the world. Books will be available for purchase on-site.