public programming, education + enrichment

As a cultural programmer, public humanist, and audience enrichment specialist, I work with Chicago arts + culture institutions and the communities they serve to present meaningful and relevant public programs, facilitate educational and interpretive audience encounters, and connect organizations and communities from across the city’s neighborhoods.

For over a decade, I have partnered with arts and culture organizations to create educational and interpretive programs that facilitate and enrich audience experience and connect with communities. I plan and moderate panels, interviews, and Q&A sessions, conduct public conversations, and deliver interpretive presentations that inform and enhance audience understanding and encounters. This includes eight seasons as a Pre-Amble lecturer at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, among many other public-facing partnerships.

Most recently, I was the Mellon Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies Public Fellow at the Chicago Humanities Festival (CHF), where as Program Manager for Neighborhood Partnerships I lead a new Neighborhood Initiative to create programming in partnership with community-based organizations on the city’s South Side. The Neighborhood Initiative established a coalition of 20+ partner organizations to create public programs reflective of local priorities. As part CHF’s pivot to digital programming during the COVID-19 pandemic, I also curated a series of public online conversations probing critical topics of the moment from a neighborhood perspective.

Previously, I was the programming lead for the Guild Literary Complex, a grassroots arts organization with a commitment to social justice and centering marginalized voices, where I organized readings, panels, performances, exhibits, and literary competitions in partnership with artists and organizations across Chicago. I also developed public humanities programming with the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities at Northwestern University, including an experiential undergraduate spring break program exploring humanities in the city, and a multidisciplinary campus festival reflecting on Shakespeare’s far-reaching legacy.

I am always interested in new partnerships and opportunities to collaborate, consult, moderate, or otherwise utilize my expertise as a scholar, educator, artist, and programmer in service of public-facing institutions and organizations and the communities they reach. Please be in touch with ideas or proposals!