Digital Celebration

During this extraordinary historic moment, the Chicago Humanities Festival is proud to be part of Chicago’s most vital conversations, building pathways to empathy and understanding, and creating opportunities that encourage us to envision the world anew. 

Please join us for our annual benefit celebrating the profound role the arts and humanities play in expressing, exploring, and understanding the pressing civic and social issues of our time, and help support the Festival’s vital programming and community efforts.

This year’s benefit evening will honor Elizabeth Glassman, President Emerita of the Terra Foundation for American Art. Under her leadership, Terra funded and presented Art Design Chicago, a citywide celebration and exploration of Chicago’s rich history of art and design, for which the Festival presented a five-hour interview marathon with Chicago artists and creatives; this vital civic initiative was a resounding success and will be repeated in 2024, yet another example of her clear impact on our entire city. 

The evening will also feature an intimate conversation with Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates and the Festival’s Marilynn Thoma Artistic Director, Alison Cuddy. Other highlights include a musical performance by vocalist Natalie Douglas and a literary moment with poet Natasha Trethewey.

We are pleased to have Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, Theaster Gates, and Carl and Marilynn Thoma as our honorary co-chairs.