A solo performance by Meida Teresa McNeal
co-presented by Honey Pot Performance & First Church of the Brethren
Fifth City Revisited tells the story of a radical Black-centered community movement from the 1960s-1990s on the Westside of Chicago. Part memoir, part history lesson, and part urban planning critique, Fifth City Revisited explores how we create healthy communities while also considering the scale at which we must do this work in order to grow and sustain it.
Using dance, story, and media Fifth City Revisited considers the power of this community’s story against the backdrop of city planning systems that have all but erased its work. What lessons does the Fifth City movement have to teach us in our current exciting and (cautiously) hopeful era of grassroots change where a renewed commitment to neighborhood investment is bubbling up across Chicago’s West and South sides?
A filmed version & online exhibition of
Fifth City Revisited will premiere October 12, 2024
With collaborators Keli Stewart (Asst Director), David Weathersby (Filmmaker), Justin Botz (Projection & Sound), Margaret Nelson (Lighting), and Adia Sykes and Victoria Sockwell (Online exhibition curation).
The weekend features the performance film, a complementary digital exhibit, and several conversations highlighting Westside community histories, creativity, and visions for what community investment and wealth can look like now and in the future.
This project is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency in addition to funding from Foundation of Contemporary Arts, Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events Year of Chicago Theater microgrant, 3AP project donations, and a Columbia College Faculty Development Grant.