Our annual Black History Concert Series honors and celebrates Africana music and its indelible impact on Chicago and the world. The performance takes place at the Auditorium Theatre, where hundreds of our School Program singers from around Chicago will come together to celebrate and sing in this culmination of their Black History 360 curriculum. This year's theme is Voices of Àṣẹ: Afrofuturism II!
Àṣẹ - The power to make things happen as you say. (West African Yorùbá philosophy)
No place on earth puts on a music festival like Chicago, and no better example exists than the Bluestown neighborhood’s annual concert, ChiFest, which celebrates the Black musical legacy and excellence of Chicago! Kendrick Wise (the young protagonist from Uniting Voices Chicago’s Afrofuturism: The Freedom Metropolis, 2025) returns for another magical journey, educating youth about blues, jazz, gospel, and house music. However, not everyone shares Kendrick’s enthusiasm. Kendrick and Bluestown will have to contend with supernatural forces attempting to permanently erase the rich musical memories that make Bluestown so special. How will Kendrick activate his Afrofuturistic senses to prevent this from happening? Uniting Voices Chicago joins Kendrick and ChiFest in a race to remember, literally.
Tickets
Tickets are free with reservation. Ticketing information will be available soon. For larger parties and accessibility needs, please reach out to info@unitingvoiceschicago.org!
Getting There
The Auditorium is located at 50 E. Ida B. Wells D. and is situated between Wabash and Michigan Ave. in Chicago's loop. Learn more via the Auditorium website.
Loop Auto Parks @ 524 S. Wabash Ave. is the preferred and recommended parking garage for patrons and patrons that need accessible parking.
Chicago State University Community Jazz Band was started in 1992 by Professor Roxanne Stevenson as an answer to the need for music reading sessions for local musicians. The Community Concert and Jazz Bands began with five musicians playing their major instruments for one ensemble and their secondary instruments for the other. The two ensembles have had over 400 members of all ages and have performed hundreds of selections from standard and contemporary repertoire. The Jazz band performed at the historic Milt Trenier’s nightclub, CSU Jazz Night Café, Jazz in the Grass, Jazz on the Hill, Orchestra Hall, graduations, galas and basketball games. The band has presented clinics and performances at the Illinois Music Education Association All-State Conference, Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic, Jazz Education Network Conference, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, Hyde Park Courtyard Festival, Woodson Library Reopening, Macy’s Black History Month Celebration, NAMN Centennial Conference and many band festivals. The ensemble celebrates 33 years of service to the 158-year-old CSU community.
The Black History Concert Series will provide an immersive experience for our School Program singers, as they come together to perform songs they've learned through their curriculum and learning packets provided to them.
Our singers will explore past, present, and future through Afrofuturism—the convergence of art, science, technology, and accurate histories of Africana civilizations in pursuit of infinite liberation and possibility. We honored not just the contributions and achievements of people of African descent throughout history but also today’s visionaries, inspiring a new generation of free thinkers, leaders, innovators and advocates.
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