On March 21st, Crossroads Fund was honored to host two Reading Change events with Red Missed Aches author Jennifer Tamayo. Reading Change is a reading an events series organized in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Crossroads Fund. Over the last 30 years, Crossroads Fund has supported a broad range of grassroots movements for racial, social and economic justice in Chicago, from workers rights to women’s rights, to disability movements, to immigration and more. For our anniversary year, we wanted to take some time reading about and reflecting on some of the movements we’ve supported, how they intersect with each other, and how they are at play in our city today.Red Missed Aches was the third book in the Reading Change series. It’s a moving collection of poetry addressing issues of gender, immigration, language, culture and sexuality. We knew from the beginning that we didn’t want to only select non-fiction, history and essays for this reading series. Art and literature have played a key role in many of the movements we have supported over the years, so we were excited to find such a thought provoking book of poetry that touched on so many important issues.We organized two events around Red Missed Aches on March 21st. The first was a breakfast discussion at the Donors Forum about art, activism and non-profits co-hosted by Chicago Women in Philanthropy. A wonderful crowd came out early to hear Jennifer read her poetry, and discuss her artistic process. She talked about her family’s journey to this country from Colombia and her identity as a Latina woman, the vulnerability of exposing her life through poetry, and how there are “no mistakes in art.”The day’s events continued at Dance Films Kino for an evening of poetry and performance in an intimate salon setting. Dance Films Kino is a month-long performance series at the Hyde Park Art Center curated by artist and Crossroads Fund friend Sarah Best.Crossroads Fund Program Associate Tim Jones-Yelvington was the MC for the evening. In addition to working at Crossroads Fund, Tim is also a writer and performer, and he spoke about how much it means to him that Crossroads Fund recognizes the role that art places in movements for racial, social and economic justice.The first performers were youth from FYSH, the Korean American Resource and Cultural Center’s youth group. They explained the significance of traditional poongmul drumming in social movements, both in Korea and in their activism in Chicago, before giving a rousing drumming performance.Next up was Jessie Flores, who performed two moving poetry pieces inspired by her work with Cafe Teatro Batey Urbano.Finally Jennifer Tamayo took the stage to perform poetry from Reading Change selection Red Missed Aches.She was aided by her bedazzled megaphone.Thanks to everyone who came out and made these two events so successful! Especially Jennifer Tamayo, Dance Films Kino, Chicago Women in Philanthropy, Public Square, and the Donors Forum! For more info on Reading Change, and upcoming events see www.crossroadsfund.org/readingchange.
