Join us for the Opening Celebration of the fourth annual Chicago Sukkah Design Festival! Visitors will experience the five unique sukkahs for the first time and learn more about the Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot. Over the course of the afternoon, attendees will enjoy food, art-making activities, participatory workshops, communal dance, and live music performances. Family friendly!
1:00–3:00 pm: Art-making Workshop – Co-Creating Sanctuary and Hospitality: Rooted in the spirit and teachings of Sukkot, join us for an afternoon of collaborative art making. We'll provide supplies—markers, watercolors, paper, scissors & glue, collage materials, linocut relief print materials—and prompts to inspire our creative process. This activity is designed for people of all ages and faiths. Organized by Jewish Museum of Chicago.
2:00–3:00 pm: Afrofuturist dance workshop, a participatory, communal experience led by Ytasha Womack, a critically acclaimed author, filmmaker, dancer, and champion of the imagination. Beats and grooves by DJ Shannon Harris.
3:00–5:00 pm: Make-your-own lulav workshop: Join artists Sivan Spector and Dani Kosover for an interactive, sensory lulav building experience where we will use local plants provided by Patchwork Farm to create an (un)traditional lulav. Decorate the lulav, and your sukkah, with stamps made from local produce. Participants will be invited to experience the beauty, aromas, symbolism, and movement of shaking the lulav in any or all of the sukkahs on the festival grounds.
3:00–4:00 pm: Capoeira workshop featuring Lotta Yanong of Rise Training Academy. This workshop will introduce participants to Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art which has played a central role in resistance to oppression.
4:00–5:00 pm: Chicago Klezmer Ensemble performance and communal dancing, featuring famed clarinetist Kurt Bjorling.