JUNETEETNTH CELEBRATION Vendor Fest and Wildflower Music Festival

Kai EL’ Zabar Editor-in-Chief

economic development. Openly and very candidly she smiles and says, “Each one of those pillars could be a separate job description with a director for each.”

Arts And Culture

Smart and savvy as she is, Alicia chose the arts and education pillar because the implementation demanded less since the foundation was already in place, “Arguably” she says, “because Brownsville is the home of gospel, jazz, and the blues. So, if I’m leveraging the assets of the university across this pillar, fun to be had was also a component.”

Alicia recognized that Chicagoans appeared landlocked to their seven block radius, when they have a whole city to explore. So, the purpose of the trolley tours was to get people out of their comfort zone and to explore the assets of the adjacent communities. She says, “So I would do Brownsville, Chinatown, Pilsen, Bridgeport tours that celebrated the architectural contributions of African Americans to the Chicago skyline as well as other contributors.”

‘Dîner en Blanc’ was the first big event that I was able to have on campus that drew 4000 people. Le Dîner en Blanc recalls the elegance and glamor of high French society, and guests who have all been patiently waiting to learn where “Dîner en Blanc” will take place receive the location at the last minute. The guests engage one another, knowing that they are taking part in a very magical event.” Alicia says with a big smile ,capturing the success of that event which she explains was the result of serendipity.

Education

Alicia explains the goal for the education pillar, “is always for all kids to realize that STEM is for them, and not some other group, because the exposure is not there. So, there’s a whole world of career options that are not present, for such youth.” She continues, “this realization inspired the STEM Cafes that I implemented with the assistance of a professor who was as committed as I. Initially, the model required parents to accompany their children to our campus which didn’t work out for various reasons, so we switched the model to working with CPS schools and taking over a classroom and sending the professors to teach out of their discipline and create hands on learning opportunities for the students that paired well with the family fun days. So, unlike a stem Expo, which is like speed dating, the Family Fun Day is where I take over one of our halls. And each classroom represents a different STEM experience. And you complete the circuit, and each classroom session is about 35 minutes long. And then there’s a keynote speaker, usually from Fermilab or Aragon lab. It’s a blast.”

Economic Development

One of the most important and distinguishable programs that Alicia has initiated is tied to economic development. Alicia spoke with great excitement, “The university has received a $2 million grant for capital improvement. And we will be using that money to transform a floor in this building designed to provide different types of educational opportunities.” It’s clear that the building improvement, is important to the project, but the programming is the key factor.

Alicia explains, “We all know that there’s a good population of people who just don’t want to go to college, or those who are not attracted to that way of learning for whatever the reason.

I asked, ‘Isn’t that the big debate between Dubois and Booker T?’ She responded, “Yes, some people want to work with their hands, I mean where would the world be if there were no farmers? And because one doesn’t want to attend college does not mean that they should be relegated to a job at a convenient store or anyplace unless it’s what they want to do. Therefore, we thought there’s got to be more. As a result of that inquiry, we will be offering many credential programs. Illinois.”

Alicia continues, “Tech will offer courses in tech fields, whether it’s programming, cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing. It’s really mind blowing. I had a meeting last week with some folks that are going to be working with us, they have these programmable logic controllers. These controllers literally do that. So if you look for the button that you press on your dishwasher, there’s a control system behind the scenes operating, that’s telling that machine to put water in, it’s telling it what water temperature is selected and then it’s sensing whether that water is at that temperature, it’s telling it when to stop water and when to start washing, when to stop washing and rinse when to stop rinsing. But right now, it’s not working. There are switches that specialists know identify to repair the dishwasher. We will be training people to fill such a demand and that’s one of the ways we will be providing education. On top of the fact that we have a new partnership with Coursera. And folks will be able to achieve really a master’s degree, even if they don’t have a bachelor’s degree. They will have to prove that they can, handle the coursework before accepted into the program.

“My goal as the Community Affairs lady is to partner with the community. Literally, my office is in a White Tower in an ivory tower. I’m not the person who’s waving the Imperial one that wheeling this or that on the community. I LISTEN. Anything that I have done has really come from the community, whether that be the farmers markets or the upcoming Juneteenth event.”

“And mind you,” she says, “I have much to exclaim about Raj Echambadi, our new President at Illinois Institute of Technology who is very community and people conscious. He has expressed and demonstrated his support which is greatly appreciated.

Alicia sighs a confession, “Honestly, There’s so many things that my office does, “I can’t tell it all today because we want to discuss our next big project.” So, this year the inaugurable event is the Juneteenth vendor fair and music Festival.

Alicia continues and muses about the birthing of the Bronzeville Vendor Fair and Wildflower Music Festival that will take place on June 24, 2023, from 10 a.m.–9 p.m., as the inaugural Bronzeville outdoor vendor market and bazaar that will take place on 33rd Boulevard between Michigan Avenue and State Street. The event is a collaboration of creative minds, and skills. Senabella Gill ,who is the music curator for the festival says, ”As we walked the campus one day, and Alicia said, Hey, how about a music festival? And I thought why not? COVID took place, and we continued to have the conversation. Over time, we talked about many ways of approaching the music festival as an installation on IT’s campus grounds and what it would look like as well as how people will experience it. The name was critical, so we went back and forth. Finally, we settled on what wwwe have. As the curator I work closely with Alicia on all thing’s music, consulting on that aspect of this festival to build it up so that it will work for and be embraced by the community.”

Helen West, the producer of the Lake Meadows Arts Festival joined the duo by contacting her vendors to inform them of the opportunity to participate.

Alicia says that it was an opportunity to merge economic development and the arts. To her the two are not either or, but equal in their value and importance so she treated it that way. The idea that the participating vendors are featured as part of the name of the festival is unique. Most often the headline is arts or music driven. “It’s economic development all around, because none of these artists are performing for free and it’s providing a platform for artists for the vendors. And initially, we talked about having just the separate Music Fest. No, that doesn’t make sense, we’d have to combine these. Because folks who are coming for the music, they’re going to like what they see. And they’re going to purchase from the vendors who set up to market their wares no matter who the musical lineup is.

Just come and we know that you will have a great time. The performing artists featured are:

The Frank Russell Band

Mario Abney and The Abney Effect

D’Erania and Jahari Stampley

The Alan Burroughs and The AB Band

Tony “TOCA” Carpenter—Toca Live!

Mae Koen

Check https://www.iit.edu/events/bronzeville-vendor-fair-and-wildflower-music-festival for artist bios!