Expressive Media Express :: Benefit + Fundraiser THIS WEDNESDAY 9.23.09!!
THIS WEDNESDAY 9.23.09!!
Danny's Tavern
1951 W Dickens Ave
Chicago, IL 60614
8PM, $5 Suggested donation at the door
Danny's Tavern will be hosting a benefit/fund-raising event for Expressive Media Express, a weekend long initiative of workshops, interactive installations, and events showcasing Chicago's vibrant New Media arts community for Chicago Artists Month. Expressive Media Express - initiated by jonCates, Christy LeMaster, and Nicholas O'Brien - will encourage Chicago youths to participate in two workshops that will put the basic tools of experimental digital media production in their hands at an early stage. For this weekend, Nightingale Cinema (where Expressive Media Express is hosted) will turn into a hub of creativity and exploration into media art and reposition the conversation away from technophobic fear and into playful discovery.
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More .info about Expressive Media Express (sorry for repetition)::
Expressive Media Express is a weekend long interactive slate of programs designed to encourage creative use of digital tools and simultaneously showcase Chicago's energetic New Media community. It will include two workshops, two screenings, and an ongoing media installation online and at DIY cinema, The Nightingale, curated by Jon Cates (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), Christy LeMaster (The Nightingale), and Nicholas O'Brien (Interactive Art and Media, Columbia College).
The installation is an interactive technology time line aimed at youth combined with a historical continuum of digital media (computers, video games, New Media Art) on display for hands-on interaction.
The opening night of the program will include a screening of Chicago New Media works as part of the Screen Grab series developed by Cates and O'Brien (
screengrab.tumblr.com). This series aims to connect the experimental cinema and New Media communities in Chicago by showcasing online work in a traditional cinema venue.
In the first workshop, entitled BentBox, has children circuit bend toys to change the sounds they make, learning to reshape electronics. At the next day's workshop, Stepmania School, digital music composition and game programming will be taught in the context of making your own DIY (Do It Yourself) games and electronic music.
These software and hardware skills put the basic tools of digital media in the hands of kids at an early stage.
Expressive Media Express is part of Chicago Artists Month 2009, the fourteenth annual celebration of Chicago’s vibrant visual art community. In October, more than 200 exhibitions of emerging and established artists, openings, demonstrations, tours, open studios and neighborhood art walks take place at galleries, cultural centers and arts buildings throughout the city. Chicago Artists Month is organized by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and is made possible through support provided by Bank of America. For more information, visit
www.chicagoartistsmonth.org.