Chicago Humanities Festival announces fall headliners, including Patti Smith, Jessica Lange and Chelsea Manning

The Chicago Humanities Festival has announced its fall 2022 event, which is focused on the theme of “Public” and re-imagining our public lives. This will be the CHF’s first completely in-person fall festival since the pandemic.

The event will touch on what information should be public, with appearances from Chelsea Manning and Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, while author Marianne Williamson will discuss politics and the midterm elections. Plus, poet Elizabeth Alexander, photographer Devin Allen, artist Jefferson Pinder, and scholar Margaret Burnham will talk about how racism still impacts the U.S.

Other big names slated to appear include musician Patti Smith, actress Jessica Lange, comedian Iliza Shlesinger and author George Saunders.

“We wanted to explore how each of us is returning to public life, how attitudes towards America’s various publics have changed, and how we can use this transition to better engage in the vital public conversations of our time,” CHF’s executive director Phillip Bahar said in the announcement Tuesday.

The festival is scheduled to take place from Oct. 13 through Dec. 9, with events largely taking place on specific neighborhood days where all activities will be located around one neighborhood.

October 13

Comedian Iliza Schlesinger

October 22: Northwestern Day

April Ryan and Valerie Jarrett: Black Women Will Save the World

Anand Giridharadas and David Corn: Is the Public Still Persuadable

Rick Lowe on the Transformative Power of Public Art

Miranda July on Art in All its Forms

Innocent and Behind Bars with Daniel S. Medwed

Will Bunch on the Higher Education Divide

Extremism in America with Michael Fanone and Andy Campbell

Somebody Feed Phil Comes to Chicago: Phil Rosenthal and Mindy Segal

Jeff Garlin: Our Man in Chicago (with Susie Essman)

October 23

Country singer Margo Price

October 29: Hyde Park Day

Inside the American Presidency with Pete Souza and David Axelrod

Michael Shermer: Why People Believe Conspiracy Theories

Sudhir Venkatesh on Gun Violence

Jefferson Pinder conversation and performance

Reporter Seymour Hersh

Margaret A. Burnham on the Jim Crow Legal System

The Church, State and the Information Crisis in America

The Art of the Short Story with George Saunders and Peter Sagal

Kevin Nealon and Tim Meadows: Brushes with Fame

November 5: Southport Day

Jerry Salz: Art is Life

A Visual Tribute to Black Resistance with Devin Allen

Jim Jarmusch in conversation with Jonathan Ames

Charlie Chaplin’s “The Kid”: A screening with live musical by Marc Ribot

Whistleblower: Chelsea Manning with Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova

November 12: Lincoln Park

Marianne Williamson on Love and Politics

Reza Aslan on an American Martyr in Persia

How Social Media Rewired Our Minds with Max Fisher and The Verge

The Future of the Feed with The Verge

Social Media and Young Mental Health with The Verge

Jessica Lange: Capturing the Unplanned Moment

The Verge Afterparty with Bitbash

Later in the fall

Nov 13: A concert with harpist Mary Lattimore

Nov 15: Elizabeth Alexander on the Trayvon Generation

Nov 20: Patti Smith: Songs and Stories

Nov 29: Lee Bey, Blair Kamin, Laurie Petersen and Jen Masengarb

Dec 9: Bill Frisell and Petra Haden in concert

Tickets and more information at chicagohumanities.org

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