limited tickets available at the door
​reception 6:30pm
​concert 7:30pm

​Kick off the holiday season with us
by honoring human rights, dignity, and equity for all,
and support our critical work of using storytelling, the arts, and game design
to unsilence hidden injustice and marginalized voices.

featured
​performers

​ THE BOURNÉS

The Bournés are a music group including five sisters, three brothers, and their mother. This family of singer-songwriters, musicians, and arrangers have been performing together as a family for many years all over Chicagoland and the Midwest. Their appearances include Auditorium Theatre’s main stage with Girodano Dance Chicago, Katten Landau Studio at Roosevelt University, Good Day Chicago, and Windy City Live, as well as conferences, rallies, and numerous other community celebrations and fundraisers. The Bournés are natives of Chicago, currently residing in a nearby south suburb. 

 AQUIL CHARLTON

A skilled DJ and electronic musician, Aquil Charlton (AyQue) leverages his creative agility to reach a wide range of audiences. He performs electronics with live PA quartet The Present Elders, and has backed Open Mike Eagle on synthesizers. As a lead vocalist and songwriter with hip hop and soul band Animate Objects, AyQue has also opened for Lauryn Hill, Dilated Peoples, The Wailers, Mint Condition, Chingy, Kardinal Official, and others. Even offstage, Charlton maintains the respect of his peers for his continued dedication to teaching and community organizing work. He currently directs Notes For Notes Chicago, a free music studio for youth, and the New Music Ensemble with Chicago Public Schools All City Arts program.
​

 JESS GODWIN

​Singer-songwriter Jess Godwin is a nationally touring recording artist and founder of Shameless, an Unsilence partner and music program for young people. Godwin’s EP Fool Me Once boasts over one million YouTube hits while her Chicago appearances include duetting with Kristin Chenoweth at The Chicago Theatre, National Anthem singing for the Chicago Bulls, and engagements at Steppenwolf, Mayne Stage, Double Door, The Athenaeum, Subterranean, and Bottom Lounge. Godwin’s acting credits include A Wonderful Life, Gypsy, Company, Sunday In The Park With George, Shining Lives, The Wild Party, Pippin, Snapshots, and Carousel. She is one half of the duo Sinfolk and lead singer of pop-gospel-folk band Dear Finch and just finished a two-month school tour in Ohio of Nobody But You.

 NESTOR GOMEZ

​Born in Guatemala, Nestor ‘The Boss’ Gomez is a self-taught poet and writer who started to tell stories as a way to get over stuttering. He has won close to 40 Moth Slams and 3 Grand Slams, making him one of the nation’s top storytellers. Gomez has performed multiple times with The Moth: True Stories Told Live. However, if you ask him, he will tell you that his biggest accomplishment are his two kids, making his mother proud, and winning the heart of his wife “sweet Mel.” Gomez produces, hosts, and curates the storytelling show 80 Minutes Around The World: Immigration Stories.

 MICHAEL INGERSOLL

​
​Performer and producer Michael Ingersoll is the creator of The Artists Lounge Live concert series. A favorite of PBS audiences, Ingersoll toured the country performing with his retro-rock vocal group Under The Streetlamp, whose television concert specials air in millions of homes nationwide. He is also known for starring as Nick Massi of the Four Seasons in Jersey Boys for the original Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles companies. Ingersoll has also appeared on Access Hollywood, Extra! (Streetlamp), The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Tonight Show, PBS’ Capitol Fourth, The Primetime Emmy Awards (Jersey Boys), The Beast, and Chicago Fire. Ingersoll is co-founder of Shameless, an Unsilence partner and music program for young people.

 SHE CREW

She Crew creates safe spaces and expressive platforms for adolescent girls and gender expansive youth in Chicago. In July 2018, participants of She Crew performed their original work at the Jane Addams Hull House. She Crew’s poem Minor Details was featured as one of the collaborative performance pieces of the event and focuses on the discovery and exploration of identity.

​​All proceeds from
SOUNDS of UNSILENCE
will support Unsilence educational programs
in schools and communities,
​throughout 2019.