3/21/22: 7th Annual Activating Heritage Conference: “The Stories We Tell”

A plenary session with our own Sara Chapman as part of Chicago Cultural Alliance's Activating Heritage conference.

On Monday, March 21st, from 10-11 am Central Time, Media Burn Archive’s own Sara Chapman will help launch the 7th annual Activating Heritage Conference, organized by the Chicago Cultural Alliance, from March 21-25. The theme this year is the “Stories We Tell.” She will be presenting as part of a plenary session on opening day. The panel will discuss how their work aligns with the theme of the conference: using and creating stories for our communities.

Following the session, there will be a networking brunch.

This event will take place in-person at the DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N Western Ave, in the Brauhaus Room (2nd floor).

Proof of vaccination will be required to attend, and vaccination will be confirmed upon entry. Masks must be worn indoors at all times.

Registration for this conference is $35 ($12 students).

Plenary Session: Building Community, Strengthening Cultures: Storytelling as Collective Work –

In-Person at DANK Haus – Mar 21 @ 10am

The theme for the Chicago Cultural Alliance’s Activating Heritage Conference this year is “the Stories We Tell,” chosen not only because of the literal stories our members tell in their work, but also based on the “stories” and multiple ways we as cultural workers must present ourselves to carry on our duties as we work to benefit and participate in the cultural of the communities we live in. Join our panel of creatives as they discuss how their work aligns with the theme of our conference, using and creating stories for our communities. Emmy-winning reporter Adriana Cardona-Maguigad will share her perspectives from the world of journalism, while Sara Chapman of Media Burn will bring the insights of an archivist. Educator, artist and storyteller Dr. Ada Cheng will facilitate the conversation and share her own perspectives and insights from her years of collaborating and creating cultural storytelling projects.

Speakers:

Sara Chapman, Executive Director, Media Burn Archive

Sara Chapman has been executive director of Media Burn since 2009, and has been an integral part of the organization since its founding in 2003. You can catch her online at Media Burn’s biweekly Virtual Talks with Video Activists series on Thursdays. A scholar of early video and television, her article “Guerrilla Television in the Digital Archive” was published in the Journal of Film and Video. In 2019, she was the producer of the feature-length experimental film, Ghosts in the Machine, which toured internationally. She’s also an avid swimmer and former co-chair of her Masters swim team, the Chicago Smelts.

Adriana Cardona-Maguigad, Reporter for Curious City on WBEZ.

Adriana is a former 2012 WBEZ Pritzker fellow and was part of the inaugural class of Northwestern University’s Social Justice News Nexus fellowship program. She worked on a 2015 award-winning audio project for WBEZ and NPR’s This American Life about unregulated drug rehab centers in Chicago drawing people from Puerto Rico. Her investigation was recognized with a Sigma Delta Chi Award with the Society of Professional Journalists, a 2016 National Edward R. Murrow Award and three Peter Lisagor Awards.

Prior to joining WBEZ’s education team, Adriana worked at Univision Chicago where she was honored with two Chicago/ Midwest Emmy Awards.

Adriana lived in Dubuque and Des Moines, Iowa for many years. She is originally from Medellin, Colombia and has been a Chicago resident since 2005.

Ada Cheng, Visiting Associate Professor, Asian American Studies Program, Northwestern University

An educator-turned artist, storyteller, and creator, Dr. Ada Cheng has utilized storytelling to illustrate structural inequities, raise critical awareness, and build intimate communities. Committed to amplifying and uplifting marginalized voices, she has created numerous storytelling platforms for BIPOC and LGBTQIA community members to tell difficult and vulnerable stories based on their lived experiences. Since she resigned from her tenured position in sociology at DePaul University in 2016, she has been featured at storytelling shows and done her two solo performances in theaters, universities, and conferences across the nation. Dr. Cheng has been speaker for Illinois Humanities Speakers Bureau since 2019. She is currently a visiting Associate Professor with Asian American Studies at Northwestern University as well as an adjunct faculty at Dominican University. Her interests encompass academia, storytelling/performance, and advocacy.