Bayanihan: The Spirit of Solidarity is a variety show and community resource and health fair. It makes space for collective grief and celebrates creativity with the Chicagoland Filipinx/a/o community. Featuring a wide range of performances including dance, movement, song, poetry, and immersive installation–complemented by educational discussion and resources on comprehensive health and wellness–Bayanihan takes inspiration from years of intergenerational organizing and storytelling work with AFIRE (Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment).
Embodying our solidarity and mutual aid practices, “bayanihan” is a core value in the Philippines and across the diaspora that means people working together in a shared undertaking. In deep collaboration with AFIRE, Doruelo curates a series of events and workshops using performance and storytelling as a medium for learning about histories of oppression and resistance; transforming anti-Black racism, ableism, transphobia, and homophobia within Asian communities; healing interpersonal and collective trauma; and bridging people to community health resources and local grassroots, intersectional movements for justice.
The virtual PAN de MIC storytelling circle on April 29th focuses on grief and offers members of the community the opportunity to share stories and perspectives.PAN de MIC is a play on words from "pandemic", "pan de sal" (bread), and "passing the mic." Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, it has served as a storytelling space to process current events and ongoing issues within the Filipinx/a/o community.
The May 27th in-person community event will be a day of blended in-person and virtual community workshops on storytelling and movement-based arts.
Both community events are ticketed on an income-based sliding-scale donation. Attendees are encouraged to buy online advance tickets to support turnout and accommodate access needs. All donations help fund the revitalization and reopening of the Rizal Center, a Philippine community center located in Lakeview, which closed in 2017.
About the Co-MISSION Curators-In-Residence program:
Links Hall’s Co-MISSION Curators-In-Residence program supports independent, Chicago dance curators, producers, and social practice artists in presenting new and existing performance by their communities, for their communities. In collaboration with Links Hall and a local organization in their own Chicago neighborhoods, the 2022-2023 resident curators will invite artists from their communities to present new or existing performance work at both Links Hall and a neighborhood location. Projects include engaging community events outside of the formal theater environment. Residency awards include artist fees for curators and participating artists; direct funding for neighborhood-based partner organizations; and administrative support, rehearsal space, marketing, and technical production services.
About the community partner organization: Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE) Chicago
AFIRE Chicago is a grassroots community organization that works to build the capacity of Filipinx/a/os* to organize towards progressive change. As an organization founded by Filipino immigrants, we carry with us the legacy of People Power. We believe in supporting the leadership of people most affected by structural injustice and make space for them at the forefront of our movements. We seek to amplify the voices of those most silenced in our community: undocumented families, new immigrants and refugees, domestic workers, low-wage workers, seniors, and youth.
*We use Filipinx/a/o as shorthand for Filipinx/Filipina/Filipino to honor all gender identities.
