Meet our architectural design teams and learn more about their participatory design process during this panel discussion moderated by design thought leader Nekita Thomas.

Afterwards, extend your architectural experience of North Lawndale by participating in one of the building or garden tours that are part of Open House Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Center’s free annual event that provides behind-the-scenes access to architecturally, historically, and culturally significant sites. Stone Temple Baptist Church is one of the Open House Chicago sites, and will hold guided tours of the building (originally the First Roumanian Congregation synagogue) every half hour from 1:00–5:00 p.m.

The acclaimed Chicago Shermann “Dilla” Thomas will lead a guided bus tour through North Lawndale that starts and ends at the Chicago Sukkah Design Festival grounds. Dilla will unpack the social, cultural, and architectural history of the neighborhood, with an opportunity to see the permanent re-installation of sukkahs from past editions of the Festival along the way.

The tour is pay-what-you-can. Suggested donation $20. RSVP is required.

It is customary during Sukkot to invite guests into one’s sukkah to eat and enjoy the space together. The Chicago Sukkah Design Festival is partnering with Stone Temple Baptist Church, Metro Chicago Hillel, and the Jewish Community Relations Council to host an Interfaith Community Dinner, inviting members of all faiths and cultural backgrounds to come together to break bread, share space, and create shared memories in the six sukkahs on the festival grounds.

During the meal, the Chicago History Museum will lead discussions around how place, space, migration, and belief relate to our ideas of shared heritage.

The meal will be lovingly prepared by Diaspora Dinners and Flava Food 4 the Soul. Dress comfortably for the outdoors!

Registration is FREE, but RSVP is required. The event will be capped at 45 people.

Join the Chicago History Museum’s Rebekah Coffman, Curator of Religion and Community History, Joanna Bak, Program Associate, and Greg Storms, Senior Public and Community Engagement Manager, for a discussion on the diverse ways sacredness has been preserved, shared, and activated in Chicago from the past to the present. We will explore the question: what does it mean to safeguard heritages of belief for the future? This program will include a time for discussion as well as a time for activation through a heritage reflection activity.

This program is co-presented with the Chicago History Museum.

No RSVP Required.

Join us for the Opening Celebration of the third annual Chicago Sukkah Design Festival! Visitors will experience the five unique sukkahs for the first time and learn more about the Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot. Over the course of the afternoon, attendees will enjoy food, art-making activities, participatory workshops, communal dance, and live music performances. Family friendly!

• 1:00–5:00 pm: Make-your-own lulav workshop with artist Rachel Ellison of Bat Sarah Press; learn about the cultural rituals surrounding these unique harvest bouquets, and take one home with you!

• 2:00–3:00 pm: Afrofuturist dance workshop, a participatory, communal experience led by Ytasha Womack, a critically acclaimed author, filmmaker, dancer, and champion of the imagination.

• 3:00–3:30 pm: Samba performance featuring Joshlean Fair. Enjoy a rooted and meaningful interactive samba performance that connects us all with our best selves individually and collectively.

• 3:30–4:00 pm: Capoeira workshop featuring Dr. Kamau Rashid. This workshop will introduce participants to Capoeira, an African Brazilian martial art which has played a central role in resistance to oppression.

• 4:00–5:00 pm: Chicago Klezmer Ensemble performance and communal dancing, featuring famed clarinetist Kurt Bjorling.

No RSVP Required.

Meet our architectural design/build contributors and learn more about their participatory design process co-creating sukkahs alongside their community organization partners. The panel discussion will be moderated by Nekita Thomas, a designer, educator at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and researcher dedicated to using design as a tool for social impact. Afterwards, extend your architectural experience of North Lawndale by participating in one of the building or garden tours that are part of Open House Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Center’s free annual event that provides behind-the-scenes access to architecturally, historically, and culturally significant sites. Stone Temple Baptist Church is one of the Open House Chicago sites, and will hold guided tours of the building (originally the First Roumanian Congregation synagogue) every half hour from 1:00–5:00 p.m.

Join Lawndale Pop-up Spot and the Collective Museum for a 90-minute program led by Mohamed Fariji and Eugénie Forno. The Collective Museum will instruct participants on how to collect “People’s Histories” through a series of actions and practices designed to collect and preserve ordinary people’s voices, stories, memories, artifacts—a practice to both create new museum practices and also preserve undervalued and invisible histories.

Join the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) and Freedom House in a youth-led facilitated discussion about the shared struggles of combatting anti-Blackness and antisemitism as well as the collective cultivation of identity, dignity, place, and belonging. This program is centered on teens and college-aged young adults.

The JCUA brings together the Jewish community to pursue justice in Chicago and Illinois. Freedom House is a North Lawndale-based organization led by Haman Cross III that is dedicated to transforming communities through the arts and creative placemaking.

It is customary during Sukkot to invite guests into one’s sukkah to eat and enjoy the space together. Stone Temple Baptist Church, Metro Chicago Hillel, and the JUF’s Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) will be exemplifying this practice by partnering to host an Interfaith Dinner in the Chicago Sukkah Design Festival space, inviting members of all faiths and cultural backgrounds to come together to break bread and create shared memories in the sukkahs.

During the meal, the Chicago History Museum will present an interfaith program that explores themes of adaptive reuse and religious identity through the lens of changing uses of sacred space in North Lawndale, including a group discussion around how place, space, migration, and belief relate to our ideas of shared heritage.

The meal will be lovingly prepared by Diaspora Dinners and Flava Food 4 the Soul. Dress comfortably for the outdoors!

Registration Closed. No seats remaining!

“Sustenance for the Soul” is a beloved weekly event in the North Lawndale neighborhood focused on community-building and fighting food insecurity. Every Monday afternoon, dozens of community members come to the Historic Stone Temple Church for free cooked meals, fresh produce, and connection with neighbors.

During the Chicago Sukkah Design Festival, “Sustenance for the Soul” will move across the street to James Stone Freedom Square to enjoy the spaces of the sukkahs.

Sustenance for the Soul 1:00-3:00pm; Sukkahs open 12:00-5:00pm.

No RSVP required

Join us for the Opening Celebration of the second annual Chicago Sukkah Design Festival! Visitors will experience the six unique sukkahs for the first time and learn more about the Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot. Over the course of the afternoon, visitors will enjoy food, art-making activities, communal rituals, participatory performances, and more. Family friendly!

• 1:00–4:00pm: Artist Rachel Ellison of Bat Sarah Press will lead a make-your-own local lulav workshop; learn about the cultural rituals surrounding these unique harvest bouquets, and take one home with you!

• 1:30–2:00pm: Pastah J of Lawndale Christian Community Church and Rabbi Lizzi of Mishkan Chicago will lead a participatory, interfaith song session.

• 2:00–3:00pm: Norman Teague Design Studios will offer a flag-making workshop inspired by African and African-American quilting practices.

• 3:00–4:00pm: Ytasha Womack, a critically acclaimed author, filmmaker, dancer, and champion of the imagination, will lead a communal Afrofuturist dance experience.

At 3:00pm, the Chicago Sukkah Design Festival will join forces with the Terrain Biennial block party, also located at James Stone Freedom Square, for additional festivities!

No RSVP Required.