As many readers know, I occasionally do a roundup of local cultural events. Most recently, I visited a farewell reception for our village clerk, a jazz concert benefit for the Oak Park Area Arts Council, a panel on black art and Jewish philanthropy at Spertus Museum and Columbia College’s “Industry Night,” where a dozen Oak Park-based professionals showed up in force. I also attended the school’s “fashion night,” where a former Oak Park Area Arts Council member and department chair watched in amazement. Last but not least was a walk for peace in the Middle East through the middle of our village.
Scores of local business, political and cultural leaders came out for former village clerk Sandra Sokol’s retirement party at the Carleton Hotel, April 29. A delicious fruit punch drink and tasty finger food made a cozy culinary backdrop for the buzzing event for a person many agree is Oak Park’s most beloved elected official. The outpouring of praise from well-wishers was “overwhelming” for Sokol, who was seen smiling all night as she shook hands with some and hugged others who heralded her decades of public service.
On May 1, the Oak Park Area Arts Council featured its annual scholarship benefit called “Jazzin’ Down to the Bone” at Fitzgerald’s. It featured gifted reedman and educator Victor Goines, a Northwestern University jazz professor with more than 20 CDs and seven years at Julliard under his belt. Amid a nearly packed crowd, Goines, told the audience that this was his “first club date since moving to Chicago.” The event was a “huge success,” according to Oak Park Area Arts Council spokesman John Troelstrup, who told the crowd more than $90,000 has been raised in the last decade and awarded to 88 local art students, including current Arts Council board member Yves Hughes Jr., a 28-year-old filmmaker, Web developer, author and entrepreneur. Hughes received his award in 1999 when he was a senior at Oak Park and River Forest High School – a place where he later returned to shoot a short documentary you can see on YouTube called “The Achievement Gap.”
On May 7, I visited a breathtaking exhibit at Spertus Museum called “A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund.” Rosenwald was one of the great American business and philanthropic leaders of the early 20th century, who gave fellowships to hundreds of African-American artists and scholars, including Percy Julian. My interview with exhibit curators Stacy Boris and Dan Schulman airs Sunday, July 5, 6:30 a.m. to 7 a.m. on 95.5 FM.
On May 14 and 15, I attended Columbia College’s “Industry Night” and “Manifest Fashion Show” as part of the school’s end-of-the-year festivities. I spoke with more than a dozen Oak Park-based professors at the college who were praising the creativity of student work. Dennis Rich, the former chair of the arts and media management department and former Oak Park Arts Council board member, was one of them. Rich is retiring … kinda sorta. He said he’ll still teach.
My cultural tour of duty ended with “Break the Silence, Break the Blockade,” the Eighth Annual Walk for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine May 17 in downtown Oak Park. The event, which began with a program at the First United Church of Oak Park, was designed to draw attention to the Gaza Strip where Israeli military still blockade and siege Gaza’s 1.5-million Palestinian residents. Later, there was a walk through our village and speeches by prominent human rights and religious leaders.
Stan West, an Oak Parker for 16 years, is a former foreign correspondent for Pacific News Service. He is an author, educator, filmmaker and human rights activist. But his favorite job, he says, is being a parent.