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Through a fall program of exhibitions, symposium, events, and books, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago explores the role artists can play in shaping the future. We are grateful to SAIC and the Sullivan Galleries for allowing us to celebrate within this context. Tonight you are surrounded by:

A PROXIMITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS: ART AND SOCIAL ACTIONSeptember 20–December 20Sullivan Galleries, 33 S. State St., 7th floor

At the core of Chicago’s intellectual and creative life stand these influential artists for whom this city itself was a springboard for a new way of thinking about art at the intersection of society. Their work has influenced generations, having made social practice a worldwide phenomenon. Now this exhibition brings their ideas alive through 10 newly commissioned projects. Exhibiting artists: Jim Duignan, Paul Durica and Heather Radke, Pablo Helguera (BFA 1993), Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (MFA 1985), Dan Peterman, Pocket Guide to Hell, J. Morgan Puett (BFA 1981), Michael Rakowitz, Laurie Jo Reynolds (MFA 2000), Temporary Services, and Rirkrit Tiravanija (MFA 1986). Curated by Mary Jane Jacobs and Kate Zeller

For information on the rest of the events within this wonderful program, please refer to saic.edu/livedpractice on the world wide web.

Event Schedule Exhibition Info

6:00 - 6:45 Guest arrivals and hospitality

6:45 - 7:00 Welcome by MC’s Dee Bangs Rocio Roman Darius Shy

7:00 - 7:30 Performances Ben Capo Anointed feat. Perez Killer T and Chaos Network Draii Blac and Joey Illanoy

7:30 - 8:00 Organizational messages Manwah Lee Eddie Clopton Jr. SAIC welcome Mary Jane Jacob Founder recognition Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle Paul Teruel Tony Streit

8:00 - 8:30 Performances Deejay Garcia QdaPharoah AlphaRcher Katherine Daphne Whitington PhD

8:45 Raffle winners announced

9:00 Thank you and good night!

photos by Tamairis Dixon

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Street-Level Mission

Street-Level Youth Media educates Chicago’s urban youth in media arts and emerging technologies for use in self-expression, communication, and social change.

Street-Level’s programs build critical thinking skills in youth who have been historically neglected by policy-makers and mass media. Using video and audio production, digital arts, and the Internet, Street-Level’s young people address community issues, access advanced communication technology, and gain inclusion in our information-based society.

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I PLEDGE A TOTAL AMOUNT OF $___________ IN SUPPORT OF STREET-LEVEL YOUTH MEDIA WITH THE FULL UNDERSTANDING THAT A BOUNTIFUL ROI COMES IN GRATITUDE, STORIES, UPDATES AND PICTURES (BUT NOT TOO MUCH SO AS TO BE SPAMMY.)

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CHECKS TO:Street-Level Youth Media

IF MAILED: Street-Level Youth MediaAttn: Helen Schneider 1637 N. Ashland AveChicago, IL 60622

$25HeadphonesShared headphones break faster. The number we go through in studio and in the classroom is not small.

$100Screening SnacksWhether it’s Anime Club hosting a screen n’ grill event or a sleepless sleepover with movies, these kids get hungry.

$250School BusPledge the cost to bring a school bus full of students to our studio for a field trip or special event.

$500Sofa n’ Bean-bag fundOur only couch is dangerously past retirement. The kids deserve some splinterless seats.

$50CTA pass for 10 rides to SL

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ADDRESS II

Pledge ProgramIn June of 2015, we will be incorporated for 20 years. Help us gear up for this milestone anniversary by pledging your support! If you’d like to participate in deciding where your pledge dollars go, we’ve got some suggestions. Feel free to write in your own idea and of course, any “unrestricted” funds are distributed to both programming and capacity building.

Sometimes the only thing keeping some youth from getting to our studio is a ride

Unrestricted $______

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IN-STUDIO PROGRAMSIN-SCHOOL PROGRAMS

NEWSXCHANGE*with Kristin Heinichen Tues 5-7pm and Sat 12-6Sept 30 - Dec 6 | Ages 15-22

As a NewsXchange Intern, you’ll identify, research, investigate, interview, photo-graph, record video and audio, write, edit, and publish your pieces. You’ll learn about journalistic ethics, the changing nature of the industry, and how to work as a team to produce and broadcast relevant journalistic content. You’ll sharpen your critical thinking and communication skills and develop a rich digital and journalistic portfolio. This is a field-intensive program. Interns will spend a lot of time outside, in public, meeting new people.

*Experience a sample of a story written by Summer 2014 NewsXchange on the follow-ing pages.

MULTIMEDIA PROJECTwith Lisa L.U.S.T. and James Duke Wed or Friday 5-7pm and Sat 12-6Oct 1-Dec 6 | Ages 15-19

This program centers around 3 distinct projects: Creating an EP - writing 3 origi-nal songs, and creating 1 music video and 1 artists profile video; Anime Club - establish rules, create a graphic look and feel, and strategize distribution for an original card game; Real Reality TV - documenting self-staged social experiments.

Street-Level offers FREE in-studio media arts training for youth ages 13 to 22. Workshops take place year-round at our multimedia center and are taught by experienced teaching artists and mentors. In addition to field trips and open lab and open studio times, this is what we’ve got starting next week...

ENTREPRENEUR OF THE ARTS WORKSHOPwith Amanda Harth Thursdays 4-7pm Oct 2-Dec 4 | Ages 16-22

How will you generate an income? Time, te-nacity, and diligence! This workshop will help you gain basic knowledge of what it takes to run a business and make it successful. You will learn about the legal structure, business planning, finances, and ways to market your brand. Participants will be given a chance to create your own mock business venture, develop a business plan and proposals, and at the last week of the workshop they will have the chance to present it.

Street-Level is a preferred CPS vendor. Our programs prioritize engagement that leads to creative expression, emotional maturity, and social responsibility. We offer arts tntegration and during school and after school electives. A few sample projects include...

GENDER IN MEDIA Students analyze portrayals of gender in popular culture. Through multimedia projects, they express how they view themselves in relationship to media and work towards developing their own identity.

MULTIMEDIA ANTIVIOLENCE PROJECT Chicago is one of the most violent cities in the country. This project teaches students to use a variety of digital art tools to identify causes and solutions to violence while promoting peace.

MULTIMEDIA JOURNALISM The voice of the new generation is often lost, but with digital media tools and internet savvy skills, students learn how to articulate and publish what they consider newsworthy, and learn how they can reach a wider audience.

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Picture being forcibly confined to a 6 x 8 room en-cased in steel and cement block. Sent to the place where violence lives. Now imagine the desperate attempts that follow as you try to disprove the ac-cusations that put you there in the first place. Once considered, now forgotten; so is the tale of three men who have labored to prove their innocence.

Meet Jarrett Adams, a 17 year-old boy with a bright future. Like most teenagers, he wanted to have fun with his friends. On September 5th, 1998, three boys set out for Jefferson County, Wisconsin to attend a big college party. But one night cost Adams ten years of his life.

In 2000, Adams and two others were wrongfully convicted of sexual assault. The incident was said to have happened at the University of Wiscon-sin-Whitewater, and the all-white jury sentenced him to 28 years. When he was exonerated from the charge, he had already served one decade of his sentence.

Adams was set free with the assistance of the Wisconsin Innocence Project (WIP). This project is located at the University of Wisconsin Law School and they work to reform the criminal justice sys-tem.

After being released from prison, Adams began to work on the future he thought he might never have. He began his studies at a junior college, then transferred to Roosevelt University in downtown Chicago, Illinois. In addition to his studies, he worked full-time as an investigator with the Fed-eral Defender Program for the Northern District of

Illinois. Adams graduated from Roosevelt Universi-ty with top honors and continued his education at Chicago’s Loyola University School of Law through a 2012 Chicago Bar Foundation’s Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest scholarship.

Adams, now 33, plans on using his law degree to aid defendants who are less fortunate as well as those who are wrongfully incarcerated.

“I want to be the opposite of what my lawyer was, in so many ways,” Adams told Chicago Tribune earlier this summer.

Adams works with Antoine Day to give back and help those who aren’t heard. They have started the Life After Justice Center and their mission is to assist exonerees and parolees successfully re-enter society, all the while providing stable housing, job training and counseling.

Day is someone who seeks the development of the whole person. He holds many professional posi-tions, but the work he holds most dear is mentor-ing ex-felons and assisting them with social re-en-try. Day believes that personal triumph begins with reforming one’s mind. Reform is never a bad idea hinted Day; especially in regards to the judiciary system that wrongfully incarcerated him.“I challenge the law because the law can’t hide the truth,” he said. “I believe in justice. I don’t believe in unfairness.”

He was 28 when he went in and 40 when he was released. While the reasons for putting Day away were muddy, one thing became very clear to him:

WRONGFULLY INCARCERATEDBY: Dominique Brown, Shane Calvin, Bobby Musker, Niambi Smith, and Grace Zelle under the mentorship of Photo-Journalist Kristin Heinichen.

“The system is so broke,” he said. “If you want out you have to fight for it…Nobody loves you like you.”

In 1990 Day was wrongfully convicted of first de-gree murder, attempted murder, and unlawful use of a firearm. Day had a bench trial and according to him, the presiding judge had been suspended during the time he issued the sentence. The justice system didn’t just fail Day, it punished him for 12 years. None the less, he assures those who are slack jawed over his sentence that he doesn’t live with hate-

“I’m not even mad at the people who did this to me because that’s what they’re used to doing,” Day said with a shrug.

Before he was spending time behind bars, Day could be found behind a drum set. At 28 he was was a passionate musician and business man. He was a member of a band and owned a nightclub

not far from his childhood home on the West-side of Chicago.

“I made $18,000 a week. I had this club for a year and 7 months,” he said explaining that his club was shut down following Day’s arrest.

Even though his prosperous 20’s were replaced with many unsettling years, he wasn’t left feeling hopeless. “I don’t consider it a waste of time because ev-eryday God has given me an opportunity to learn something new,” he said.

He also had the love and teaching of his mother who implored that above all else, stay humble.

“She gave me the will to do what I needed to do to come home,” he recalled. “She said ‘quitting is not allowed.’”

This Summer, five youth spent six weeks experienced the role of “concerned journalist”. Using images and text they captured the voice of those living and working within a square mile of a chosen Chicago community. They looked for the stories that celebrate life’s intimate moments and challenge our viewpoints. What they found were folks eager to welcome them in and share their tales. “Wrong-fully Incarcerated” is one of these stories. Special thanks to After School Matters.

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Giving up isn’t part of Patrick Pursley’s vocabulary either.

Twenty-one years into his prison sentence and Pursley is still fighting hard for his freedom. In 1994, Pursley was convicted of murder and sen-tenced to life without parole.

“It’s a fight because the truth doesn’t seem to mat-ter when you’re sitting in prison, because they’ve already got you,” he said.

On April 2, 1993, at approximately 10 p.m., a couple was seated in a parked car when an apparent rob-bery led to the shooting and death of the driver. The Rockford police discovered a spent bullet in the car and later the county coroner recovered a bullet from the victim’s shoulder. A forensic sci-entist examined the bullets and determined them to be of 9 millimeter caliber fired from the same firearm. Two months following the incident, a call

was made to Crime Stoppers and Pursley’s name was dropped in connection with the murder.

Marvin Windham, a former acquaintance of Purs-ley’s, was the tipster. His incriminating testimony was considered admissible evidence. However, upon cross-examination it was revealed that Windham had received a total of $2,650 in reward money for his information. Windham also had two criminal charges pending and he was a member of a gang that rivaled Pursley’s. Ultimately, Pursley was charged with Murder/Intent to Kill/Injure and sentenced to “a natural life” at Stateville Correc-tional Center.

“I didn’t do this crime,” Pursley insisted.

Pursley lamented about his criminal background which landed him in jail three times prior as well as his involvement with the Gangster Disciples. This, he believes, held sway over the judge and further indicted him on his latest charges.

“I wish I’d never heard the words Gangster Disciple in my life. Once you get a record, you’re basical-ly killing your future,” he commented earnestly. “When you’re painted a certain way, it’s very hard to take the paint off.”

His missteps are evident, this he admits. But what has always been irrefutable to Pursley is the unre-liable Forensics that contributed to his conviction. He insists that there’s evidence that the gun they retrieved from where he was residing doesn’t match the suspected murder weapon. And ever since his sentencing, he’s been hell-bent on prov-ing it.

Pursley has long pursued post-conviction ballistics testing, the science of how a bullet leaves a gun, to determine his innocence.

In 2007 Pursley set a precedent in Illinois when the

case, State of Illinois v. Pursley, granted ballistics testing for the first time under the post-convic-tion testing statute. While this was a win for other defendants petitioning for this testing, it has yet to serve Pursley as his request is still being appealed.

But waiting hasn’t made him inactive. He’s been the driving force behind the I Am Kid Culture movement, a newsletter created within the walls of Stateville Correctional Center intended to empower urban youth by illustrating the “traps of the hood.” Ultimately, Pursley desires to impart his peals of wisdom.

“Small mistakes can lead to the wrong path. Once you get a record you’re basically killing your fu-ture,” he said. “My actions have directly affected so many of my loved ones. It’s a ripple effect, we’re all connected.” ...to be continued

The Robert R. McCormick Foundation proudly supports Street-Level Youth Media

and its commitment to educating urban youth in media arts and emerging

technology.

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Staff

Eddie Clopton, Board SecretaryExelon

Will FletcherCity of Chicago, Office of the In-spector General

Megan GeldmanPerformance Trust Capital Partners

Courtney GrayGray Cloud Consulting

Shawn Healy, Board President McCormick Foundation

Mien Dang BlueCross BlueShield IL

Cristina De LeonSegal Company

Andrew Hixson, Board VPPerformance Trust Capital Partners

Tim Irwin, Board Treasurer Wintrust Commercial Bank

Russell LewisChicago History Museum

LaTonya WilkinsJones Lang LaSalle

Board of Directors

James Duke Teaching Artist

Marc Furigay Director of Education

Manwah Lee Executive Director

Lisa L.U.S.T.Teaching Artist

Helen Schneider Director of Marketing and Development

Christian Snow Community Engagement Director

Like and Follow Facebook/street.level.youth

Twitter/street_level

Instagram/streetlevelchicago

LinkedIn/street-level-youth-media

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INSTITUTIONAL+ CORPORATE

$100,000+McCormick Tribune FoundationPrince Charitable Trust

$50,000-$99,000After School MattersChicago Community TrustPolk Brothers Foundation

$25,000-$49,999Chicago Department Family SupportChicago Department Cultural Affairs

$10,000-$24,999Alphawood Foundation (WPWR Channel 50)Illinois Arts CouncilLeo S. Guthman FundNAMM Foundation

$1,000-$9,999ExelonFarther FoundationkCuraMcMaster CarrPerformance TrustTopfer Family FoundationWicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce SSA

Up to $999First American BankPfizerPierce FoundationTA Cummings

INDIVIDUALS

$1,000+Chris Carney Rachel DahanJason ElderWill FletcherCourtney GrayShawn HealyAndy HixsonTim IrwinRussell Lewis $500-$999 Brian & Dana BattleDeborah BonoEddie ColtonCristina De LeonLinda FriedmanMichael HensonPaul JohnsonJens Shroyer

$100-$499Margaret Ballsley-CrossJanice BelzowskiThomas BundyAdam BureshCharles CarpenterDerek ChattertonMeg ComerMien DangCortez DavidazMichael DeitchCynthia DickensDominy EdwardsJoanna EischMichael GardCharlie GreenJake Harrell

Nigel JohnsonGeorges KaramDeb KurtzkeJonathon LotsoffSteven MartinaEileen MonahanMike OffergeldJim PetersonMary KayPhilipsServia RindfleischShawn RobertsMaureen RyanThomas ScanlanMaryanne SchneiderJake TheisenJames ToliverFrank ValadezWilliam Van HoeneAndrew WolfeDarrelyn Zbaraz

up to $99 Roger AdankElvis AlkhasDonna AllenMahesh AlurDavid AndersonOwen AumanZoubir BenzenatiAnn BjorklundConrad BowersCaren BurmeisterBrenda ButlerDennis ChurillaMichael CleavengerNick CurrieStacy DangPerry DefiglioDaniel DoomanMariam EbrahimiKoltton Fox

2013 SupportersSince incorporating in 1995, we have been able to stay in the game because of the financial, in-kind, and human resource support from our community. We sincerely thank all of our past, present and future supporters for their commitment to #selfexpression #communication and #social change.

Rhonda FryeBrooke GrandberryCourtney GrayWayde GrinsteadLuisa HawkinsBrigitte HolidayClaire HolmesAndrew HoltzLinda HornbeckLaTonya HowardColleen IudiceHelena Jewell-WhiteMorgan KelleyDerek KessenRobert & Christine KowalckCarla LeathermanJeffrey LightCheryl MaplesdenEric MarkowitzJeff MartinNicole MatassaJen MavesDemetrice McClamHeather McCulloughBrooke MeadowsAmber MohammadNicole MoylanNesheba & Shom MuhammadAndrea NashLisa OppenheimDenise PerryDan PetersonAlex PetrovskyYvonne PettersonLiz PomroyCorazon RegaladoJoanne ReillyHeather RidoutShannon RomanowskiEva Rosberg

Jake RubensteinSusan SakamotoKhadijah SalehFlassteen SalehFia SchlosserLawrence SezerGary SilversteinShannon SmythThomas StewartKaryn SzurgotDebbie TaylorGeorge TchakanakisSasha ThanGayle UlrichChrisVan HarenJoseph WellingLisa WhiteDavid WinerBeth WinerBruce Winograd

photos by Alissa Pagels

Raffle ItemsCheers to the following donors for supporting Street-Level with some in-kind goodies for tonight’s raffle:

Adler PlanetariumAramark

Broadway In ChicagoChicago Blue Dolphins

Chicago DinerChicago School of Folk Music

Chicago White SoxChicago Wolves

ComedySportz TheatreDesign Hype Dr. Martens

The Field MuseumGuitar Center

Lettuce Entertain YouLou Malnati’s Pizzeria

ObsideriteOtterBox

Trader Joes

Thank you to all our guests, performers, and volunteers, and a big warm hug to everyone who sponsored a youth to attend tonight’s event.

www.street-level.org