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ZIMPROV performs at the Art in Action Festival

Published on 6/4/2006

By Eva Ewing

It's daring, but I'll say it: summer is heading our way. The season of warmth and love is upon us, and with it, all the trappings that make days above seventy-five degrees so delicious. The time is now for ice cream, and lounging around in the sun, and, of course, that Saturday event which is foremost among institutions of summer in the city: the block party. But to have a block party, you need a neighborhood, and that’s an area in which a lot of UofC students are woefully lacking. Many campus denizens feel little or no personal connection to the neighborhoods surrounding our dear alma mater; they feel like members of the UofC community, but not members of the South Side community. The Southside Solidarity Network aims to change that by bringing UofC students and members of the Hyde Park, Kenwood, and Woodlawn communities together over things they all love: music and free food. On Saturday, May 27, the Southside Solidarity Network presents Art in Action, a good oldfashioned block party with aspirations to bridge the gap between the town and the gown. The group is a student-run organization that “works to promote improved relations and a better understanding between the University community and the communities surrounding the University,” says second-year member Clare Johnson. “We work to promote this goal through researching and providing educational events. In addition, we hold events that will promote greater interaction and openness on the part of both communities.” The Southside Solidarity Network evolved out of the older group Angels of Def, a student organization that started a few years ago with the goal of academically examining the social transformations of the South Side in conjunction with the Student/Tenant Organizing Project, or STOP. “At the beginning of this year, Angels of Def decided to change its name to Southside Solidarity Network and to shift its focus from research to some more proactive projects, such as Art in Action.” First-year Hannah Jacoby is also involved in the group, which she says has a pleasant camaraderie without a topdown way of doing things. “There’s not one leader or president, and at this point the group is small enough that our decisions can be group decisions.” Art in Action will feature an impressive mix of presentations from both UofC and Woodlawn: installations of student photographs from a Habitat for Humanity trip to New Orleans, the University of Chicago Pep Band, a reading by local writer Cliff Joseph, performances by Off-Off Campus and large-scale puppet company the Puppet Posse, and a poetry slam open to any hopeful contenders. “We want to facilitate a greater activist and artist community,” says Johnson. “And we hope to create a more connected community across traditional University boundaries.” But the Art in Action organizers are perhaps most excited about the musical acts they’ve got lined up. Jazz/funk ensemble Zimprov will be the first to take the stage, led by Alabamaborn percussionist Zimbabu, or Zim, who calls himself “the Bruce Lee of drums.” Zimbabu has been featured at the Chicago Jazz Festival and the Berlin Jazz Festival, and his influences run the gamut from John Coltrane to Jimi Hendrix. Zimprov says that their concept is “one that allows the inner spirit to speak harmoniously, melodically and in rhythm with the universe.” Their performance is co-sponsored by WHPK 88.5 FM.



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ZIMPROV performs at the Art in Action Festival