Join the Illinois Humanities Council (IHC) as we celebrate the achievement of the 2012 Odyssey Project participants from all four Odyssey courses in Chicago: North Side, South Side, Spanish language, and the Bridge Course.

Deputy Commissioner of Arts Programming at the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs Angel Ysaguirre will give the keynote address.

The Odyssey Project is a free, eight-month program of college-level humanities courses for people living in poverty. Students in the class of 2012 took classes from September through May at the AKArama Center in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the South Side, the Howard Area Community Center in Rogers Park on the North Side, the IHC office in downtown Chicago, and in Spanish at the Gads Hill Center in the Pilsen neighborhood.

Angel Ysaguirre is the Deputy Commissioner at the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. His department programs ten of the City’s art-related venues, including Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center, and manages the creative industries, including the film office, music, fashion, and culinary arts. From 2005 to 2012, he was Director of Global Community Investing at The Boeing Company, overseeing the company’s grantmaking program in 60 offices throughout the globe. From 1999 to 2005, he was the Director of Programs at the Illinois Humanities Council. He began his career in Chicago as a program officer at the McCormick Tribune Foundation.

Refreshments will be served.

This event is by invitation only. Please RSVP by May 18, 2011.
For more information or an invitation, please call Amy Thomas Elder at 312.422.5580.