I am very honored to announce that I have been selected to be Artist of The Corridor by the City of Urbana. Urbana is my home town and its been a wonderful year of working as an artist here and reconnecting to the local art's community. My work will be on display both in the lobby of the City of Urbana Building, and in the cafe area of the Urbana Public Library. The show includes images from my Micrometeorite Collector Experiment, and my newer Orion project. 

Join us this Saturday for the Opening Reception of Centum Cellulosa; one hundred cellular drawings by artist Elizabeth Boyd Hartmann.

While formally a jeweler by training this collection of drawings is an important part of Hartmann’s studio practice and the drawings have led to another body of drawings and objects: Cellula Praecursoria. The body of work focusing on cellular forms was one of the artist’s ways of processing her husband’s journey through his diagnosis and recovery from bone cancer.

See more of her work here on her website: http://www.elizabethboydhartmann.com/

On Friday night, Dec. 4, there will be a victory party for the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice as the Independent Media Center.

The event will be this Friday 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at the Independent Media Center (202 S. Broadway, old Urbana post office).

On October 22, the FCC ruled to cap the cost of phone calls at jails and prisons in the U.S. This will bring relieve for thousands of individuals incarcerated and their families. For years, predatory phone companies have profited off of our most vulnerable members of society.

To find out more about this important victory, you can listen to this NPR story, or read UCIMC's own Brian Dolinar’s article at Truthout.

Please join us for the Annual IMC Membership Gathering and Meeting, Sunday December 6th from 2-4:30pm in the Sunroom of the IMC.

During the meeting we will build friendships, celebrate our work from this last year, vote on board members and structure changes, brainstorm adventures for the next year - and sing!

Food from the Red Herring with be provided. The space is wheelchair accessible from the south entrance.

Champaign Urbana for Bernie Sanders hosts the Bernie Sanders Debate Watch on Saturday, November 14th from 7:00pm - 9:30pm in the Stage Room at the IMC.

This event is free and open to the public.

Opening Reception

This is a series dedicated to my hometown, Changping, usually called the garden of Beijing; a suburb of eighteen districts. During the summer 2013, I went along the Changping metro line tracks. As proof of the compelling ambition and overwhelming speed of the development of the country, Changping metro line took only one year to complete, and became the fourteenth line in Beijing.

China has recently exhibited a resurrection of the industrial revolution. A booming capitalist economy has shaken the old system of wealth, as rapid technological developments cannot wait to replace traditional living habits and the decline of ethical standards tolls the death of parting days. My series is not meant to be simply an elegy for a loss of naturalism in modern society. China’s changes are even more fundamental and drastic. Socialism and its countless variations leave this land with an undeniable legacy, and an unbearable spiritual debt. However, this series is not merely a judgment of a certain scheme that tries to benefit the people but ultimately results in the exact opposite. It’s an epitome and allegory for the dilemma of the country.

The FCC will make a historic vote Thursday 9:30am Central TZ to lower the cost of phone calls from jails and prisons. Please join us in watching the FCC hearing online. You can follow it on Twitter at the hashtag #PhoneJustice.
 

Thanks to the CU activist community for following this story, which the IMC has covered locally since 2004-5 when we renegotiated the phone contract for the Champaign County Jail.

Application Deadline Extended!

Independent Media Center Seeks Part-time Operations Manager

The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center (IMC) is seeking a part-time Operations Manager.

Founded in 2000, the IMC is a grassroots organization committed to using media, arts, and technology to promote social and economic justice. We own the downtown Urbana post office building where we operate a performance venue, art gallery and studios, community radio station, media training facility, and community media space. Our projects include Makerspace Urbana, Books to Prisoners, the Public i Newspaper, WRFU 104.5 FM. The center is powered by hundreds of volunteers who come together in a do-it-yourself spirit to create media and art to transform our community and world.

Position is 20 hours a week. $12/hr. Benefits: 10 paid holidays.

Please send a letter of interest, resume, and three references (2 related to previous employment) to

James Kilgore will talk about his new book, "Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time." It will be Thursday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. at the Independent Media Center (202 S. Broadway, Urbana)

Copies will be available for $15.

This event will also be a fundraiser for First Followers, a new re-entry program at AME Bethel in Champaign.

“An excellent, much-needed introduction to the racial, political, and economic dimensions of mass incarceration.” —Michelle Alexander

Both field guide and primer, Understanding Mass Incarceration is an essential resource for those engaged in criminal justice activism as well as those new to the subject.

Sponsored by: GEO Solidarity Committee, Jobs With Justice, UCIMC, Build Programs Not Jails, and First Followers.

Join us for Peace Jam!, music for a world without violence!



Peace Jam is a kick-off for Domestic Violence Awareness Month featuring live music, performances, art, and a resource fair aimed at speaking out against abuse within relationships and coming together as a community to support survivors and end domestic violence. Join us for as we kick of a month-long series of events and programs aimed at ending abuse within relationships. This event is open to all ages. 

Wednesday, October 7