Changing Worlds, a nonprofit which fosters inclusive communities through oral history, writing and art programs that improve student learning, affirm identity and enhance cross-cultural understanding, held their annual benefit May 8. Among their honorees this year was cultural advocate and lesbian activist Jane M. Saks.
Saks has worked to challenge and champion issues of gender, sexuality, human rights, race and power within the worlds of arts and culture, politics and civil rights, policy and advocacy, academia and philanthropy.
She is the founding executive director of the Ellen Stone Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and Media, Columbia College Chicago.
Latin dance performances, student presentations, a Q & A session with youth participants, and artwork exhibitions were at the heart of Changing Worlds’ 11th Annual Benefit.
More than 230 attendees joined together in a celebration of the arts, education and cultural awareness.
See www.changingworlds.org.