Chicago Sukkah Design Festival amplifies cross-cultural unification in North Lawndale

CHICAGO (WLS) -- The 2024 Chicago Sukkah Design Festival (CSDF) is an annual public art and architecture exhibition of outdoor pavilions, celebrating cultural heritage, interfaith and interracial solidarity.

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In its third year, the family-friendly festival pairs community organizations in Chicago's North Lawndale neighborhood with diverse architectural designers to design and construct sukkahs - small outdoor pavilions built for the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.

They are created to explore urban design and creative placemaking strategies that amplify identity, access, and belonging in public spaces.

The festival will kick off with an Opening Celebration on October 6, where visitors can meet the talented designers, explore the architectural pavilions, and celebrate the beauty of community while enjoying food, art-making activities, participatory performances, and more.

All programming is free and open to the public

"The Chicago Sukkah Festival celebrates cultural heritage and amplifies solidarity among the Jewish community who lived in North Lawndale historically, the predominantly Black community that resides there today, and the broader Chicago community," says CSDF Artistic Director Joseph Altshuler and Cofounder of Could Be Design. "During the Festival days, the landscape of unique sukkah structures is activated with cross-cultural public programming, co-organized with the Lawndale Pop-Up Spot, bringing together intersectional pairings of neighborhood groups."

After the 20-day Festival, each sukkah will be relocated and permanently re-installed at the facilities of the community organizations that co-designed them, as vibrant new program spaces. Examples from 2023 include a sukkah as a rooftop playscape, a heritage museum installation, a meditation and healing pavilion, a community memorial, and a tool library kiosk.

The exhibition takes place October 6 through the 26th in North Lawndale at James Stone Freedom Square.