Chicago, Illinois
Modern storytelling has many roots in Chicago — the city is the birthplace of slam poetry, an incubator for improv and stand-up comedy, and home to countless famed newsrooms, theaters, recording studios and universities across more than 75 distinct neighborhoods.
The alumni of Chicago nonfiction storytellers include oral historian Studs Terkel, poets Gwendolyn Brooks and Carl Sandberg, film critics Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel, broadcaster Oprah Winfrey, and more comedians than we can list.
The goal of the Chicago VC Hub is to carry on those legacies and strengthen today's networks of nonfiction storytellers, documentary filmmakers and video journalists.
Collectively, we can create vital "third spaces," beyond work and home, that foster meaningful connections, bolster careers, and inspire collaborations.