Ayana Contreras

I am passionate about sound and color. I work in radio, serving as Music Director/Director of Content at Vocalo Radio 91.1fm in Chicago, an NPR affiliated station that is the country’s first Urban Alternative formatted station. My first professional hosting gig was hosting WBEZ’s “Global Overnight” program in 2007. I am currently also host/producer of Reclaimed Soul, a weekly radio program that airs on Vocalo (sister station of WBEZ) and on WBEZ in Chicago. Additionally, I’m a columnist and reviewer for DownBeat Magazine.

My first book dropped in 2021 via University of Illinois Press: Energy Never Dies: Afro-optimism and Creativity in Chicago, which documents the cultural contributions (via art, music, advertising, and media) that post-civil rights era Black Chicago gave to the world, and how that work still influences today’s cultural creatives.

From 2017 until 2020, I served as a producer for a nationally-distributed radio show called Sound Opinions, which is hosted by Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis. My mission with my productions is to illuminate issues and perspectives that are too often left out of mainstream media. I also want my work to shift perceptions about what we choose to value (and what we don’t value nearly enough).

In 2014/2015, I was an Arts + Public Life resident artist at the University of Chicago. Before that, I was a resident artist at Theaster Gates’ Dorchester Projects (an experiment in re-valuing the undervalued and rebuilding a community). 

I also love Chicago: where we’re going and where we’ve been.

ALL VIDEOS CREATED BY ON THE REAL FILM • https://www.ontherealfilm.com