Chicago Critic’s Table Announces 2025 Cohort, Fostering New Voices in Cultural Criticism
CHICAGO, IL – March 27, 2025 Arts + Public Life (APL) at the University of Chicago is thrilled to announce the 2025 cohort of the Chicago Critic’s Table, an eight-month paid incubator program designed to cultivate emerging voices in cultural criticism. The program provides a unique opportunity for participants to deepen their critical practice, build a supportive network, and engage with Chicago’s vibrant arts and culture scene.
The 2025 cohort consists of seven talented individuals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines:
Felicia Holman: Interdisciplinary artist, cultural facilitator, arts programmer, and writer. As a co-founder of Honey Pot Performance and as an independent artist, Holman has performed both nationally and internationally. Holman's work, grounded in critical thought and community building, has been featured in publications such as Sixty Inches From Center, The Quarantine Times, and Performance Response Journal.
Cortlyn Kelly: Film and culture critic, personal essayist, and art enthusiast. Kelly, who holds a Master of Arts in Humanities from the University of Chicago, is the creator of the publication The Art Idiot. She is also a co-host of Kaveh & CK’s Screening Room and Co-Chair for the Black Harvest Film Festival Community Council.
Maira Khwaja: Writer, educator, multimedia producer, and human rights reporter. Based at the Invisible Institute, Khwaja's curatorial practice has emphasized interactive installations to make space for difficult conversations on Chicago Police policy and practice. She is the editor of the Chicago Police Torture Archive. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, South Side Weekly, and The Funambulist.
Yasmin Zacaria Mikhaiel: Arts journalist, oral historian, cultural producer, and dramaturg with roots in and around Chicago. As a queer, fat, Iranian-American femme, they endeavor to amplify and archive stories that go lost/stolen/forgotten. Mikhaiel's work amplifies marginalized voices and has been published in American Theatre magazine, the Chicago Reader, In These Times, and Teen Vogue.
Bri Robinson: Digital griot, art historian, analog collagist and Midwestern propagandist curious about the coalescence of art, sociology, and the technological. Devoted to amplifying perspectives from Black Midwesterners, both through traditional curatorial practices and innovative digital platforms, Bri is the co-founder of WITH(IN).DIGITAL, a pioneering initiative dedicated to supporting Black artists and creatives.
Nekita Thomas: Multidisciplinary experiential graphic designer, educator, and researcher harnessing design for social impact, particularly at the intersection of race, well-being, and urban design. Her work bridges graphic design, tactical urbanism, and civic engagement. Nekita is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Design for Responsible Innovation at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Jen Torwudzo-Stroh: Freelance writer and nonprofit administrator. Torwudzo-Stroh is committed to documenting contemporary moments authentically, with a focus on artists of color in the Midwest, particularly those across the African diaspora, ensuring their voices are part of the historical record. Her writing has appeared in Sixty Inches From Center, Chicago Reader, Newcity Magazine, and Hyperallergic.
[Read their full bios here]
This cohort will be led by Tempestt Hazel, a curator, writer, and co-founder of Sixty Inches From Center. Sixty is a collective of editors, writers, artists, curators, librarians, and archivists who have published and produced collaborative projects about artists, archival practice, and culture in the Midwest since 2010, and aims to broaden the definition of criticism and create new avenues for critical engagement. The program will run from April to November 2025, featuring a 10-week intensive followed by an 11-week collaborative curriculum, culminating in a public program in fall 2025 co-organized with this cohort.
“I'm looking forward to how Critic's Table can provide the rare chance for us all–both the cohort and myself–to move between the largely solitary practice of writing and the collective space of thinking together,” said Tempestt Hazel. “Having this space will allow us to sharpen our ideas, reroot our practices, and discuss how we sustain ourselves and the work. I can't wait to explore what our writing can do and what it needs to be right now and into the future as we simultaneously take a critical lens to the distinct cultural moment that we're in. We need each other as writers right now.”
The Chicago Critic’s Table was originally launched in 2023 by Adrienne Brown, director of Arts + Public Life and UChicago’s Associate Professor in the Departments of English and Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity. The program seeks to support innovative forms of criticism, seed collaborations, and create new convenings for artists, critics, and audiences.
“The sustainability of the arts in our communities requires that we attend to the physical and social life of art beyond its immediate production by also tending to its reception and circulation,” said Adrienne Brown, “By supporting a new generation of critics, we also seek to shape the work and careers of local artists, expand what we consider criticism and who we consider critics, and help connect audiences to new work.”
Recognizing the passion and commitment of critics across Chicago, highlighted by the record number of applications received for the open call in October 2024, Chicago Critic’s Table is also committed to fostering a broader community among critics by hosting public events designed for dialogue and networking.
About Arts + Public Life:
Arts + Public Life (APL), an initiative of UChicago Arts, is a dynamic hub of exploration, expression, and exchange that fosters neighborhood vibrancy through the arts on the South Side of Chicago. As a neighborhood platform for arts and culture in Washington Park, APL provides residencies for local artists and creative entrepreneurs, arts education for youth, and artist-led programming and exhibitions.
About Chicago Critic’s Table:
The Chicago Critic’s Table is an eight-month paid incubator for emerging Chicago cultural critics. Hosted by Arts + Public Life, Chicago Critic’s Table offers emerging critics the opportunity to build an enduring network of colleagues working in a range of media, methods, and platforms in order to support and experiment with each other as they continue to develop their voice, practice, and audience. Learn More about Chicago Critic’s Table