It’s less than two weeks before our two-night, 2nd anniversary event at Beverly Woods on April 26th and 27th. We’ll have ten readers from all walks of life telling stories about the South Side. Our first reader is Ayana Contreras.

Photo by Andrew Collings.

Ayana hosts Reclaimed Soul on Vocalo 91.1 FM (sister station to WBEZ). On her radio show, she works to document the narratives, history, and cultural significance of the music scene in 20th Century Chicago. She’s also a producer on Sound Opinions, which airs on WBEZ and over 100 public radio stations nationwide.

Ayana was a 2014/15 Arts+Public Life Artist-in-Residence at the University of Chicago, during which time she studied Chicago music and culture from the Post-Civil Rights era. She was a 2015 AIR New Voices Scholar through the Association of Independents in Radio and currently lives in the South Shore neighborhood.

Ayana will read on April 26th, the first of our two nights. See her at Beverly Woods at 730pm.