For Immediate Release

NPR PRESENTS ‘MICHEL MARTIN: GOING THERE’
IN COLLABORATION WITH WBEZ Chicago
 
LIVE EVENT JUNE 14 AT THE ATHENAEUM THEATRE FEATURES STORYTELLING AND PERFORMANCE
 
TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW AT WBEZ.ORG/EVENTS
and WWW.Athenaeumtheatre.org Box Office - 773-935-6875

May 23, 2016; Chicago, IL — NPR’s Michel Martin, weekend host of All Things Considered, will be at Athenaeum Theatre on Tuesday, June 14 to host Michel Martin: Going There about the Chicago Freedom Movement: Then and Now. This unique live event will mark the 50^th Anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s northern campaign, when he addressed segregated housing, as well as employment and education issues in Chicago. NPR and WBEZ Chicago have partnered to create this live stage conversation and performance as part of the national touring series NPR Presents Michel Martin: Going There.
 
“It is often said that those who don’t know the past are condemned to repeat it… I believe this is a part of Martin Luther King’s story, and part of the history of the civil rights movement, that many people still don’t know. It is an honor to be a part of bringing this important story to life, along with our colleagues at WBEZ, and it is exciting to consider how the issues of a half century ago are playing out today,” said Martin.
 
The discussion will continue online and the public is invited to participate, using the hashtag # NPRChicagoFreedom and by following @NPRMichel and @WBEZ.
 
The event will be streamed live on Facebook at the NPRExtra page and recorded for a featured segment on a weekend broadcast of All Things Considered. Martin will be joined onstage by Malcolm London, Chicago poet, activist and educator, and Beryl Satter, professor of history at Rutgers University-Newark and author of Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America. Also participating in the conversation will be Jack Macnamara, the lead organizer of the Contract Buyers League of Chicago whose work was chronicled in Family Properties and Tania Unzueta, co-founder and organizer with the Immigrant Youth Justice League. The panel will be bookended by performances from the Chicago Children’s Choir and Young Chicago Authors.
 
In collaboration with NPR Member stations, Michel Martin: Going There is part of NPR’s national events series. Martin connects people with different perspectives, histories and experiences.  She encourages them to share ideas, hopes, frustrations and solutions in sometimes difficult, often poignant, but always engaging conversations. During its first season, Martin held Going There events in seven communities across the country, where she explored everything from the ethics of football, to education reform, to diversity in theater to immigration stories. This season Martin is taking the studio to the story in Des Moines, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Fort Collins and Chicago.
 
NPR Presents Michel Martin: Going There is made possible by Kresge Foundation, and by a collaboration between NPR and WBEZ Chicago.
 
ABOUT NPR
NPR connects to audiences on the air, online, and in person. More than 26 million radio listeners tune in to NPR member stations each week and more than 30 million unique visitors access NPR.org each month making NPR one of the most trusted sources of news and insights on life and the arts. NPR shares compelling stories, audio and photos with millions of social media users on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube and Snapchat; NPR News and NPR One apps, online streaming, podcasts, iTunes radio and connected car dashboards help meet audiences where they are. NPR's live events bring to the stage two-way conversations between NPR hosts and the audience in collaboration with the public radio Member Station community. This robust access to public service journalism makes NPR an indispensable resource in the media landscape.
 
About WBEZ
WBEZ 91.5 FM is the region’s premier public media service and Chicago’s exclusive station for NPR programming.  Our mission is to amplify conversations that matter by telling thought-provoking stories that entertain, capture emotion and inspire action. WBEZ produces two local shows The Morning Shift and Worldview, and has successfully launched three nationally acclaimed programs: This American Life, Wait Wait...Don’t Tell Me! (a co-production with NPR), and Sound Opinions. WBEZ Chicago is also extending the public radio experience through an innovative suite of digital products which enhance the listener experience. For more information, please visit www.wbez.org.
 
-NPR-
 
Media Contacts:
 
NPR
Isabel Lara / 202.513.2304 / mediarelations@npr.org
 
WBEZ
Kassie Stephenson / 312.948.4640 / kstephenson@wbez.org
 
EVENT SNAPSHOT
NPR Presents Michel Martin: Going There
Live event at Athenaeum Theatre, Chicago, IL
Tuesday, June 14 at 7 PM
Tickets $20/$10 students (with ID), available now at wbez.org/events  www.athenaeumtheatre.org Box Office 773-935-6875