Creative Communities, Collective Futures

The National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC) has announced registration for the 2026 Chicago Regional is now open!
We invite you to join us in Chicago, IL, November 12-14, 2026, for an exciting gathering with community members, arts and culture practitioners, as well as local and national leaders. Together, we’ll connect, spark ideas, share experiences, and celebrate the creative energy shaping our communities across the Chicago region and beyond.

Celebrate the opening of the 2026 Chicago Regional on Thursday, November 12 with an Opening Reception at Co-Prosperity. Connect with Chicago’s vibrant arts and culture community, build new relationships, and enjoy special performances.

Two full days of interactive sessions and presentations begin November 13-14 at the University of Chicago Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society. Attend workshops, panels and artist talks, and performances led by local and regional artists, culture bearers, and organizations.

Registration is limited, so register early to reserve your place.

 

 

Contratiempo will be presenting:

Who documents the history of immigrant communities, and whose voices become part of the cultural record?

This session explores how community-based cultural organizations can become creators and stewards of living archives, preserving histories through storytelling, literature, oral histories, artistic work, conversation, and collective memory. Drawing from Contratiempo’s more than 20 years of cultural creation —including the publication of 157 magazine issues, public programming, and radio conversations—the presentation examines what becomes visible when immigrant communities document their own experiences in real time.

Participants will also be invited to consider their own organizations as sites of memory and reflect on how publications, recordings, artistic works, and community gatherings happening today can become vital records for future generations.