“ARTS IN SOLIDARITY” A Benefit Concert for Immigrant Legal Defense
Sunday, September 7, 2025
5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center
4046 West Armitage Avenue Chicago, IL 60639
$25 suggested donation / no one turned away
ABOUT THE EVENT
An ad-hoc volunteer collective of local arts presenters and advocates has come together to raise funds for legal defense and to speak out against the ongoing persecution of our family, friends, and neighbors by law enforcement agencies—often without due process. This group has curated a powerful event featuring cultural voices from across the community. All proceeds will support legal expenses resulting from detentions and prosecutions.
Participating artists confirmed to date are:
CARPACHO Y SU SUPER COMBO
LOS PLENEROS DE DON SEGUNDO
SURABHI ENSEMBLE
AFROCOLOMBIAN BAND “EPA!”
DAMON LOCKS
LUIS TUBENS - Emcee
Speakers confirmed to date::
AISLINN PULLEY
ALEJANDRA OLIVA
With additional news to be announced
The organizers bring together this international chorus of voices to express solidarity with people targeted by ICE and other para-military forces.
We are alarmed by the attacks and the ongoing psychological and physical trauma they cause, and seek to assist in adequately fighting the mounting legal battles immigrants are facing.
The program will raise funds for The Midwest Immigration Bond Fund
PURCHASE TICKETS HERE
During the event, speakers will provide information on how you can help and a literature table will include education info, “Know Your Rights”, and other useful resources.
The organizers of the concert have donated their labor to create this event. The money raised above event production expenses will directly support the beneficiaries. The event is ticketed with a minimum suggested donation of $25 but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
The event is open to all ages with parental supervision.
The non-profit concert producers are also accepting donations from event sponsors to offset the production expenses via HotHouse.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
LOS PLENEROS DE DON SEGUNDO
Born at the Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (SRBCC), Los Pleneros de Don Segundo have been performing original plena music in Chicago since 2016. They have become one of the city’s most sought-after Afro-Puerto Rican folkloric groups, known for their commitment to advancing the genre through original compositions and arrangements, and a celebration of plena as music of resistance.
SURABHI ENSEMBLE
The Surabhi Ensemble is a Chicago-based world music collective that blends diverse musical traditions, including Indian, Arabic, African, and Spanish flamenco. Founded by Saraswathi Ranganathan (veena) and Carlo Basile (guitar) and featuring Ronnie Malley (oud) and Bob Garrett (percussion) along with special guests, the ensemble tastefully fosters cross-cultural connections through music and dance. The ensemble often incorporates traditional dance forms from various cultures into their music performances.
CARPACHO Y SU SUPER COMBO
Carpacho y su Super Combo is a fun, high-energy group specializing in Colombian Salsa and other Tropical dance styles like Cumbia, Merengue, Latin Jazz, and Cha Cha. Carpacho y su Super Combo started in 1986 with a main idea of integrating the band with musicians and sounds from various Latin American countries including Puerto Rico, Ecuador, and Colombia.
AFROCOLOMBIAN BAND “EPA!”
Ecos del Pacifico Afrocolombia is a Chicago-based group formed in 2006 by Julio Cesar Montaño Montenegro and steeped in the Afro-Colombian music and dance traditions of the Pacific coast of Colombia. The group features members of the Montaño Arboleda family and a diverse complement of Chicago musicians of various ethnicities performing on traditional Afro-Colombian percussion, marimba, guitar, clarinet, and bass. Ecos del Pacifico focuses on the Pacific cost sounds of Currulao, one of the most African influenced-styles in all of Colombia, The music is centered around a drum known as a "cununo", which superficially resembles the "alegre" drum (used in Cumbia), and a shaker known in parts of Colombia as a "guasá" or "guache", and Colombian marimba, a wooden xylophone which resembles the African balafon.
DAMON LOCKS featured DJ
Damon Locks is a Chicago-based visual artist, educator, vocalist/musician and DJ. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago where he received his BFA in fine arts. Since 2014 he has been working with the Prisons and Neighborhood Arts Project at Stateville Correctional Center teaching art. He is a 2025 recipient of the Creative Capital Award. In 2017 he became a Soros Justice Media Fellow. He received a Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Achievement Award in the Arts in 2015. In 2019, he became a 3Arts Awardee. He spent 4 years as an artist in residence as a part of the Museum of Contemporary Arts’ SPACE Program, introducing civically engaged art into the curriculum at Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy High School. He teaches Improvisation in the Sound Department at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Damon leads the Black Monument Ensemble, is a member of New Future City Radio, Exploding Star Orchestra and co-founded the band The Eternals.
EMCEE: LUIS TUBENS
Luis Tubens, a.k.a “Logan Lu”, was born in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood and raised in Logan Square. In 2014, he earned a B.A. in Communications, media and theater from Northeastern Illinois University. Luis has performed poetry across the United States including with the GUILD COMPLEX, Tia Chucha Press, and the National Museum of Mexican Art.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
ALEJANDRA OLIVA, MIBF BOARD CO-VICE PRESIDENT
Alejandra Oliva is the Co-Vice President of the Midwest Immigration Bond Fund, as well as the author of the book Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith and Migration.
AISLINN PULLEY
Aislinn Pulley is a co-executive director of the Chicago Torture Justice Center founded out of the historic 2015 reparations ordinance for survivors of Chicago police torture. Aislinn is also the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Chicago.
ABOUT THE RECIPIENT
The Midwest Immigration Bond Fund was formed through a coalition in 2020 and began paying out immigration bonds for IL, IN, WI, and KY residents as funds allow in February 2021.
The Midwest Immigration Bond Fund facilitates a revolving immigration bond fund to pay immigration bonds that frees individuals from ICE custody and gathers community to advocate for the abolition of immigration detention and surveillance.
ABOUT THE EVENT ORGANIZERS
A broad array of community based NGO’s, solidarity organizations, religious congregations, peace activists and others, are joining the organizers and supporting this event with outreach and volunteer efforts.
The ad-hoc volunteer committee organizing this event are:
Presented by host committee: Marguerite Horberg, Jaime Garza, Juan Dies, Nan Warshaw, Omar Torres-Kortright, Shawn Lent, Elsie Hernandez, and Brian Keigher.
This group represents many seasoned arts administrators who have enjoyed collaborating on building community-based projects over the years.
HotHouse is an award-winning non-profit arts and education institution in Chicago that has programmed international events for 39 years.
Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (SRBCC) is the longest-standing Latiné cultural center in Chicago. Established in 1971, it was named in honor of Segundo Ruiz Belvis, a Puerto Rican patriot and member of a secret abolitionist society that freed children who had been enslaved under Spanish rule. In that spirit, SRBCC realizes its mission to preserve and promote appreciation of the culture and arts of Puerto Rico and Latin America, with a focus on its African heritage.
