National Public Housing Museum exterior; photo courtesy National Public Housing Museum

By CGN Staff via PR

The National Public Housing Museum has opened in Chicago, and it's been 18 years in the making. The new cultural space marks the culmination of a journey to complete an expansive adaptive reuse project of the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes in Chicago's Little Italy neighborhood at 919 S. Ada Street. Founded by public housing residents, the Museum is a place to experience stories of hope and personal achievement amid struggle, resistance, and resilience. The Museum aims to preserve an important building as well as the many experiences and stories that happened within its walls – and the walls of other public housing structures. It also seeks to cultivate stories that are yet to come, both for individuals who may have spent time in public housing as well as those whose lives have been quite removed from public housing.

“This museum was built by hundreds of dedicated people who have made it a reality,” said Sunny Fischer, Co-Founder and Board Chair for the National Public Housing Museum. “They shared their stories, and they patiently provided their labor and love and support over the last 18

years. As a Site of Conscience, we join museums around the world committed to telling complicated and difficult stories, preserving history, and imagining a more just future.”

“Growing up in public housing, I saw the strength, pride, and resilience of our communities, which are too often erased,” said Francine Washington, Chairperson of the Central Advisory Committee for the Chicago Housing Authority and board member of the National Public Housing

Museum. “This Museum is personal. It’s the first in the country to tell our stories–not just the bricks and buildings but the people who made public housing, home. We’ve always had a voice. Now we have a place that listens.”

Inside the Historic Apartments; photo credit Percy Ollie Jr. of Ollie Photography, Inc.

“The National Public Housing Museum is dedicated to the belief that housing is a human right,” said Executive Director Dr. Lisa Yun Lee. “The dazzling stories, precious keepsakes, compelling cultural production of public housing, and activism of public housing residents have much to teach us. And because housing insecurity and injustice is such a critical issue facing so many people across our nation, the National Public Housing Museum will be an important civic anchor that brings people together to imagine innovative solutions and envision a more

equitable future.”

In a recent interview with NPR's Alison Cuddy, Lee shared "We believe that in order to preserve history, you have to make it relevant to the most critical social justice issues of today and that there is no way that we can actually address any of the social issues that we want to unless we go back in time and ask, what have we not yet learned from history?"

The museum celebrated its opening with a weekend-long celebration, including meet-and-greets with artists, hands-on art-making sessions, and even a dance party emceed by DJ Spinderella.

Highlights of Museum exhibitions include:

Restored Apartments

Three historic apartments from different generations of public housing residents that engage and teach visitors about the cultural, social, and economic history of housing.

Everyday Objects

Artifacts, objects and stories from public housing across the country that encourage empathy and connection. By foregrounding storytelling, the National Public Housing Museum encourages innovative and creative public policy that responds to people’s lived experiences.

Art and Exhibition Spaces

Enthralling art that expands people’s imaginations and their horizons of learning. Highlights include a public art commission by internationally renowned artists Amanda Williams and Olalekan Jeyifous and the Alphawood Foundation Sculpture Garden with restored WPA-era

Animal Court sculptures by Edgar Miller.

Oral History Archive and Oral History Collective

The Museum is home to the nation’s largest archive of the stories of public housing residents. These stories are featured in podcasts, exhibits, research, and scholarship. The new building includes the Dr. Timuel Black Recording Studio.

Empowerment Hub

Good Chaos Empowerment Hub

The National Public Housing Museum has a space dedicated to programs that address the racial wealth gap, build solidarity economies and cooperatives, and create a cultural workforce that contributes to diversifying the museum profession.

Corner Store Co-op

Alvin H. Baum Family Foundation Museum Store

In place of traditional museum retail, the National Public Housing Museum’s official shop is co-owned and operated by public housing residents.

Demand the Impossible

Doris Conant Advocacy Space

Here, visitors participate in discussions of social justice issues to encourage action and meaningful civic dialogue. The Museum enables people to understand principles of urban planning and systemic racism to find new ways of addressing segregation. Through the Doris Conant Advocacy Space, visitors learn to challenge perceptions of what public housing was in order to re-imagine the future of housing for all.

The REC Room

An interactive exhibit curated by DJ Spinderella that showcases the music that has emerged from public housing projects, encompassing a range of popular sounds that have expanded our idea of American culture and American identity.

The National Public Housing Museum is now open at 919 S. Ada Street in Chicago. General admission is free and open to all. Historic Apartment Tours can only be experienced through a

guided tour led by a Museum educator, with a limited number of tickets available each day ($25 adults, $15 seniors, students, and children; free for Members). The Museum is open Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., with extended hours on Thursdays until 8 p.m.

More information about the museum's hours and programs may be found at www.nphm.org