‘Beyond Closure’: A Screening & Discussion

The documentary Beyond Closure (2024) by On The Real Film and Borderless Studio recalls the history of Chicago’s 2013 school closures—the largest mass closure in U.S. history—and shares inspirational stories of community reclamation. Join us at Kennedy-King College in Englewood for a screening and panel discussion, in partnership with Go Green on Racine.

Taking a deeper look at three schools in Austin, Bronzeville, and Englewood, Beyond Closure amplifies community voices leading the repurposing of Emmet, Woods, and Overton schools. They reflect on the local impact of these closures, the struggle to reclaim school buildings for the public good, and the intertwined inequity, racism, and injustice that led to shuttering of 50 neighborhood schools all at once, mainly in low-income communities of color.

After the film, a panel discussion will bring together architects and community developers working on “The Regenerator,” a nexus for housing, healthcare, and jobs within the former Woods Academy, to address challenges overcome in the adaptive reuse. Borderless Studio’s Paola Aguirre Serrano moderates.