Info Session: Beauty Turner Academy
Join us to learn more about being a part of the Beauty Turner Academy of Oral History, a paid oral history training program for current and former public housing residents.
Grand Opening Weekend
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National Public Housing Museum
919 South Ada Street
Chicago, IL 60607 - Free
- Register
Celebrate the power of place as the National Public Housing Museum opens the doors to our new home!
Join our diverse community of public housing residents, advocates, storytellers, art lovers, historians, and others for this festive opening weekend. Be among the first inside our renovated building—the last remaining building of the Jane Addams Homes—and explore our inaugural exhibits and installations, from the Animal Court and the REC Room to the lovingly recreated Historic Apartments.
Plus, enjoy talks, tours, workshops, and more—scroll down for a regularly updated schedule of events and engagements.
FREE ADMISSION, advance registration is required as space is limited. Tours of the Historic Apartments available by paid ticket.
TOURS
Historic Apartment Tours
Timed tours offered daily
$25 adults | $15 Seniors, students, and youth | Free for members with RSVP
Experience the texture of public housing throughout time by visiting three recreated historic apartments showcasing different families’ experiences at different moments in public housing history between 1938 and 1975. The intimate individual, family and community stories become the lens to understand large national public housing policies and their impact.
Friday tours are sold out.
The Historic Apartments can only be experienced through a guided tour led by one of our educators.
SCHEDULE
Unless noted, these experiences are free and are included as part of your entry to the National Public Housing Museum during the Grand Opening Weekend.
Friday, April 4, 2025
11 AM–1 PM
Founders Luncheon
By invitation only
2–6 PM
Museum Entry
On our Grand Opening Weekend, be among the first to experience the National Public Housing Museum and explore the story of public housing in America. As you explore the Museum, drop by our new program and community spaces to enjoy talks, receptions, workshops, and more.
2:30–3:30 PM
Power of Place: Meet and Greet
Our opening reception celebrates those who helped to preserve and interpret our largest artifact, the last remaining building of the historic Jane Addams Homes, and our three restored apartments, which invite visitors to experience public housing through intimate individual, family, and ABLA community stories.
3–5 PM
‘Red Carpet’ Mini-Interviews
Do you have a connection to public housing? What does “a right to a place to call home” mean to you? Stop by the Dr. Timuel Black Jr. Recording Studio to share your story! You can also sign up to participate in a full-length oral history interview—onsite or at tinyurl.com/narratorform.
5–6 PM
Welcome Home Happy Hour: Dance Party w/ DJ Spinderella
Join our joyous, multi-generational, community of current and former public housing residents, staff, board members, neighbors, artists, musicians and more, on the dance floor for a high-energy celebration of our momentous opening day! Featuring sounds from DJ Spinderella, Guest Curator of the REC Room, a museum exhibit that celebrates the cultural impact, and diverse history, of public housing artists and musicians.
Saturday, April 5, 2025
10 AM–5 PM
Museum Entry
On our Grand Opening Weekend, be among the first to experience the National Public Housing Museum and explore the story of public housing in America. As you explore the Museum, drop by our new program and community spaces to enjoy talks, receptions, workshops, and more.
11 AM–12 PM
Demand the Impossible: Arts, Culture, & Public Policy
Connect with past Artists as Instigators Tonika Lewis Johnson, William Estrada, and Marisa Morán Jahn, along with other creative organizers who inspire our action-oriented Demand the Impossible Advocacy Space, which leverages the power of arts, culture, and storytelling to impact public policy and create more justice for our communities.
12:30–1:30 PM
Public Housing Stories, Objects, & Style as Resistance
From sofa fabrics wrapped in plastic, to family heirlooms, photos, and stories, this special reception pays tribute to our exhibits and spaces such as Feeling at Home, History Lessons, Good Times, and our Dr. Timuel Black Jr. Recording Studio, each of which highlight how public housing residents across the nation leverage the power of storytelling and self-expression to resist erasure and spread joy.
3–4:30 PM
Posters for the People: Screen printing with William Estrada
Drop by the Living Room, make art with William Estrada, a past Artist as Instigator and founder of the Radical Printshop, and learn about the important history of the Works Progress Administration, which employed thousands of artists, many of whom were tasked with creating promotional posters for the programs and social values of the New Deal. And don’t forget to grab your free poster!
Sunday, April 6, 2025
10 AM–5 PM
Museum Entry
On our Grand Opening Weekend, be among the first to experience the National Public Housing Museum and explore the story of public housing in America. As you explore the Museum, drop by our new program and community spaces to enjoy talks, receptions, workshops, and more.
1–2 PM
Community, Cooperation, and Resident Empowerment
Connect with members of Corner Store Co-op, Taylor Street Farms, Section 3 businesses, vendors and other local and community partners engaged with our Empowerment Hub programs, which promote solidarity, cooperation, and community wealth-building through initiatives led by, and in partnership with public housing residents and communities.
2:30–4 PM
Black and Indigenous Love & Solidarity Workshop: Kitihawa and Jean Baptiste Point du Sable
Make a poster, and share your own personal love story (or moment of solidarity) as part of this hands-on workshop led by artist duo, Monica Rickert-Bolter and Joel Rickert. Inspired by Kitihawa and Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, the inter-ethnic couple who helped to establish the first permanent settlement in Zhegagoynak (the land that we now call Chicago). This workshop extends the exhibit Still Here: Histories of Displacement.
Other events
