“We hold on to people.”

This refrain centers the poem that Chicago’s first Poet Laureate, avery r. young, wrote in honor of the Logan Center’s 10th anniversary. It exemplifies the ways in which the Logan Center has worked to build lasting relationships and meaningful partnerships. And it speaks to the way that faculty members, artists, community members, students, and staff have come to experience and invent this building as a space of creative possibility over the past decade.

Something about the Logan Center engenders creative exploration. Perhaps it is the artistry assembled in the architecture—the open spaces and expansive views that create space for convening, gathering, reflecting, and creating. 

Perhaps it is the feeling of connection that comes from people gathered inside—those who walk through the open doors again and again to see, make, reflect on, discuss, and debate art, and to begin to realize their visions of artistic practice in the world.

avery's poem demonstrates the nuance of what it means to be an artist in relationship with a place over time. As he illustrates moments when he has performed, taught, mentored, and crafted, we experience with him the memories of artists and community members who have moved through the space over the years.

avery is a force: an interdisciplinary artist and a visionary. Over the last ten years, he has been part of the building’s evolution as a creator and an audience member, and the walls of the Logan Center hold echoes of his creative collaboration and care. His poem is an intimate walk that conjures the potential of an open and welcoming future. When we find a place where we hold onto people, we don’t only want to visit—we want to return.

—Emily Hooper-Lansana., Senior Director of Programming & Engagement, Logan Center

dream no.3653 | written by avery r. young
for the Reva & David Logan Center for the Arts on the occasion of its 10th Anniversary.
Click on the images to read in pop-out, or view the poem as a PDF here >>