Explore accessible events!

How to use the calendar

Filter events by typing keywords into the search field below, or click on a keyword in an event to filter all events by that category.

Select "Submit an Event" to have your cultural organization's accessible event added to the Access Calendar.  

submit an event

Open Doors: Harriet Monroe Editors Panel with The Poetry Foundation

In conjunction with the exhibition opening for Harriet Monroe & the Open Door, we will host a conversation with Poetry’s four women guest editors from 2021-22: Esther G. Belin, Su Cho, Suzi F. Garcia, and Ashley M. Jones. Moderated by Carmen Giménez, this conversation shifts the frame of the Open Door series to spotlight the […]

  • ASL Interpreted
  • Captioning
  • Hybrid Program

Millie Bobby Brown in Conversation at Francis W. Parker School

Emmy-nominated actress Millie Bobby Brown can now add author to her list of accolades with her debut novel, Nineteen Steps. Set against the backdrop of World War II London in 1942, Brown’s main character, Nellie Morris, grapples with a world constantly threatened by conflict. Her chance meeting with American airman Ray broadens her horizons, yet […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Large Print Programs
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Naomi Klein in Conversation with V (Eve Ensler) at Francis W. Parker School

According to renowned social critic and author Naomi Klein, our world today is like a hall of mirrors, made up of conspiracy theories, AI-generated content blurring the lines between truth and fiction, and elusive digital doppelgangers. In this conversation about her newest work, Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, Klein offers a map to […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Novelist Zadie Smith at Francis W. Parker School

Literary powerhouse Zadie Smith is back with a new, highly-anticipated historical novel, The Fraud, which centers around the unforgettable Eliza Touchet and a real-life, explosive trial that divided Victorian England and asks who deserves to tell their story and who gets to be believed. Join Chicago Humanities and experience Smith’s iconic voice in person as […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Herman’s Lounge: A Night of Rhythm and Prose with The Poetry Foundation

Join us for an evening of enchantment as the Poetry Foundation transforms into Herman’s Lounge, a one night only jazz cabaret named in honor of the magician Black Herman. Dee Alexander (with John McLean), Ben LaMar Gay, keiyaA, and Gabrielle Octavia Rucker will interweave Chicago’s unique relationship to improv, poetry, and jazz. Co-curated by Jared […]

  • ASL Interpreted
  • Closed Captions
  • Free Event
  • Quiet Spaces
  • Wheelchair Accessible

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

Blown fuses, real and metaphorical, punctuate the action with flashes of pent up energy in this acclaimed play. The diminutive heroine frequently plunges the dilapidated house she shares with her alcoholic mother into darkness by playing her dead father’s records at a volume matched only by the soulful power of her vocal impressions. Little Voice […]

  • All Gender Restrooms
  • Captioning
  • Closed Captions

Sensory-Friendly Morning at Lincoln Park Zoo

On Sunday, September 24 from 8-10am, Lincoln Park Zoo is offering Sensory-Friendly Morning hours for guests with disabilities, chronic illness, or Deaf to experience the zoo grounds and animal buildings in a comfortable and inclusive environment. Modifications include limited capacity and muted attractions. This is a free event, but it does require advanced registration. Sensory-Friendly […]

  • All Gender Restrooms
  • Free Event
  • In Person
  • Sensory Friendly
  • Wheelchair Accessible

The Lehman Trilogy with TimeLine Theatre Company at Broadway Playhouse

TimeLine presents the Chicago premiere production of the 2022 Tony Award winner for Best Play! Told in three parts over one evening, The Lehman Trilogy is the quintessential story of western capitalism, rendered through the lens of a single immigrant family. On a cold September morning in 1844, a young Jewish man from Bavaria stands […]

  • Audio Description
  • Open Captions

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

Blown fuses, real and metaphorical, punctuate the action with flashes of pent up energy in this acclaimed play. The diminutive heroine frequently plunges the dilapidated house she shares with her alcoholic mother into darkness by playing her dead father’s records at a volume matched only by the soulful power of her vocal impressions. Little Voice […]

  • All Gender Restrooms
  • Audio Description
  • Captioning
  • Closed Captions
  • Touch Tour

Poetry Off the Shelf: Ben Okri with The Poetry Foundation

Join us for a special US appearance by acclaimed Nigerian-born British novelist and poet, Ben Okri. Ben Okri is a playwright, poet, novelist, essayist, short-story writer, anthologist, and aphorist who has also written film scripts. His works have won numerous national and international prizes, including the Booker Prize for Fiction. His books include the eco-fable […]

  • ASL Interpreted
  • Captioning
  • Hybrid Program

The Lehman Trilogy with TimeLine Theatre Company at Broadway Playhouse

TimeLine presents the Chicago premiere production of the 2022 Tony Award winner for Best Play! Told in three parts over one evening, The Lehman Trilogy is the quintessential story of western capitalism, rendered through the lens of a single immigrant family. On a cold September morning in 1844, a young Jewish man from Bavaria stands […]

  • Open Captions

The Flying Dutchman at Lyric Opera of Chicago

The Flying Dutchman is the story of a young woman’s obsession. Senta dreams of the Dutchman, who’s cursed to wander the earth. He comes ashore every seven years, searching for a woman who will be faithful to him until death. When she meets him, Senta’s fate is sealed. This new-to-Chicago production at Lyric Opera of […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • Audio Description

The Rise and Fall of Little Voice

Blown fuses, real and metaphorical, punctuate the action with flashes of pent up energy in this acclaimed play. The diminutive heroine frequently plunges the dilapidated house she shares with her alcoholic mother into darkness by playing her dead father’s records at a volume matched only by the soulful power of her vocal impressions. Little Voice […]

  • All Gender Restrooms
  • Sensory Friendly

LEAD Conference Share Out 2023

Event Description: Are you curious about the Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability (LEAD) conference? Did you want to attend but couldn’t? Join The Collab for a Zoom Lunch and Learn about this year’s LEAD experience. Four representatives from the Collab will share takeaways from their focus areas and lead a live discussion with our arts and culture […]

  • ASL Interpreted
  • Captioning
  • Virtual

An Evening with Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key at Francis W. Parker School

Based on their critically acclaimed podcast of the same name, Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key are excited to share their new book with the Chicago Humanities audience: The History of Sketch Comedy: A Journey through the Art and Craft of Humor. This book will take readers on a delightful and hilarious journey through the evolution […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Eurydice at Writers Theatre

Nichols Theatre 325 Tudor Ct, Glencoe

Eurydice is a play about newlywed and newly dead Eurydice arrives in the underworld without memories or language where she struggles to recover her humanity with the aid of the father she lost years ago. When Orpheus arrives to rescue her, Eurydice must choose between staying with her father or escaping with her husband—between life […]

  • All Gender Restrooms
  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • Digital Documents Available
  • Hybrid Program
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible

Mesmerized: A Ben Franklin Science & History Mystery at Chicago Children’s Theatre

Through fabulous storytelling and fast-paced comedy, Ben Franklin and his want-to-be-inventor niece, Sarah, travel to France where they use the Scientific Method to test a mystical man’s magical cure-all in MESMERIZED: A BEN FRANKLIN SCIENCE & HISTORY MYSTERY. Kids will laugh as they engage their minds to solve this mystery, fueled with stories about Ben […]

Around the World in 80 Trees with Jonathan Drori at Morton Arboretum

A botanical journey of beauty and botany, myth and mayhem: Bestselling author Jonathan Drori takes a gloriously illustrated trip across the globe, bringing to life the science of trees by revealing how their worlds are intricately entwined with our own history, culture and folklore. His journey includes self-mummifying monks, entrepreneurial resin diggers and the Venetian […]

  • Assistive Listening Devices
  • In Person
  • Open Captions
  • Wheelchair Accessible