Attend RE·VER·BER·ATE 2026
Join us for our annual RE·VER·BER·ATE Festival from May 5 to 8, 2026. Across four days, CPS student performers bring the Chicago Cultural Center to life with original music, dance, theater, and multimedia performances. View the program linked below for more information about attending the festival.
- Where: Chicago Cultural Center
- When: May 5 to 8, 2026
- Admission: Free and open to the public
About the Festival
RE·VER·BER·ATE is a celebration of creative expression and student voice, bringing together young artists from all over Chicago for an unforgettable week of art-making, performing, and connection.
More than a performance opportunity, RE·VER·BER·ATE is an immersive learning experience. Students don’t just take the stage, they explore new ideas, engage in collaborative workshops, collaborate in open jam sessions, and connect with professional artists and peers from across the city! Set in the heart of downtown at the historic Chicago Cultural Center, the festival invites students to share their creativity in one of the city’s most iconic venues while discovering the power of the arts to build community, spark dialogue, and celebrate who they are.
Singers, dancers, bands, theatre groups, solo acts, and ensembles of all styles and experience levels are welcome to apply! Beyond performances, the festival offers workshops, an arts fair, open jams, visual art exhibitions, and opportunities for students across the city to come together to perform, create, and connect.
Partnering with The Chicago Cultural Center and the Design Museum of Chicago, RE•VER•BER•ATE serves as a testament to what happens when our students, teachers, and arts professionals of Chicago come together to create a truly unique event for our CPS artists.
This event is free and open to the public. We encourage families, staff, and community members to attend the festival and support our 2,000 student performers across the four days.
If schools are interested in bringing additional students from their school as audience members, we ask that you reach out to our team at reverberate@cps.edu.
What Does RE•VER•BER•ATE Offer?
RE·VER·BER·ATE brings together students, teachers and professional artists from across Chicago for a festival focused on celebrating student performance and artistic expression.
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Performances
RE•VER•BER•ATE features student performances including large and small instrumental, choral, theater and dance ensembles.
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Exhibitions
RE•VER•BER•ATE hosts the All-City Visual Arts (ACVA) Elementary, High School, and Senior Portfolio exhibitions.
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Arts Fair
RE•VER•BER•ATE student participants learn about opportunities and programs throughout the city. See this year's presenters below.
2026 Arts Fair Participants
- 2nd Story
- After School Matters
- Art In Motion
- Arts + Public Life
- Bollywood & Culture Groove
- Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education
- Chicago Children's Theatre
- Chicago Public Library
- Columbia College Chicago Photo Club @columphotoclub
- Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE)
- Gerber/Hart Library & Archives
- Griffin Museum of Science and Industry
- Illustration Student Group CCC
- Merit School of Music
- Northeastern University
- PCCCArts
- The Chicago High School for the Arts
- The Chicago Mosaic School
- Urban Growers Collective
- VanderCook College of Music
- We Rock! Chicago
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Workshops
RE•VER•BER•ATE features workshops for students led by professional artists. View the 2026 workshops below.
2026 Workshops
Upcycled Garments | Paper to Fashion
Turn newspapers and magazines into wearable art! Working in small groups, you'll transform 2D materials into creative paper fashions using folding, cutting, and layering techniques. The workshop ends with a mini fashion show where you'll celebrate your designs and each other's creativity.
Collograph | Printmaking
Design and create your own relief print using upcycled materials! Students will receive a brief intro to printmaking, make a printing plate with textures and patterns, and print an edition of three. Trade one, leave one behind, and take your favorite home.
Creative Collaging
Inspired by LA Visual Artist Vakseen, who uses collage as a source material for his realistic paintings, you'll create an abstract portrait using magazine cutouts and geometric shapes. Start with a colored background, collect faces, and play with juxtaposition alongside CPS teaching artist Wendie Bloxsom.
Poetry Slam
In this workshop, students will read poems by Chicago writers past and present, break down their techniques, and try them in their own work. Then, share your poems with the group, give each other feedback, and collaborate on a group poem to perform together.
Dance Workshops with Old Town Folk Music
Get moving with Chicago's iconic dance styles! In this workshop, expert instructor Marchello Lee will introduce you to house music, breaking, and stepping culture through group dance and movement practice. Build your skills, learn the history, and connect with these powerful art forms that shape our city.
Improv Workshops with Chicago Children’s Theater
Take the stage as a collaborative and confident performer! In this improvisational theatre workshop, you'll explore the basics of improv through theatre games and ensemble work. You'll expand your imagination by finding your funny.
Open Jam
Songwriting Open Jam with Columbia College Chicago
Join Emcee Andre Daniels from Columbia College Chicago and his "Songwriting 1" class as they present original music. Bring a song you've written that you'd like to perform, or learn more on how to workshop one based on your ideas.
How to Participate in RE•VER•BER•ATE
Selection Process for RE•VER•BER•ATE
RE•VER•BER•ATE seeks to offer a platform to as many student artists as possible over the course of the festival days. When curating the festival, the RE•VER•BER•ATE team works in collaboration with additional partners to purposefully ensure an acceptance list that fully represents the breadth and depth of the arts across Chicago Public Schools. This includes artistic discipline, experience level, geography, cultural diversity, and instrumentation. We strongly encourage submissions that represent the lived experiences of students and educators across Chicago.
The selection process involves the expertise of the Department of Arts Education, the Arts Teacher Leadership Team, and the Arts Student Voice Committee (ASVC).
