TACHP Sunday Salon Series Presents: Bob Hercules

The Art Center Highland Park will present Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker Bob Hercules

As part of their continuing Sunday Salon series of events, The Art Center Highland Park will present Bob Hercules, documentary producer and director. Scheduled for Sunday, November 17th at 2 PM, this free event will include scenes and selections from several of his films. TACHP Executive Director James M. Lynch says ‘We picked Bob for this series after I met him at his film, ‘Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise’, during a screening at the Renaissance Place Cinema in Highland Park. He struck me as an inspiring story teller and ‘inspiration’ is one of our three core principals at TACHP, so he was very obviously a ‘fit’ for our programming”.

The Sunday Salon series is new to TACHP and will feature artist panels in discussion, dance troupes like Chicago’s Visceral Dance Company, play and poetry readings, and more programs designed to interest and entertain the community, making TACHP a rich source of cultural programing on the north shore.

Hercules lives in Evanston and works in and around Chicagoland, except when he’s on location, as he was when he directed the film The Gate, The Dawn of the Baha’i Faith, with locations in southern Spain. His work has been seen widely on PBS, Discovery Channel, IFC, TLC and in film festivals around the world. He is also co-owner of Media Process Group, a Chicago-based production company.

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, won 19 awards on three continents, a Peabody Award in 2018 and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. It has aired on PBS’ American Masters in February, 2017 and on the BBC’s Storyville series in March, 2017. Hercules also made two films focusing on dance: Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance and Bill T. Jones: A Good Man. His 2009 Radical Disciple: The Story of Father Pfleger, chronicles the radical priest whose controversial tactics to fight racism put him at odds with the Catholic hierarchy and was named Best Documentary at the 2009 Big Muddy Film Festival, was the opening night film at the 2009 Black Harvest Film Festival and aired on WTTW, Chicago in 2010.

In 2008 Hercules directed the Barack Obama and Michelle Obama biography videos for Obama's Presidential campaign website . He also directed Obama's 2007 Presidential announcement video in Springfield, Illinois. Hercules' 2006 documentary, Senator Obama Goes to Africa, is a chronicle of Obama's momentous 2006 trip to Africa, including an emotional visit to Kisumu, Kenya--homeland of his late father. It is currently in home video release from First Run Features.

Hercules' acclaimed 2006 feature documentary, Forgiving Dr. Mengele, tells the remarkable story of Auschwitz survivor and former 'Mengele twin' Eva Mozes Kor, whose decision to forgive the perpetrators as an act of self-healing sparked a firestorm of criticism. The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival and the Crystal Heart Award at the 2006 Heartland Film Festival. It is currently in home video release from First Run Features.

A not-for-profit visual arts organization since 1960, The Art Center Highland Park (TACHP) provides a visual arts education to Highland Park and its surrounding communities, assuring access to the arts for all ages and cultural interests. This vigorous community-centered organization inspires everyone from tots through seniors to achieve and transform their world through more than 450 art classes offered annually in photography, oil and acrylic painting, watercolor, pastel, mixed media painting, ceramics, jewelry making, metalsmithing, digital arts, fiber art, mosaics, assemblage and more.

The Art Center Highland Park (TACHP) is a non-profit arts organization dedicated to education in the contemporary visual arts through classes, outreach programs, gallery exhibitions and events. Our vibrant arts community delivers on our promise “Making Art Available” to all. TACHP harnesses the transformative power of art to change and improve lives through impactful and innovative exhibitions. We showcase national and regional artists to our 4 museum quality gallery spaces with exhibitions for established and emerging artists. Community outreach is a vital part of our galleries ability to inspire, connect and expand the TACHP reach.

The Sunday Salon series is a free to the public event hosted approximately once every 4-6 weeks in the galleries of TACHP. For more information, or to sign up for our newsletter, contact Info@theartcenterhp.org.

Reservations for this event are suggested using: https://www.facebook.com/events/785477955221833/ as seating will be limited.