Love Is On The Green Line activates Chicago’s Green Line corridor

Public spaces along Chicago’s Green Line are being transformed into hubs of music, dance and storytelling through Love Is On The Green Line, a community arts initiative led by Austin’s Kehrein Center for the Arts aimed at bringing West and South Side communities closer together.

Supported through a Culture Near Transit grant from Elevated Chicago, the project will activate spaces including the Green Line station, Alt-Space Community Center and the Central Avenue corridor to encourage walkability, intergenerational engagement and stronger connections among longtime residents.

Reesheda Nicole Berry, founding executive director of the Kehrein Center for the Arts explained the goal of Love Is On The Green Line is to highlight the many ways love already exists along the Green Line corridor and to use the platform to amplify the voices and talents of artists, musicians, dancers, drummers, DJs  and other creators living between Chicago’s West and South sides. 

“I think so much of the narrative in our city often pits the West and South Sides against one another. I was born and raised on the West Side of Chicago and I’ve lived on both the West and South Sides of Chicago and really beautiful things are happening between the West and South Sides of Chicago,” Berry said.

Many residents on Chicago’s West Side have family on the South Side and many on the South Side also have family on the West Side. So Berry emphasized creating constant everyday connections between the two communities. Berry knows the importance of amplifying the beauty in these relationships and encouraging a continued positive narrative between Chicago’s West and South Sides.

“We have to amplify all of the many creators who live along the Green Line corridor between the West and South sides of Chicago. We want to leverage our platform to amplify the ways they are already here. We want to support the businesses along the Green Line and really illustrate that there is another narrative besides the one we hear that can be so negative about what happens along that Green Line corridor,” Berry said.

Berry spent her life hearing how others described the South and West Sides, often in ways that differ from her own experience. She said who she is today has been shaped and supported by growing up in Austin on the West Side, as well as experiences in Bronzeville and other South Side neighborhoods.

“I started getting present to the ways that love has really fostered my development as a leader, as an artist, as a mom and a wife. I wanted everyone else in our city to understand the ways that love is already here. So that is kind of where this all came from,” Berry said.

For the kickoff celebration, Berry intentionally chose her outfit, including a green Adidas sweatshirt and Green Line-inspired elements, to reflect the branding of Love Is On The Green Line. She said their goal was to capture the art, history and culture of their generation through a hip-hop-influenced lens.

“I love kicks. I love hip-hop, and Adidas really captures that spirit and energy of the 90s when I was a kid, when that love was being fostered in me. Love Is On The Green Line has developed these trucker hats to commemorate that era and time on the West and South Sides of Chicago,” Berry said.

Monthly events for Love Is On The Green Line are planned going forward, offering continued opportunities for community engagement. 

“We’re partnering with The.BlkRoom, which is at the Pulaski stop on the Green Line. We will be doing something very similar, an outdoor party with Black Room on June 4,” Berry said.

The project aims to amplify the ways people moving through the city’s transit system are already delivering love and connection between communities. It focuses specifically on the CTA Green Line because it offers visibility to everyday people whose stories are often overlooked compared to those in positions of high visibility and power. 

Love Is On The Green Line centers transit as a space where the beauty and presence of Chicago’s communities can be seen and celebrated.

“We believe there are many everyday heroes on public transportation and we really want to love on them and amplify the ways they bring love into our city. We also recognize that people who are going through hard times, including those experiencing mental health challenges or struggling with drugs and substances, need support. They need art, they need culture and they need healing,” Berry said.

Carter Music High School performed “I Believe I Can Fly” by R. Kelly, with an uplifting delivery. The lyrics filled the space with an inspiring and hopeful tone for those in attendance.

Berry described seeing people get off the train dancing after hearing music outside, noting it as a powerful example of art spilling into everyday life that emphasizes a desire to remove the barriers around theater, arts and music and bring those moments into the streets, where they can reach and uplift people who may not otherwise have access to them.

“I feel like when you’re in your car, there’s a zero chance of meeting or engaging with anyone else. You also don’t get to see elements of the city, specifically from the el train, because it’s elevated, you get to see the city in a way you can’t see it from the ground,” Berry said. “We hope that the programming we’re doing will increase the chances that people take that ride and that it will not only elevate their transit experience but also elevate their experience of our city.”