The Forum in Bronzeville gets a new lease on life, thanks to hard work and a million dollar grant
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Dancing, concerts, spoken word and art, a place for it all at one time.
The Forum was once considered the South Side's bustling social hub. Now it's making a comeback. As CBS 2's Steven Graves explains, new funding means a new vision for the space along 43rd Street.
CBS 2 cameras got an exclusive look inside at renovations.
A big brick façade, bright portraits of Black historic figures replacing windows.
"The place where Nat "King" Cole and other greats performed."
You can't miss it, taking a ride down 43rd Street near Calumet Avenue in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood. A once bustling social scene for Black people opened in the 1890's.
The Forum was pegged the South Side best dancing floor. The now decades-old vacant shell had to be saved from demolition.
"It is a critical bridge to both the past and it's a unique bridge to the future. What Bronzeville can be."
Bernard Lloyd, consultant turned leader of non-profit Urban Juncture, urged the city to change the building's zoning from residential to commercial last year.
That success meant brightening the Bronzeville ballroom again, where windows are boarded, the paint on walls tattered and wooden seats still in balconies. What does Lloyd want people to feel as they walk through the doors?
"That connection to their parents and grandparents."
What's it like to be there doing the work?
"Oh, it's an honor."
Artist Sydney Chatman was one of the first people in half a century to temporarily use the space, hoping to make it a permanent home for her work centered around Black women empowerment.
A foreseeable reality after Urban Juncture got a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation.
"I'm extremely hopeful that when the Forum is open and when those spaces are open, that we can be this hub for all artistic stories," Chatman said.
The new funding will go toward renovating a small portion of the venue. Millions more dollars will be needed to get the stage lit up and life back.
But for now, it's a start. Free public tours are happening at the end of each month. A passion project with purpose for the people.
