AFIRE Chicago

FAHM, ILY! is NEXT SATURDAY!!! 🇵🇭🎤🪭

Introducing our Celebration Performance Line-up!

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🪩 [Emcee] Jett Parr (they/them) is a multifaceted Chicago-based creative who strives to explore the freedom, comedy, grief, whimsy and joy of the q***r FilAm experience. As a community organizer and producer, they take inspiration from past family gatherings they had growing up — always making sure everyone who walks in the door feels welcome, warm and well-fed. As a performer, they love creating and exploring works that include: ethereal genderf**kery, the absurd in the mundane, and tiptoeing the line between goofy euphoric bliss and the heartache of the human experience. You can find them oversharing shower thoughts and home cooked meals on Instagram at ˖ ࣪ ⊹ 𝕵𝖊𝖙𝖙⊹ ࣪ ˖.

🪩 Teddy Gonzales (they/she) is a writer, filmmaker, multimedia strategist, and aspiring polymath. Their work is curious about how language and art can honor the shape and color of communities' stories. In 2025, they started Balikbayan Book Club: a Rizal Center program that invites Fil-Am and their allies to think critically about their history through the writing of Filipinx and diasporic writers. Right now, they're probably building something, learning a new language, or drawing fan art where they're best friends with Jose Rizal.

🪩 Inspired by the ingenuity their ancestors exemplify, Michael Oliveros roots themselves in the rich legacies of q***r refusal and Philippine resilience. As a storyteller, craftsman, and lover of myths, their work reckons with the apocalyptic, diving into the haunted trenches of memory to imagine alternative futures. Today, their work is expansive, interrogating subjects such as survivability, willpower, and community care. When not writing, you can find them running around Chicago, racing against the wind.

🪩 Alissa Catiis (she/her) is a proud q***r Filipina American multidisciplinary artist and producer known as Miss Ali Verse on the burlesque stage. She believes in the power of words, movement, and dance to tell the most sacred and vulnerable stories. Her dance style is as versatile as she is – emotional and embodied as we

FAHM, ILY! is a little over TWO WEEKS away! 🇵🇭🎤🪭

Get to know our Evening Organizational Partners!

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✊ The Tanggol Migrante Movement Chicago is an alliance of organizations dedicated to fighting for the rights and welfare of Filipino migrant workers in the Midwest, in addition to defending and protecting Filipinos facing attacks under the Trump administration and beyond. The alliance engages in collective action in various ways: joint education, resource sharing, legal and health services, fundraising, advocacy work, and building public pressure to push forward the demands of the most impacted.

✊ Tahanan Filipino Center brings together Filipino migrant workers, youth, and their families in Albany Park and the greater Chicago metropolitan area to build community and access support for services, resources, and referrals. As a nonprofit organization led by Filipino migrant workers and community leaders, Tahanan Filipino Center envisions a world where the harsh but all-too-common realities of forced migration are no longer accepted as permanent and unavoidable fixtures in the experiences of our families and loved ones. Where those most affected by these social injustices take action and lead in bringing about change to systemic inequality and ensure the fullest potential of migrant workers, youth, and their families.

✊ The original Anti-War Committee (AWC) in Chicago arose from the campaign to oppose the NATO summit held here in 2012. 15,000 demonstrators answered the call to protest and march that May, confronting not only NATO leaders but a heavy-handed police presence under the direction of Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In the summer following the NATO summit, the AWC organized protests to mark the tenth anniversary of the Afghanistan War and marched on Boeing Headquarters to confront the military contractor for its complicity in the growing US drone-warfare program. That winter, as Israel launched its deadly 2012 assault on Gaza, the AWC joined thousands from Chicago's Palestinian community to expose Boeing for supplying Israel with F16s, Apache helicopters, missiles and depleted-uranium bombs. After a period of inac

FAHM, ILY! is a little over 3 weeks away! 🇵🇭🎤🪭

Swipe left to get to know our Afternoon Panelists!

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🌞 Sky Cubacub (they/them/theirs/xey/xem/xyr) is a nonbinary xenogender disabled Filipinx neuroq***r from Chicago, IL. Xey are creator of Rebirth Garments, an activewear line for trans and q***r disabled people of all sizes and ages (2014). They are author of “Radical Visibility: a Q***rcrip Dress Reform Movement Manifesto” and editor of the Radical Visibility Zine, a full color cut/paste style zine that celebrates disabled q***r life. They are a founding member of Radical Visibility Collective, which creates fashion performances with audio descriptive songs. In 2020, xey started Radical Fit, a free q***rcrip DIY fashion program/youth fashion incubator with the Chicago Public Library, which hosts Q***r Radical Fair, a yearly celebration debuting the youth fashion collections.

🌞 RJ Silva (he/him) is the Artistic Director of CIRCA Pintig, spearheading the Chicago Filipino American Theatre Festival, as well as launching the acting ensemble of Filipino and Filipino-American actors in Chicago. As a playwright, his play HAIL MARY/MARIA received a raved Chicago premiere at Theater Wit under Nova Entertainment. This year he also premiered a solo play YOU EAT SO WELL! in San Francisco, blending stories of Filipino food with reconnecting with his culture and community. His five episode romantic comedy web series EAT CUTE has premiered on YouTube. His writing uniquely blends the Filipino q***r experience through the lens of pop culture or magical realism on stage and screen.

🌞 AJ Domingo (they/them) is a Chicago Drag King who explores and plays with the spectrum of masculinity and gender presentation. AJ recently performed as part of the Magic D**e cast, a q***r production of Magic Mike Las Vegas where the cast explored different forms of masculinity. They also are involved in Notes on Masculinity, a bi-monthly production hosted by Switch the Boi Wonder and Po’Chop at the California Clipper. Through the character of Philippe Mignon, Domingo aims to give their audience the permission to be playful and celebrate feelin

Open House registration at tinyurl.com/afire-open-house or check the link in our bio!

Join us on Wednesday, September 23 to connect with AFIRE's team of leaders and community partners. Our doors are open to those who have attended our events previously, are interested or values-aligned with our work but have never attended before, and those ready to dive in and grow alongside us. We are excited to share our work with you and get to know different Filipinx/a/o partners and allies in the room. See you soon!

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FAHM, ILY! is ONE MONTH AWAY! 🇵🇭🎤🪭

Get to know our Morning Session Facilitators, Marilou Mariko and Sarah Amplo!

🌞 Marilou Mariko Carrera is a q***r Filipinx-Okinawan cultural worker with foundations in healthcare, organizing, and advocacy. They root largely in the creative practices of writing, movement, and fiber arts as pathways and practices for personal and collective power, sharing stories, and healing. Marilou Mariko brings their experiences in community engagement, grantmaking, advocacy, & organizing, and a desire for intergenerational community spaces, to AFIRE and their role generating resources and developing community partnerships. Their current preoccupations include writing and reading q***r stories, Kali martial arts and other rituals as spiritual practice, and perimenopause in the time of gender expansive bodies.

🌞 Sarah Anna Antillon Amplo (she/they) is a q***r Filipina American from New York City. She is currently a PhD Student in Gender & Women's Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she explores the constructions of race, gender, and sexuality in the Filipinx American diaspora.

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FAHM, ILY! is a derivative of The Great Baklaan in 2024 which was a community-driven, collaborative effort centering LGBTQ+ Filipinx/a/os. This event is also linked to a research collaboration between Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights and Empowerment (AFIRE), the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO) and Tayo Project and Dr. Rachel Kuo at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Departments of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian American Studies) about the kinds of information we pay attention to and share with each other, and how our own lived experiences shape how we understand information we send and receive.

Tonight at the Den Theatre! As a co-sponsor of this FREE community screening, we hope to see you there!

You're invited to join affiliates of the National Domestic Workers Alliance for a special Chicago community screening of How to Clean a House in 10 Easy Steps, a film by Carolina Gonzalez Valencia, winner of Best Documentary at the SF International Film Festival. The National Domestic Workers Alliance is a proud producer on the film, and we can’t wait to share it with all of you.

Beatriz Valencia, a domestic worker in the U.S. and Carolina, her daughter-filmmaker, collaborate to create the fictional character of a writer. Together, mother and daughter capture the relationship between truth and fantasy, in a hybrid documentary that tells a story about immigration, labor, dreams and the power of storytelling to heal.

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Thank you to our volunteers for today's citizenship workshop!

Call 773.580.1025 if you are in your citizenship journey and needing support. Next workshop in November!

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We need LOTS of volunteers this Saturday! Are you in Chicago and wanting to support your community? Join our Citizenship Workshop Saturday, August 8! Roles are on the next slide and most training occurs day-of.

If you are interested and a first-time volunteer, please complete the volunteer interest form located in our profile. If you have volunteered with AFIRE before, please contact Noel at [email protected].

Citizenship Workshops are low cost opportunities for eligible green card holders to meet with legal representatives and take the next step in completing their citizenship journey.

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The next Citizenship Workshop is next Saturday, August 8th, at the HANA Center! Please note our next workshop will not be until November. Workshops cost $25 by card with no other fees. Sign up at the QR code or call our office number at 773-580-1025.

Citizenship Workshops are low cost opportunities for eligible green card holders to meet with legal representatives and take the next step in completing their citizenship journey.

If you are interested in volunteering at a citizenship workshop and are a first-time volunteer, please complete the volunteer interest form located in our profile. If you have volunteered with AFIRE before, please contact Noel directly.

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📌 Save the date for our October 3rd FAHM Seeding AFIRE x Baklaan! This all-day, 4-part event emphasizes q***r and trans base-building, breakout discussions, advocacy issues, and celebration. This event is also part of a research collaboration between AFIRE, FYLPRO and Tayo, and Dr. Rachel Kuo at the University of Wisconsin-Madison focused on intergenerational and diasporic-informed solidarities and political analysis. Get your tickets TODAY by scanning the QR code or visiting the 🔗🌳 in our bio.

🍉 Help us make a decision for which vendors to cater from during the event! Vote for your breakfast, lunch, merienda (snack), and dinner options by scanning the QR code or visiting the 🔗🌳 in our bio. Deadline to vote is Monday, July 20.

🎤 Apply to be part of our night time celebration performance lineup! This is an open call to all Filipinx/a/o performers and performance artists in Chicago. Folks who send a submission should anticipate a decision by mid-August. Fill out the submission form by scanning the QR code or visiting the 🔗🌳 in our bio. Deadline for submissions is Saturday, August 1.