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O. Victoria Lakes-Battle, Executive Director of IFF’s Chicago Metro Region and grantee Charlique Rolle Executive Director of Congo Square Theatre joins Enterprise Radio. They will discuss how Chicago’s Cultural Treasures is focused on supporting the art and culture scene in Chicago.
Listen to host Eric Dye & guests Vickie Lakes-Battle & Charlique Rolle discuss the following:
- Tell us about Chicago’s Cultural Treasures, the grantees, and the overall initiative working to preserve BIPOC-led and focused art and culture in Chicago.
- We hear that Congo Square is Chicago’s premier African American ensemble-based theatre company and that you are celebrating 20 years. Congrats! Tell us a bit about the history and how the theatre company started.
- How did Congo Square benefit from the support of Chicago’s Cultural Treasures?
- What, in your opinion, does it mean to have an initiative focused specifically on preserving BIPOC-led and focused art and culture in Chicago?
- What is coming up? Are there any upcoming programs you’d like to highlight?
O. Victoria “Vickie” Lakes-Battle has been at the forefront of commercial and mission-based lending for over 30 years and has developed a recipe for equitably serving communities: time + proximity + authentic partnerships. When you think of Vickie, you think of a master connector who is acutely aware of the nuances in building strategic alliances and partnerships that bolster relationships, systems, and equity within communities and organizations. With a never-ending reserve of expertise in community development, finance, and executive leadership, Vickie Lakes-Battle leads with equity, purpose and strategy in everything she does.
On a mission to invest, redevelop and empower low-income communities to activate their visions, Vickie became IFF’s first-ever Executive Director for the Chicago Metro region. She oversees IFF’s full-range of services including lending, real estate consulting, and the community strategies program where she is adept at targeting and cultivating opportunities that support IFF goals and objectives. In this role, Vickie understands the necessity of cooperative engagement and active partnerships that expand the resources available to serve low- and moderate-income individuals and communities. She is a trusted thought partner to community-based organizations, the broader community development sector, and philanthropy.
Vickie’s ability to innovate at every turn–economically, socially, and organizationally–has been recognized throughout the Chicagoland area and nationally. Vickie challenges others to look at community development finance through an equity lens and is willing to ask and wrestle with the tough questions. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Illinois Public Health Institute, Arts Alliance Illinois, Cook County Land Bank Authority, AMPT: Advancing Nonprofits and is on the Steering Committees of Elevated Chicago and We Rise Together. Vickie’s track record positions her as a success benchmark for leaders in the commercial and mission lending and equitable community development space. Vickie holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Chicago State University.
Charlique C. Rolle is an arts administrator, interdisciplinary artist, choreographer, director, producer, playwright, actor, writer, poet, and Executive Director of Congo Square Theatre. Rolle holds a BA in Dance (Summa Cum Laude) from Missouri Valley College with minors in Theatre and Business, an MA in Ministry Leadership from Moody Theological Seminary, and an MBA from Concordia University Chicago. As an artist, her work has been featured throughout the US and the Bahamas. Rolle was named as one of Newcity’s “Players 2022: The Fifty People Who Really Perform for Chicago,” and is a 2023 IMPACT Fellow with the Chicago Urban League and the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
Rolle is proud to be an advocate and organizer in the Chicago arts and culture sector, serving as a President of the Black Arts & Culture Alliance of Chicago, board member for the League of Chicago Theatres, member of Arts Alliance Illinois’ Arts Leadership Council, various local and national committees for the arts, arts advocacy, grantmaking and social justice efforts. In 2023, Rolle served as a team lead of a group of advocates with Arts Alliance Illinois for Capital Day in Springfield. Rolle is also a member of Chicago Women in Philanthropy and Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy. Additionally, Rolle serves as the Associate National Director of the August Wilson New Voices Competition (a partnership between the August Wilson Legacy, LLC., the Goodman Theatre, and Gilded Road Productions).
A Bahamas native, Rolle’s passions are telling Black stories of the diaspora, creating works that catalyze healing, freedom, and transformation, and providing resources and structures for artists and communities to breed creative freedom, sustainability, and longevity. She is deeply committed to utilizing the arts as a means of community organizing, community healing, and community, societal, and economic development.
Congo Square Theatre: https://www.congosquaretheatre.org
Chicago’s Cultural Treasures: https://chicagosculturaltreasures.org
Social Media Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/congosquaretheatre
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/congosquarechi
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