Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director of American Library Association, to Join COLLABORACTION RADIO

On Saturday, June 10 at 4 p.m. CT, Chicago’s Collaboraction Theatre Company will go “on the air” with the premiere episode of Collaboraction Radio on WCPT 820 AM, Chicago’s Progressive Talk. 

Collaboraction Radio co-hosts Anthony Moseley and Carla Stillwell announced their first live guest, Tracie D. Hall, Executive Director of the American Library Association.

Hall is the first female African-American executive director in ALA history, and was recently named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023 for “her efforts against censorship that demonstrate her brave stewardship of the bulwark of democracy, our public library.”

“We look forward to having librarian, author, curator and advocate for the arts, Tracie D. Hall, as our very first guest, to help set the table for Collaboraction Radio,” said Moseley. “She’s the ideal guest to spark a discussion around where we are as a society, how we got here, how we’re going, and in particular, how to harness the power of arts to manifest social and political change, bring people together, and move beyond the tribalism of today.”

Collaboraction Theatre Company is a 26-year-old, critically acclaimed Chicago arts organization that uses theater and virtual content to bring people together and inspire social change. 

Collaboraction Radio is a new way to gather Chicagoans - and people around the world - around the company’s digital campfire to inspire new ideas, empathy, dialogue and action around today’s most critical social issues.

The show will air live on WCPT AM 820 Saturdays from 4 to 5 p.m. CST, and feature special guest interviews with social justice warriors who are building positive change in Chicago and around the world.

Recurring segments include “A Bright Red Line with Carla Stillwell,” exploring how our current political climate is directly linked to America’s history of inequity and oppression. “White Now” is the handle for Anthony Moseley’s regular feature. Dr. Marcus Robinson, founder of the Social Innovation Group and Collaboraction's former Executive Director, also will be a special contributor.

Listeners can look forward to a fast-paced hour of news, conversation, storytelling, comedy, digital theater, plus a weekly round-up of upcoming arts and culture events, all rooted in positive social justice.

In addition to the live Saturday radio broadcast, audiences in Chicago, the U.S. and around the world can watch and interact with the show’s livestream on Facebook or YouTube.

To contact Collaboraction Radio, or for Chicago arts and social justice organizations interested in submitting event PSAs, please email radio@collaboraction.org. View the rate card for sponsor and advertising opportunities.

Missed an episode? Go to collaboraction.org and you’ll soon be able to subscribe to the Collaboraction Radio podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or find the show and a Soundcloud archive on WCPT’s website, heartlandsignal.com/programs/collaboraction-radio.

To learn more about Collaboraction, visit collaboraction.org or follow the company on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.

“We’re excited to welcome Collaboraction Radio to the WCPT-AM line-up,” WCPT General Mark Pinski, said. “Anthony and Carla promise to bring strong, experienced voices to our airwaves, and their programming, centered around positive social change, will definitely speak to our listeners. In their dual roles as Chicago theater professionals, we look forward to Carla, Anthony and Collaboraction Radio making a big, dramatic entrance to Chicago’s live talk radio scene.”

Collaboraction Radio guest biography: Tracie D. Hall

Tracie D. Hall is Executive Director of the American Library Association. She is the first female African-American executive director in ALA’s history. Hall has worked at the Seattle Public Library, the New Haven (Conn.) Free Public Library, Queens (N.Y.) Public Library, and Hartford (Conn.) Public Library. In 1998, she was among the first cohort of ALA’s Spectrum Scholars, a grant program to diversify librarianship, and she served as the director of ALA’s Office for Diversity in the early 2000s. Prior to being appointed Executive Director of ALA, Hall directed the culture portfolio at the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, developing new grant programs designed to catalyze and scale neighborhood-based arts venues, cultural programming, and creative entrepreneurship. Hall was previously a Deputy Commissioner at the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. She has also served in multiple roles in academia, including as assistant dean of Dominican University’s Graduate School of Library and Information Science in River Forest, Illinois. In addition to her MLIS from the Information School at the University of Washington, Hall holds an MA in International and Area studies with an emphasis on Sub-Saharan Africa from Yale University and dual bachelor’s degrees in Law and Society and Black Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Hall has also studied at the Universities of Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in East Africa. She served as a visiting curator at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and was appointed to the City of Chicago’s Cultural Advisory Council in 2020.  Hall is also a poet, playwright, and founder and creator of Rootwork Gallery, an experimental art studio established in Chicago’s Pilsen community in 2016. This past April, Hall was named one of Time Magazine’s Most Influential People of 2023.