Shaping Contemporary Realities | Day 2: Civic Changemaking

Stefania Becheanu is a sound and performance artist and a laureate of the 2026 Villa Albertine Music Grant. Her work operates at the intersection of experimental music, field recording, visual arts, and contemporary dance. Emphasizing the concept of active and empathetic listening, she utilizes an array of raw sounds captured from cities and natural environments to “paint” immersive, multi-channel soundscapes. By breaking down the barriers between acoustic creation and spatial perception, her installations and performances invite audiences to physically feel vibrations and explore their emotional connections to the surrounding space.

Elizabeth Blasius is an architectural historian, writer, and cofounder of Preservation Futures, a Chicago-based firm exploring the future of historic preservation through research, action, and design. She works on preservation projects at the radical forefront of the preservation movement, including buildings designed in the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond. Elizabeth advocates to bring the recognition and resources of preservation into communities that have been historically overlooked. Prior to founding Preservation Futures in 2021, Elizabeth worked in natural disaster recovery and mitigation, providing guidance on the care of historic places in the aftermath of hurricanes, floods, and other acts of climate violence. She has been a monthly columnist for MAS Context since 2022.

Monica Chadha is the founder of Civic Projects Architecture advancing a participatory model of design rooted in community engagement, civic identity, and long-term public value. As an architect with more than twenty years of experience, Monica works across architecture, planning, and stakeholder strategy, with projects spanning cultural, educational, civic, and neighborhood-serving spaces, including the National Museum of Mexican Art and more recently, the Obama Presidential Center Museum. She is a Trustee of the Graham Foundation and a former faculty member at the Illinois Institute of Technology. She holds an M.Arch from the University of Illinois Chicago and previously worked at the Vastu-Shilpa Foundation under renowned architect Balkrishna Doshi.

Rebekah Coffman is a curator and public historian whose work explores the intersections of religious heritage, the built environment, sustainability, and collective memory. As Curator of Religion and Community History at the Chicago History Museum, she leads the Chicago Sacred Initiative, which brings together archival repair, research, writing, community engagement, and exhibition-making to highlight Chicago’s diverse religious and cultural histories. In 2019, she founded the Sacred Shift Project, an ongoing international survey of urban religious buildings adapted for ritual reuse by diasporic communities, with attention to intangible heritage and contested heritage amidst the changing lives of sacred spaces across cities. Rebekah also lectures in Heritage Studies and serves on leadership for the AIA National Interfaith Design Knowledge Community.

Anirban Ghosh is on a mission to make circular economy a cornerstone in the building materials industry. He is deeply passionate about decarbonizing the built environment and believes that sustainability and profitability are not mutually exclusive. Currently, he is a Senior Manager at Saint-Gobain where he leads strategy and business development for Circular Economy Solutions, one of Saint-Gobain’s venture businesses in North America. Functioning as a start-up within a 360-year-old behemoth, he is accountable for developing value creation pathways centered on circular economy through new business models and innovative collaborations with value chain participants while leveraging Saint-Gobain’s competencies. Prior to this he has excelled on product, lean engineering, and has three granted patents whilst working in US, Canada, India, and Singapore.

Faheem Majeed is a Chicago-based artist, educator, curator, and arts administrator whose practice transforms overlooked materials, spaces, and histories into powerful platforms for reflection and engagement. Working primarily in sculpture and installation, he draws on his deep connection to the South Side of Chicago and a long-standing interest in institutional critique and community building. Majeed received his BFA from Howard University and MFA from the University of Illinois Chicago, where he currently serves as Assistant Professor of Art. He is co-founder and co-director of Floating Museum, an interdisciplinary collective that creates site-responsive works connecting art, architecture, history, and civic dialogue. Floating Museum curated the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Majeed also leads the Burroughs Residency through the collective, a Bronzeville-based pilot program that honors Dr. Margaret T. Burroughs and fosters cross-cultural connectivity.

Nora Semel is the Vice President of Obama Presidential Center (OPC) Programs at the Obama Foundation. She oversees the strategic development and implementation of cultural, civic, and educational programming for the Center, a transformative hub located on Chicago’s South Side. Her work is deeply rooted in community engagement, ensuring that the OPC not only preserves history but actively uses its spaces to inspire and empower the next generation of civic leaders.

Connie Spreen is the cofounder and executive director of Experimental Station, a nonprofit community organization on Chicago’s South Side. She cofounded the organization in 2002 alongside Dan Peterman to build independent cultural infrastructure. Under her leadership, the organization operates several major community programs, including the youth cycling initiative Blackstone Bicycle Works, the 61st Street Farmers Market, and the statewide food access program Link Up Illinois, which she initiated in 2011.

Sonia Vu is an architect and partner at Encore Heureux Architectes. After graduating from the Grenoble School of Architecture in 2007, she began her career working alongside architect Patrick Bouchain, the 2019 recipient of the Grand Prix de l'Urbanisme. Serving as his assistant, she participated in the firm’s first onsite architectural residency within the French Pavilion for the Métavilla project at the 2006 Venice Architecture Biennale. She joined Encore Heureux Architectes in 2008, officially becoming a partner in 2019. As a project director, she oversees a variety of cultural and social public facilities—with a strong focus on high environmental standards. Encore Heureux was recently awarded with the project for a new location for the Ateliers Médicis in Clichy-sous-Bois/Montfermeil.