LP. Salons
We gather organizations, leaders, and cultural and social change-makers to spark connection around a shared mission.
Overheard at LP. Salons
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“We met wonderful people throughout the evening - including the panelists, of course. Thank you so much for including us and for creating gatherings of community, connection, and inspiration.”
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“Being a part of the Salon, feeling welcomed in your community, and having an opportunity to feel heard, without the pressure of being right, gave me a boost of positive energy, validation so to speak, to keep moving. Sometimes the fight is paperwork and reports, but community is where it's at. The LP. is doing amazing work!"
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“Such great vibes and success at the Laksmi Project Salons, and the cultural connections the LP. is forging across the city.”
HEALTH // In This Together: Fighting for Gun Safety
Hosted by The Laksmi Project | October 2024
During our Fall 2024 Salon, we heard from voices on the frontlines of policy, advocacy, and health, working to keep our communities safe from the impacts of gun violence.
Nick Suplina, Senior Vice President for Law and Policy for Everytown for Gun Safety
Dr. Samaa Kemal MD, MPH, Emergency Medicine Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Yolanda Androzzo, Executive Director of One Aim Illinois
Eric Wilkins, Survivors Alliance for Healing and Justice and Broken Winggz Coordinator Communities United
ART // Creative Calling: Navigating the Artist Path
Hosted by The Laksmi Project | June 2024
During our Spring 2024 Salon, we heard from artists, art organizations, and creative entrepreneurs about the journey of an artistic life, and the many ways audiences can support the creative process.
Esther Grisham Grimm, 3arts
Yvette Mayorga, yvettemayorga
Christina Rice, The Sanctuary Chicago
Nancy Lerner Frej, Otherwise, Inc
HEALTH // Cycles & Stages: The Landscape of Women’s Health
Hosted by The Laksmi Project | February 2024
The first LP. Salon of 2024 focused on the cycles and stages of women’s health. We heard from an exciting panel of speakers as they explored these stages through the lens of healthcare, innovation, advocacy, and art.
Jameika A. Sampson, Planned Parenthood of Illinois
Steven Collens, MATTER
Dr. Disha Narang, Meet Ayla
Farah Salem, Artist
ART // Creating Process: How Art Responds to a Changing World
Hosted by The Laksmi Project | November 2023
This Salon gathered Chicagoland organizations in the performing arts that are challenging, questioning, and responding to the current world - not just through the art they make, but how they make it.
E. Brooke Flanagan, Steppenwolf Theatre Company
Myriam Ben Salah, Renaissance Society
David McDermott, Hubbard Street Dance
Greer Reed, ChiArts
HEALTH // Enriching Our Communities: Health Equity
Hosted by Mirja Spooner Haffner | June 2023
This Salon gathered organizations and people working to improve health equity in the Chicagoland region through work in environmental justice, pediatric medicine, and sexual and reproductive healthcare.
Mariana Glusman, MD, Lurie Children's Hospital
Natalia Ospina, Brushwood Center
Jennifer Welch, Planned Parenthood of Illinois
Marvin Bembry, The John Maxwell Team
CULTURE // Enriching Our Communities: Community Partnership
Hosted by Mirja Spooner Haffner, Sundeep Mullangi, and A. Gail Sturm | November 2022
The Chicago region is home to innovative nonprofits with diverse missions and countless models of impact. But all organizations are better when they authentically support the communities in which they reside, and in turn are strengthened by those communities’ support. This first Salon gathered nonprofit voices to discuss community partnership models.
Tina Boyer Brown, ChiArts
Dani Abboud, Brushwood Center
Gregory Smith, Hyde Park Art Center
JC Aevaliotis, Polk Bros. Foundation
Featured Salon Panelists
Lula Cafe x The Laksmi Project
The Chicago staple and award winning restaurant, Lula Cafe is the LP’s official food and beverage partner.
In 1999, Lula Cafe opened in a small storefront on Kedzie Boulevard with a four burner home stove and a dented collection of thrifted pots and pans. Today, stretching three storefronts, it is the founding member of the nationally recognized Logan Square culinary community and a celebrated forerunner of the ‘farm to table’ movement in Chicago. With self taught chefs and a willingness to cook against categorization, the menu at Lula has grown into a kind of humble maturity, risky but grounded, a boheme bistro of the unclassifiable kind.
Chef Jason Hammel has been nominated three times as a finalist for James Beard Best Chef Great Lakes and in 2024, Lula Cafe won the James Beard award for Hospitality.