My name is Charli Renken and I'm the Social Media Engagement Associate for the Chicago Reader. I'm also a journalist, a drag artist (aka Vicious Mockery), a beadworker, and a graphic designer. But it wasn't always that way. 

When I first started working here a year and half ago, I was in a deep creative rut. I hadn't written anything in nine months and I hadn't done any other kind of art in years. I was creatively dead inside.

Thanks to the Reader, I gradually started writing stories to contribute to the newspaper in addition to making fun social content. Not only that, but reading about all the incredible art happening in the city week after week deeply inspired me to dust off my drag boots and get back out there after nearly ten years! Thanks to the Reader I am beading again, dancing again, making poster art again. I am a living artist raised from the dead!

That's something the Reader is uniquely good at: highlighting interesting and important artists and inspiring our readers to make their own stuff! In a time when many are being told to sit down, shut up, and be "normal," the Reader is standing up, screaming from the top of its lungs, and being its freaky self unapologetically. But we can't keep doing that without your support. 

We need your help today

After more than 50 years of serving Chicago, the Reader faces imminent closure. 

Can you imagine Chicago without the Chicago Reader? We can’t either. But a perfect storm of sudden economic downturns has put us in a precarious position, without much time to spare.

We’re not giving up though. We have a clear path forward, but only if we can raise enough from enough supporters to make it through this crisis. 

If you value the Reader, and want to see it survive, please chip in now with a tax-deductible donation. 

Questions about giving? Email development@chicagoreader.com or at:

Reader Institute for Community Journalism, 2930 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 102 Chicago, IL 60616

The Reader Institute for Community Journalism is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 84-3670420). Donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.