Welcome to After School Matters Alumni Network. ASM has been serving teens in every neighborhood of Chicago for more than 30 years, connecting young people to friends, mentors, programs, their passions, and their futures.
Whether you participated in Gallery 37 programs in 1991 or ASM last year, this Network is a place for you to connect with other alumni to discover and share stories, opportunities, events, resources, and catch up on the latest ASM news!
Daniel Kyri became involved in ASM acting programs in 2008, and has built a career in film and theatrical performance. Now a renowned actor on Chicago’s stages and on the hit NBC show “Chicago Fire,” Daniel says, “ASM changed my world” and helped expand his worldview and hope for the future at a young age.
Chicagoan Eve Ewing participated in ASM programs back when it was Gallery 37 and then returned as an ASM instructor, is now a nationally respected poet, author, and Chicago cultural organizer.
She’s the author of the books Electric Arches, Ghosts in the Schoolyard, 1919, and Maya and the Robot. She also writes comic books, including Ironheart and Black Panther.
Additionally, Eve is an associate professor in the Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity at the University of Chicago, where she teaches courses on education and racial inequality and directs the Beyond Schools Lab.
Photograph: Jaclyn Rivas