Columbia is expanding its creative footprint in the city’s annual Arts in the Dark parade with an immersive collaboration between art, history and performance students.
Although Columbia has had a presence in the iconic Halloween since its debut in 2014, this year, students and faculty have created handmade costume masks that nod to the city’s industrial past and choreographed dance routines inspired by the 2025 horror film “Sinners.”
The Arts in the Dark parade, held annually in Chicago’s South Loop near campus, celebrates the city’s creative spirit through illuminated floats, live music and performers from across Chicago’s arts and cultural institutions. Organized by LUMA8, the parade draws thousands to State Street each October, blending Halloween spectacle with the city’s diverse artistic communities. Its co-founder and artistic director is Mark Kelly, the college’s former vice president of Student Success.
Taylor Hokanson and Erin McCarthy have worked together in their “Big Chicago” classes this fall to design and build the masks for the annual Halloween parade, which will be held this weekend on Saturday, Oct. 18.
“Our theme is ‘The Ghosts of the Stockyards’ and we have hogs, sheep and cattle masks that every student has made,” said McCarthy, an associate professor in the School of Communication and Culture.
Hokanson, who was on a sabbatical in Spain that influenced his inspirations for the masks, said he hopes for unity when the parade takes place. A “No Kings” protest over the Trump administration’s immigration tactics and domestic policy agenda is scheduled earlier in the day.
“I’m really excited by the fact that we’re welcoming people from outside the Columbia community to come into our spaces for a communal celebration,” said Hokanson, an associate professor in the School of Visual Arts. “Parades, because they are so populist, might come across as lower culture, as opposed to something that’s sitting inside a museum hung up on the wall.”
Alongside the mask-making project, Columbia students and faculty are also preparing a dance performance inspired by “Sinners,” a supernatural film about twin brothers who return to the Mississippi Delta in 1932 to open a juke joint. The performance is led by Kristi Beltran, director of Student Engagement and Leadership, and Connie Stanley, assistant dean of Student Affairs Operations and Communications.
“Our goal was to get the cultural organizations together so that they could participate in recreating Columbia’s interpretation of this scene from ‘Sinners’,” Stanley said. “So, representing us we’ve got members from BSU, the Hip-Hop Club, Mi Gente and Tap Club.”
First-year film and television major Micah Johnson portrays Sammy, the film’s main character, in the parade dance inspired by a scene where he performs “I Lied to You,” summoning spirits of African descent that embody the evolution of blues, rock and hip-hop.
Johnson learned about this opportunity through Columbia’s Black Student Union and was assigned the lead role by Stanley because of his dance background and prior experience living in Africa.
“This is something that resonates with people that are Gen Z, that are African American. I thought it was nice and it seemed grounded, in tune with the community,” Johnson said. “I’m so excited. I had the songs on repeat.”
When Stanley told Johnson he’d just have to memorize a song, “I’m like, ‘ready, where do you need me?’” he added.
Any student could participate in the dance for the parade, regardless of major or dance experience.
First-year photography major Kate Kellogg, who plays a vampire in the dance, said she found out about the parade after seeing advertising at CTA bus stop and joined after hearing more about it at the Student Center. Kellogg had prior experience in dance, but has never participated in anything as big as Arts in the Dark.
“I think that we know what we’re doing. We just need to trust ourselves,” Kellogg said.
Creative director and senior musical theatre major Raynner Garcia said the dancers’ progress over the past six weeks has been encouraging and reflects the community-building spirit behind the performance.
He is excited to share the Afro-diasporic movement and culture with a community who may not know much about it.
“My main goal is to build community and to build something together in an ensemble, in a devising creative way that would just benefit all of us and feels good to the soul,” Garcia said.
First-year photography major Adrianna Gutierrez finds parades as a place for self expression and celebration. Gutierrez has a rich history of partaking in parades, so when Arts in The Dark was presented with a culturally rich dance scene, she was excited to be a part of dance in something she’s never done before.
“For me it is so much about representation,” Gutierrez said. “It is so much about ‘I am here as this person,’ and I want somebody to look at me and see that they can also do the same thing.”
The Arts in the Dark parade begins at 6 p.m. on State Street, moving south from Randolph Street to Van Buren Street. Following the parade, Columbia students can continue the celebration at the afterparty in the Student Center, featuring DJ sets, a photo booth, mummy styling, a Halloween art battle and more.
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