Our Executive Director Adam L. McMath Joins the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame

On November 6, our President and Executive Director, Adam L. McMath, was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame at the 34th annual ceremony at the Chicago History Museum. Two years after Black Alphabet was honored as an organization, the Hall recognized the person who has led it.

Adam joined Black Alphabet in 2014, back when the organization was a scrappy film festival run on borrowed time and personal savings. He became President and Executive Director in 2018. Under his leadership, Black Alphabet grew beyond the festival into an arts and wellness institution: free art therapy and creative mental health services, youth programming, and initiatives reaching cities across the U.S. and as far as Uganda.

He also co-founded the Jamii Center for Arts and Media in Bronzeville, a creative sanctuary where Chicago’s Black LGBTQ+ community and allies find art, wellness, and each other year round.

Two inductions, one mission

Black Alphabet entered the Hall of Fame in 2023. Adam entered in 2025. The pairing says something we believe deeply: institutions and the people who build them rise together. The mission has not changed since 2013. Tell our stories. Care for our people. Leave the door open behind us.

Keep the work going

The best way to honor this recognition is to be part of what comes next. Come to a program or make a gift to sustain free arts and mental health programming for Black LGBTQ+ Chicago.