7Metrix Presents: I Heard the City Breathe

7Metrix Presents: I Heard the City Breathe

Short Film + Gallery Exhibition

Exhibit Reception: Saturday, April 11th, 2026, 6pm-8pm

Runs Friday, April 6th – May 1st, 2026. 

Produced by Brian Sykes (7Metrix). Featuring new music, video and photography created in collaboration with ISPro Academy high school students and ISPro Music Artists.

I Heard the City Breathe is rooted in the Black experience. This immersive exhibit brings the story of Chicago to life with sound, image and memory.

More than a premier, it’s a homecoming: a dedication and homage to the Southside roots that helped shape Brian’s creative voice and ultimately sparked this work.

Artist Statement:

My name is Brian Sykes, and I am writing to propose a presentation of my collaborative project,
“I Heard The City Breathe”, at the Beverly Art Center on April 11. This work is a short film and
gallery-style exhibition rooted in the Black experience of Chicago. Through visual art, music,
and storytelling, the project reflects the emotional, cultural, and historical realities of the city
while honoring the voices of the communities that continue to shape it. Presenting this work at
Beverly Art Center would be more than an exhibition opportunity for me—it would be a deeply
meaningful homecoming.

As a Saint Xavier University alumnus, many of the seeds for this work were planted during my
time as a student. When I arrived at Saint Xavier, I was still learning how to process the
experiences I carried as a young Black man from the South Side of Chicago. I was surrounded by
pain, trauma, beauty, culture, and contradiction, but I had not yet fully learned how to translate
those realities into artistic language. My time at Saint Xavier helped me begin that process. It
was there that I was challenged to trust my voice, embrace vulnerability, and understand that my
lived experience was worthy of artistic exploration.

A number of mentors played a critical role in that transformation. Nathan Peck, Monte Gerlach,
Cathy Saunders, and Jane Hileman helped guide me through the artistic and emotional process of
creating deeply personal work. Dr. Jan Bickel of the Music Department helped me reconnect
with my voice and confidence in music, while Michael Grimm of Production Services
contributed to the broader environment that encouraged me to think across disciplines and
explore multiple forms of expression. Their investment in me was not only academic—it was
personal, affirming, and life-shaping.

Out of that period came my 2014 series, “Inner-City Madness”, one of the earliest bodies of
work in which I fully confronted the effects of poverty, trauma, and inner-city violence on Black
children and families in Chicago. That series was deeply connected to my own psychological
experiences and became the first true foundation of my artistic voice. It was later given its first
solo exhibition by Amy Roach at the Beverly Art Center, making Beverly one of the first
institutions to publicly affirm my work. That experience has stayed with me ever since.
Returning now with I Heard The City Breathe would represent a full-circle moment—not only as
an artist returning to a meaningful space, but as someone bringing back a more developed,
collaborative, and community-rooted vision.

Since then, my work has grown across multiple disciplines, including music, education,
mentorship, and creative entrepreneurship. I began to work for Marlon King of Insomniac
Studios. Through my partnership with Marlon King, I expanded my skills in music production,
project management, artist development, and music business, and together we co-founded ISPro
Academy. Through ISPro Academy, we have created pathways for high school students, young

adults, and emerging creatives to learn audio engineering, music production, and music business,
while connecting them to real-world opportunities and mentorship throughout Chicago.

That work has led to partnerships with a range of respected institutions and organizations,
including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Museum of Science and Industry, Hyde Park Art
Center, Chicago West Community Music Center, Elastic Arts, Navy Pier, Walter Payton High
School, and the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship. Some of the projects I have been honored
to take part in include creating 30 minutes of original music for an 11-piece string ensemble for
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Soundpost Renaissance Remix Fashion Show, leading
workshops through the Museum of Science and Industry’s Black Creativity Career Showcase and
Science Works Audio Engineering Workshop, and helping support professional development
programming such as the Center for Creative Entrepreneurship’s Music Bloom series and
music-industry meetups focused on publishing, branding, networking, and artist growth.
All of those experiences have come together in I Heard The City Breathe. Supported by the
DCASE Individual Artist Grant and the Illinois Arts Council Creative Catalyst Grant, the project
brings together youth, adult artists, and community collaborators in an intergenerational
reflection on the Black experience of Chicago. It is both a personal artistic statement and a
collective offering—one that honors memory, struggle, beauty, survival, and creative legacy.

Presenting “I Heard The City Breathe” at the Beverly Art Center on April 11 would allow me to
return to the place that first gave my work a public home and share how that journey has
evolved. It would honor the mentors and institutions that helped shape me, while also offering a
new generation of artists and audiences a chance to experience a work grounded in truth,
collaboration, and the spirit of Chicago. It would be an honor to bring this project to Beverly Art
Center and continue the story in a space that has already meant so much to my artistic life.

Sincerely,

Brian Sykes