Guiding. Inspiring. Creating. Producing. Serving the arts community for over 35 years. Performing for a lifetime!

_{“As talented a performer and artist as there is on the cultural
landscape, Jamie O’Reilly is also, remarkably, an impassioned and
captivating activist for the arts and their importance in our lives. To
listen to her, in song or in speech, is to realize that she carries an
essential message. She enlightens. She empowers. She enraptures.”}

_{-Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune, WGN}

By doing what we love,
our soul wants for nothing
and the artist never starves.
Of course we need to make a living
but it is with our art, we make a life.

“Jamie’s creative resilience transforms hard times into inspiration to use art
as a tool for all of us to grow both more human and more humane”.

What feeds the creative spirit is not limited to the here and now. Our roots are infused with the work of those who came before us. The search is ongoing. The possibilities, endless. Jamie O’Reilly’s belief in the value of the artist in society never wanes.

Jamie O’Reilly is a vital resource for creatives, businesses, and arts organizations. She provides years of experience, strong business acumen, personal guidance to all her clients and collaborators. She is savvy in project development, PR and media assignments, and event planning. She produces the finest cultural arts programming from storytime for children, to salons, folk-chamber pieces and concerts. All Jamie’s programs include significant community outreach.

On the current arts climate
The Covid pandemic resulted in a foundational shift in how audiences watch, see and listen to performance. Enhanced social media, online events, and streaming services offer experiences in the comfort of one’s living room. Still, as much as we have these entertainments at our literal fingertips, many of us soon tired of the isolation. I see a palpable need for people to connect – in person – and share moments. It is now more vital than ever to reach out as we deal with change, navigate an evolving (often confounding) tech-reality, and cope with the implications of aging in our peer group.

I’ve kept up with the times in recent years; producing live and events in intimate venues, recording music, and writing a weekly blog, while building a regular audience for my programs. My Roots Salon is in its 4th Season at Chicago’s Tre Kronor Swedish Bistro.
As this latest chapter takes hold, I have been growing my arts business with new perspective and insight.

While I focus primarily on singing and creating my Legacy Project, which garners attention from a broadening community and more visibility, I find myself compelled to expand my one-on-one advisory and PR services to a select number of clients.

Recommended Links

Newspaper Articles
—Jamie O’Reilly Sings Around Town.” Irish American News, 2024
—Singer Jamie O’Reilly is hosting a children’s story time this weekend. but the real story has been her life.”  – Rick Kogan, Chicago Tribune 10/11/22

 —Video Roots in Ireland https://www.jamieoreilly.com/videos/jamie-oreilly-roots-in-ireland-a-video-a-musical-journey/

—Writing Sample/Blog: Song Notes: Solamente, Songs of Resilience https://www.jamieoreilly.com/jamie-o-feb-blog-songnotes-solamente/

_{“Jamie has a deep understanding of the power art has to reach past our defenses and heal. She brings wisdom to her work. Jamie is a gifted artist who consistently uses her skills, both individual and group, to transform and improve our lives and the world”. (Anne Hills, Musician)}

2023 Update

In 2020 and 2021, during the height of the Covid crisis, Jamie researched and developed two new projects: Roots in the Garden and Roots in Ireland 2022, then launched an extensive marketing effort,. collaborating with women-owned businesses. They brought outdoor concerts to area venues and outdoor places. The concerts have sold-out. In 2021, Jamie was the recipient of an Artist Rescue Grant.

For the Roots in Ireland project, she engaged the services of musicians, recording engineers, and a graphic designer. She then developed the Roots in Ireland video with videographer Jeffrey Bivens.
It was screened on social media and at Chief O’Neill’s Pub in Albany Park for the first indoor event, from which she built a wider network of patrons.

Work in 2022/2023

• In Old Chicago: Stories and Songs of a Beloved City – play and recording
  and Legacy – vocal recording, recorded live at WFMT Radio, released 9/23
• The Legacy Project: stories, artwork, history, multi-generational programs
• Tough Broads and Tender Lasses: Songs of Resilience
• Gramma Jamie’s Children’s Storytime at the Sweden Shop
• Roots Salons, bimonthly musical evenings at Tre Kronor Swedish Bistro
• SongNotes Blog: Jamie tells the stories and history of her recorded songs
  

More about 2023
In 2023 Jamie brought her journey as a voice for Chicago history to a multimedia program In Old Chicago: Stories and Songs of a Beloved City.

Contact Jamie, jamie@jamieoreilly.com

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A personal note from Jamie
I see no line of distinction between the work I make and the life I create. I found my passion early in life. I was singing before I could talk. I decided to be a writer in the 7th grade. By my third year of college at De Paul School of Music, I’d chosen the Arts and Humanities — specifically history and culture, as my focus. Now 45 plus years-in, as a freelance arts professional, due to sheer will, tenacity and the strength of a generous creative community, I continue to create, produce, perform and promote the highest quality programs and events.

It is a love of singing and writing, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a fiercely held belief in the value of the artist that fuel my world. I have a genuine love-of presentation and and love-for collaboration. I know the artist struggle. I deal with ennui. I need to make ends meet, too. But I never give up!

I’ve been a Chicago area arts consultant, producer, performer and teaching artist for over 35 years. Now I am focused on performing and writing. My web-blogs include personal essays, e-newsletters and the SongNotes column, giving background on the songs I have performed, the lyrics and audio files.

I remain a freelance media producer and consultant. I create high-caliber work, and more recently focusing on Chicago; its history, neighborhoods. I keep my own work fresh and timely. My projects have become awardwinning productions. I have had on my roster of clients accomplished professionals and leading arts organizations. 

Look around my website and see the types of projects I do.

My Arts Consulting Background
In the late 90s I was looking for a support system for independent artists in the Chicago community who had an interest in self production and promotion. There were no how-to guides and few opportunities if you freelanced and were not part of a not-for-profit group. So I developed a series of classes: Making a Life in the Arts at the Arts Entertainment and Media Management Department at Columbia College with guidance of Dennis Rich, then Chair. My singular approach to advising arts practitioners and presenters has now been utilized throughout the Chicago community and beyond: The Portfolio Center at Columbia College, Guild Complex, Center Portion Artist Space, Victory Gardens Training Center, and Gallery 37 Center for the Arts (where I taught Adult Education in the fabulous artScape program, affiliated with Harold Washington College).

In the meantime, I continued to develop my own writing and performance skills and produced a substantial body of work.

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From Linked-In Profile:

PRODUCTION EXPERIENCE
• Directing, collaborating and coordinating projects, programs and special events
* Producing musical recordings, in studio
* Managing design & audio elements of CD production
* Producing & writing radio programs; working with talent, studios, distributors
* Creating, developing, writing, directing, producing theater works
* Researching, developing cultural and educational programs
* Public speaking, hosting and emceeing public programs
* Hosting Roots Salon & curating art installations
* Networking, collaborating, coordinating projects, programs and special events
* Public relations, media relations, developing media plans and strategies
• Media production, social media, e-newsletters, website copy

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT SERVICES and ADVOCACY
* Advising Non-Profits in the Arts and Culture Arena
* Public Speaking, Conducting Workshops, Teaching Classes
* One-on-One Guidance to aspiring artists from idea to realization
* Jump starting “late-life artists” and creatives
* Providing community networking for clients and groups
* Portfolio and promotional materials review
* Project review and assessment
* Developing arts curriculum and programming with educators and arts presenters
* Developing special projects with community groups

“THANK YOU!!! That was an absolutely beautiful, inspiring, instructive, fun show in which to participate. So much great music, readings, poems, Chicago local history and family experiences. It was a wonderful experience – that we will recall and discuss for the rest of our lives, and will be passed on to our families. We hope you will do it again locally, so our family members and friends will be blest with this experience.”

Chuck Ripp, Oak Park, IL commenting on In Old Chicago

_{(opening quote by Susan Wayman, former deputy arts commissioner, CDCA)}

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