Sam Thousand on Making Space
Sam Thousand is a musical artist and social entrepreneur. His organization, ChiBrations is hosting “Earth Jam” A Community Jam Session, with Chicago Park District and Roots and Routes September 11th from 6pm - 9pm meeting at Bronzewood gathering space with a walk at dusk to Sankofa for the Earth where the jam session will continue.
Originally from Houston, Texas, Sam started playing trumpet at the age of seven. 2024 celebrates his thirtieth year of playing music. He came up playing classical, marching, and jazz band music and has always found himself in a position of peer leadership.
“Coming up in music school, I was solutions oriented and I found myself assuming leadership roles and I feel like it’s led into who I am now as an artist and community leader, organizer, and mobilizer.”
A full scholarship at Columbia College brought Sam to Chicago back in 2009 at the age of twenty-two. At that time he had never lived in another state other than Texas. He’d previously attended college for a year at the age of seventeen before deciding to take a break to gain more life experience and live a more creative lifestyle.
“I realized I wanted to learn more about life and gain more experience. Just explore more and that kind of led to me becoming a performing artist and entrepreneur.”
Between the ages of eighteen and twenty-one, Sam started his career playing gigs, writing music, and was also an award winning door-to-door salesman. When Sam started back at school in Chicago he again found himself as a peer leader being a twenty-two year old freshman. By the time he graduated, Sam was extremely active in the music scene around Chicago. He and his main band, Sidewalk Chalk, became full time artists in 2014. As a full time artist, Sam explored different ways to diversify his income. He’s found a niche in being a curator, synthesizing his musical network and business experience.
Sam Thousand started ChiBrations in 2018 as a way of giving back to the community. ChiBrations started as a collective movement led by artists to promote artists, which grew into events and is still growing strong. Recently, the ChiBrations app was launched which promotes open mic and jam events across the city.
“There are a lot of unsung talents in our community and I wanted to create an initiative to amplify the scene and put these artists on stage, and center moments around their work and their story. Give them that unique opportunity. We’re allowing artists from all different walks of life, skill levels, spaces, and disciplines to be in community where other artists are. Artists like to be around artists. These are the types of initiatives ChiBrations wants to continue to do where there’s freedom of expression on an open stage.”
Sam has experienced open mics and jam sessions throughout the years and in many different spaces. The upcoming event with Roots & Routes will be ChiBrations’ first time hosting a jam session of their own. The event will be an acoustic or ‘unplugged’ night of music called, “The Earth Jam”. The theme is built not around rules, but a shared vision to lean into new ways of connecting to nature through communal artmarking. The event will also feature a painting activity curated by Dorian Sylvain, one of the lead artists on Sankofa for the Earth.
For Sam, the elemental theme is a part of his own natural and organic expression. The inspiration for this event came from his time spent at the Burnham Wildlife Corridor, specifically the Bronzewood and Sankofa for the Earth Gathering Spaces.
“Roots & Routes is a beautiful initiative creating nature trails and places in the Chicagoland area that are transformative, and some allow you to feel, for moments, that you are elsewhere. That's how unique and significant The Burnham Wildlife Corridor is to me. What draws me to Bronzewood is the raw nature of the space and the structuring of exposed-wood seating around the perimeter, suggesting warm and inviting moments that only form naturally and with ease.”
“Sankofa for the Earth, the neighboring location just minutes up the trail, greets guests with grand artwork erected by Dorian Sylvain, Arlene Turner Crawford, and Raymond A. Thomas. Looking down I see an open space of wood chips paired with painted cement seating for communing. This location suggests storytelling and discussion with the lure of the artwork to further inspire imagination of past present and future times.”
“The Earth Jam was just a small nugget of an idea in my mind the day I first experienced the Burnham Wildlife Corridor. I knew as soon as I graced upon Bronzewood and Sankofa for the Earth that these were the perfect location for this concept I had in mind. Many creative people I know in Chicago long for escapes to nature, and often use these settings as their muse. I hope to expose more of my community to these spaces that are in our very own backyard and I intend to activate these spaces with other creatives in ways that leave an energy in the soil for future newcomers to feel the good energy these spaces were imbued with. I'd like to think that's what I felt from my first moment as well.”
Sam spent a lot of time outside growing up in Texas. His experiences were not always in nature but he found a love of the freedom that came with being outside.
“We had [in Texas] what you would call bayous. I lived right by one. The bayou dips down into a conclave with a pipeline that helps with flooding and goes through different parts of the city and they had trails on either side. I grew up on motorcycles, camped with the family, and played street basketball. We would spend a lot of time outside. It wasn’t consistently out on nature trails like the Corridor but I was outside and free to spend a lot of time in the elements. And in the sun of course, if we’re talking about Houston, I was always in the sun.”
His experience with the outdoors connects to his hopes for the Roots & Routes jam session that people come in with wonder and openness to trying something new. He also hopes people come in with tools for jamming, be it voices, drums, wind instruments and anything else. A big part of jamming is to network with other artists, checking in with oneself and also bouncing off of others and creating moments. One goal is for people to leave feeling more connected to nature and more connected to each other than they arrived.
“For people to come into the space with this idea of checking in, being able to note what they are feeling but also feeling new inhibitions and expressing that. Being influenced by others to break down those barriers,share and express. When participants leave, I hope they feel refreshed, full, and inspired. Hopefully they leave with some new friends and a smile. A new experience that is cherished. A feeling like they just went on an adventure.”
In a world that can get cluttered and overwhelmed Sam searches for ways to uplift artists’ voices up beyond the noise. Sam’s own career has been influenced by various peers, friends, and community members. And now his efforts in curation and organizing give back that energy and more. He believes authenticity, individuality, and freedom rests at the heart of his practice.
“I live a creative life and I’m grateful for the many ambitious ideas that come to my mind, because the idea exists and the opportunity is here, let’s do it!”
Sam Thousand also works with the Muddy Waters MOJO Museum, which plans to open its doors soon in Bronzeville, near the 41st Street Pedestrian Bridge that leads to the lakefront. He is also curating an event series through ChiBrations called “THE PORTAL” that mixes networking, future media, and tech with panel talks and a jam session. This one of a kind event is for creatives of all types and will recur on last Tuesdays this September from 7p-10p at Experimental Station located at 6100 S Blackstone Ave.
“The creative community needs spaces they can come to and be in community with other creatives to discuss inspirations and resources . Whether it be how to sustain or how to deal with housing. Creative opportunities, grants, partnerships, collaborations. How to space-make. It’s about creating spaces where we can collaborate, share ideas and be free to express ourselves with others.”
Sam Thousand can be found at his website: samthousand.live and social media: Instagram @samthousand and @chi_brations Sam can be contacted with any inquiries at: contactsamthousand@gmail.com
Rsvp for Earth Jam at: https://events.eventnoire.com/e/earth-jam/
