Derek Lee McPhatter is a featured speaker at TEDxChicago 2026: We The People, October 3, discussing hope as a creative discipline.

logging my thoughts during the Apollo Works in Process residency for water riot

water riot at harlem’s apollo theater May 2026!

OTV Premiere at the MCA on May 28, 2024. Photo: Jaclyn Rivas.

OTV and IPI are just a few of the ways Chicago champions independent artistry…

I sat down with @PrideIndex to talk #AfroSurreal, the vision for #waterriot, writing Black Speculative Narratives, and helping fortify our creative economy. Read the full interview! #BlackSpeculativeFiction #CreativeEntrepreneur

Derek responding to audience questions at the Making Money Work Break Out Session … photo courtesy of Emily Melissa.

I’m very excited about the collaborations coming together.

This isn’t just a performance.
It’s a call-in.
An invitation to listen, reflect, and co-imagine what this piece can become.

Excited about an upcoming gig to showcase WATER RIOT: a cyber punk rock opera! We’re coming to the Backward River Festival june 8!

Reflecting on 2023… personally and in my work as a writer/producer.

Had my head down recently, hustling my portfolio and creating opportunities to get my work up for 2024 and beyond!

On Friday July 21st at 4:30 PM CST, I’ll be in conversation with three directors, all leaders in the field, and with great experience envisioning and staging afro-futuristic work (like mine).

I’m taking a moment to reflect.

On Afrofuturism.

Or perhaps more accurately Afrofuturisms.

I think there’s more than one now.