Elgin fundraiser to honor Risé Jones, welcome Hamilton Wings’ new director
It’s the type of event that would make Risé Jones’s heart sing.
A fundraiser on Saturday will feature the music she loved to share with the greater Elgin community, performed by the people she loved. The money will be used to continue the work of Hamilton Wings, the nonprofit Jones founded with her mother in 1993 that was shaken by her unexpected death at age 58 in December 2024.
The event also introduces the community to Brittany Barber, who succeeds Jones as Hamilton Wings’ executive director. Barber is steeped in community experience and outreach, but her appointment is especially serendipitous: Barber was a student of Jones and participant in what many consider Hamilton Wings’ most vaunted program: SCORE!. That’s an acronym for Students Creating Opera to Reinforce Education. Each year, students ages 9 to 13 compose and perform the roles they’ve created in what usually is a drama-steeped play before audiences at the Blizzard Theatre at Elgin Community College.
Before she took over at Hamilton Wings in September, Barber worked as an educator, author, inspirational speaker, trainer, facilitator, licensed minister, and founder of Brittany Barber Speaks. She also has worked with Elgin Community College, Outreach Community Center in Carol Stream, and Harper College, where she served as its inaugural cultural center manager.
“Throughout the years, Dr. Jones left an indelible mark on our community,” Barber said. “This evening honors her legacy and invites all of us to help carry forward her passion for empowering Elgin's youth through the arts.”
Saturday’s tribute, scheduled for 5 p.m. at Evangelical Covenant Church, 1565 Larkin Ave., includes local artists and community leaders who helped Jones with her tireless efforts to promote the arts.
In high school, Jones joined the choir but did not discover her true musical calling until graduate school when a professor encouraged her to use her “big voice.”
But Ann Jones, a longtime Elgin principal, died just two years after she helped her daughter start Hamilton Wings, leaving Risé to find her way in the world while preserving the institution meant to honor her parents’ legacies. She mentored and inspired hundreds of students while etching out a career as a consultant through her business, Evaluation Solutions. It focused on the areas close to Jones’s heart: violence prevention, public health, and school policy. She continued working in public policy as a consultant and mediator until her death, but remains best known for her accomplishments in performance, arts education, and leadership training for children.
In recognition of the voice that entertained many and inspired even more, Saturday’s tribute includes Jeorge Holmes, a celebrated operatic tenor and Elgin native; singer, songwriter, and producer CHAR McAllister; and Murna Hansemann, a pianist who accompanied Jones at many of her performances. Their selections will include some in Jones’ repertoire, reflecting her enduring impact on the community.
Donations to benefit Hamilton Wings will be accepted. The group has been sustained over the years by grants and endowments, including the Roots to Wings Endowment Fund Campaign, aimed at securing the long-term sustainability of Hamilton Wings and expanding its impact for years to come. It was fueled by a five-year, $50,000 matching grant from the Florence B. & Cornelia A. Palmer Foundation.
If you go
What: Benefit celebrating the words and music of the late Risé Jones
When: 5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 1
Where: Covenant Evangelical Church, 1565 Larkin Ave., Elgin
Why: Honoring Jones, who died in December, through performances of songs she was known for and to introduce the community to Brittany Barber, recently named to lead Hamilton Wings. Barber was a student of Jones, who founded the nonprofit in 1993.