About Midwest C3 Productions
Dr. Traci Lombre, Founder & Lead Consultant
Dr. Traci Lombre, president, provides the strategic direction for the growth of Midwest C3 Productions. She believes in the power of live music performance as an effective tool for historic storytelling. Midwest C3 is committed to developing new ways for historians and cultural institutions to enhance history presentations with multimedia and live music performance, when possible.
An ethnomusicologist of Black American Music and a cultural historian, Dr. Lombre is an authority on the heritage of Midwestern Blues-based traditions in music, visual art and literature. She focuses on the ways that Blues-based music is performed to foster community development and wellness. While raised in a working-class Black community in Kansas City, Kansas, a long-time South Side Chicago resident, and a shorter-term former resident of Detroit, she witnessed the traditions surrounding the ways that Blues, jazz, and gospel is taught and incorporated into everyday living, helping people to celebrate, grieve, or heal. She uses this information to transform the history lessons behind this music into enjoyable cultural learning experiences for the public.
Dr. Lombre holds bachelor’s degrees from Smith College, a master’s degree from the University of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in American Culture from the University of Michigan. She has taught in a variety of spaces, ranging from neighborhood community rooms to elite institutions of higher learning. She also has a background in: university teaching and administration, academic and public programming, international conference planning having worked at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan; corporate development at the American Cancer Society-Chicago; marketing and strategic planning with Verizon-New England; investment sales with Merrill Lynch; and real estate and project management as president and board secretary with her condominium association.
Selected Projects by Dr. Traci Lombre
Dr. Lombre is currently a consultant serving as program coordinator for the Chicago Public Library’s (CPL) Renaissance Project, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Working directly with CPL’s unit manager of civic, cultural & literary & engagement, she develops year-round public programming on Black Chicago history, from CPL's Afri
Dr. Lombre is currently a consultant serving as program coordinator for the Chicago Public Library’s (CPL) Renaissance Project, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Working directly with CPL’s unit manager of civic, cultural & literary & engagement, she develops year-round public programming on Black Chicago history, from CPL's African American archival materials, for its 82 library branches.
- Curated live historical music performances on Chicago's Blues, jazz, & works by Black Chicago classical composers.
As a member of the University of Michigan’s Singing Justice Collective, which investigates themes in Black American music, she is co-author of a forthcoming book, Black Song: A Manifesto for Music and Justice (University of Michigan Press, forthcoming November 2026). This book, accompanied by an interactive website for the public, center
As a member of the University of Michigan’s Singing Justice Collective, which investigates themes in Black American music, she is co-author of a forthcoming book, Black Song: A Manifesto for Music and Justice (University of Michigan Press, forthcoming November 2026). This book, accompanied by an interactive website for the public, centers acts of musical creation and performance that emerge from Black experiences, affirm Black humanity, and connect to Black communities.
- Wrote episodes for the award-winning 2023 Toledo (OH) Public Radio-WGTE series, “Conversations in African American Music with Dr. Louise Toppin.”
- Cultural commentary featured on “National Public Radio (NPR), WAMU-Washington, 1A with Host, Jenn White”, pertaining to American composer, George Gershwin (1898-1937) and his close relationships
- Wrote episodes for the award-winning 2023 Toledo (OH) Public Radio-WGTE series, “Conversations in African American Music with Dr. Louise Toppin.”
- Cultural commentary featured on “National Public Radio (NPR), WAMU-Washington, 1A with Host, Jenn White”, pertaining to American composer, George Gershwin (1898-1937) and his close relationships with Black musicians, the famous four Harlem stride pianists James P. Johnson, Charles Luckeyth “Luckey” Roberts, Willie “The Lion” Smith, and Thomas “Fats” Waller.