U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth introduced bipartisan legislation to designate the Bronzeville Church that held Emmett Till’s funeral, Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ, as a national heritage site. According to the Architect’s Newspaper, “The designation would offer the historically significant church an elevated level of federal support and ensure, per the National Trust for Historic Preservation, that the ‘National Park Service will preserve, protect, and interpret its powerful impact on American civil rights history for generations to come.'”
The School of the Art Institute sent us a statement opposing the ordinance from their president, Elissa Tenny: “Chicago is a vibrant ecosystem of art makers and art lovers. This community thrives because of the scores of house museums, artist-run spaces, and apartment galleries. These spaces allow artists to take risks, develop audiences, and—sometimes—establish galleries, museums, and art centers that become cornerstones of the city’s cultural life. For example, the DuSable Museum of African American History, founded in 1961 by School of the Art Institute of Chicago alum Dr. Margaret Burroughs and her husband Charles Gordon Burroughs, was originally housed on the ground floor of their home in Bronzeville. Residential art spaces, whether they are future world-class institutions or short-lived creative outlets, play a critical role in shaping the creative and cultural community in our city. Art and design are most powerful when they are intimately tied to our experiences, and the proposed ordinance threatens artists’ ability to create work for everyone, comment on our cultural and political lives, and make sense of the world around us in their uniquely Chicago tradition. The city should never seek to dampen the creative spirit of its citizens.”
Acclaimed children’s book creator and artist Joan Walsh Anglund died of natural causes at ninety-five in her Connecticut home. Born in Hinsdale and educated in Chicago, Anglund orbited in and out of the Chicago area several times in her lifetime.
From the New York Times obituary: “Ms. Carus published several anthologies of Cricket stories, and in the early 1990s launched three more titles, aimed at different ages. She ran the magazine out of a book-filled warren of offices above a downtown bar, and later out of a repurposed clock factory. Around 2000 its headquarters, and its staff of about 100, moved to Chicago, though Ms. Carus, still the editor, decided to stay in LaSalle, with some of her top editors trekking back and forth every few days.”
The Royal George Theatre, which the Tribune’s Chris Jones calls “one of the most important venues in the city for commercial theater entertainment,” appears headed for extinction, as in real estate redevelopment.
Today In The Culture, March 13, 2023: Bloodshot Records Returns | Brosius Departing Children’s Theatre | Dispatches from the Culture… ART Josephine Strauss, 101, Helped Start Art Institute Volunteer Program "Josephine Newberger Strauss helped launch the Art Institute of Chicago’s volunteer program in the 1960s and for many years was a generous donor to the museum," reports the Trib. The family fortune came from sweater and knitted outerwear firm Royal Knitting Mills. "In the 1980s, Strauss and her husband donated funds to help…
