Audrey Francis and Glenn Davis in Steppenwolf Round Theater/Photo: Frank Ishman
ART
Viewing For Artist Gregory Bae
Chicago artist Gregory Bae, an educator at SAIC and community organizer who recently led an art fundraiser for Asian Americans Advancing Justice’s Chicago chapter, has passed. There will be a public viewing today, Friday, July 23 at 9:30am, at the Korean Martyrs Catholic Church at 4115 North Kedvale. From Bae’s Chicago Artists Coalition biography: “Gregory Bae is an aquarius born in the year of the tiger in Salt Lake City, to a traditional calligrapher/ink painter from a Catholic family in Jinju, and a scientist from a Buddhist family in Jinhae, who grew up in post-war Korea and got married, then immigrated to Utah in the mid-80s carrying an eight-month old baby. He left the nest when he was 17 to be an artist.” His CV is here. Bae’s SAIC faculty profile is here.
Mariane Ibrahim Gallery Appoints Director For Paris Outpost
Mariane Ibrahim has announced Laura Turcan as director of the Paris gallery. The Parisian Turcan will run Mariane Ibrahim’s second location and will focus on developing the roster of artist exposure in Europe. “We are very excited to welcome Laura to our team,” Ibrahim says. “I am confident her expertise and knowledge will be instrumental in the development of the gallery in Europe. Her vision and values align with ours, as she is a dynamic and passionate individual.” Turcan was previously Director at Galerie Chantal Crousel for seven years, where she managed and promoted artists’ careers including those of Mona Hatoum, Glenn Ligon, Gabriel Orozco and Rirkrit Tiravanija. She led projects with international institutions and collectors including the Centre Pompidou, Musée d’Orsay, LUMA Foundation, Venice Biennale, Castello di Rivoli and Botìn Foundation.
BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival Opens Friday In Detroit
BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival, the inaugural, all-Black-produced festival, will provide Detroit youth and national and local muralists of color the opportunity to reinvigorate the North End community of Detroit from July 23-31. During the BLKOUT Walls Festival, attendees will see over twenty-four large-scale murals, most of which are twenty-by-twenty-feet and larger. New art installations will be strategically placed throughout the community to showcase BIPOC voices and stories and beautify underused spaces throughout the city to encourage neighborhood walkability, and tourism to Detroit. Live art illustration events, guided mural tours and conversations with some of today’s most sought-after artists and muralists will also be on display. More here.
DESIGN
Bronzeville Lakefront Development Detailed
After City Council approval of Bronzeville Lakefront, more details were provided by the city’s first large-scaled development to be built by GRIT Chicago, a team that is fifty-percent minority and includes a local community organization. GRIT says that from its community-driven, sustainable design and construction program to a pioneering life-sciences innovation center, the community is designed to spur economic development through substantial temporary and permanent job creation and the significant generation of income through business creation, commerce and industry. The first phase is the seventy-acre planned development of a life sciences innovation center designed to stimulate global collaboration and significant business creation; open space that includes a 200,000-square-foot park; new multifamily, senior and affordable housing; and commercial and retail spaces. The infusion of industry, retail and housing the development will bring to the neighborhood is expected to generate $3.5 billion in direct economic impact and create 31,000 full-time positions and 45,000 direct and indirect construction jobs. Indirect economic impact will total $4.7 billion, and tax revenues are anticipated to top $1.5 billion over the next two decades. Bronzeville Lakefront will be home to an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse group of residents thanks to its mix of senior, family, workforce and affordable housing. In contrast to many other large area developments, all of its affordable housing units will be on-site. GRIT, a diverse development team, expects to meet a goal of sixty-five-percent minority suppliers to build Bronzeville Lakefront.
Mindworks, The World’s First Lab and Interactive Museum Dedicated to Behavioral Science, Opens Friday
This morning at 11am is the grand opening for “Mindworks: The Science of Thinking,” the first lab and interactive museum dedicated to behavioral science. The Center for Decision Research at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business will host the grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony. Mindworks wants to be among Chicago’s top destinations for visitors from around the world to better understand how behavioral scientists do their research and how to apply their discoveries into real-world situations that can improve everyday lives. Mindworks anticipates more than 20,000 visitors in its first year and is free and open to all. More here.
DINING & DRINKING
Owner Of Jeffery Pub, Nation’s Longest-Running Black-Owned Gay Bar, Opening Inclusive Pizza Place
Jamal Junior, owner of the South Shore’s Jeffery Pub, is set to recreate his grandmother’s pizza recipe in a new, inclusive restaurant, reports WGN-TV. “Junior said it has been a lifelong dream to open a restaurant. Williams Inn Pizza And Sports Bar is a tribute to his grandmother and a restaurant she once owned on Ashland Avenue. It is where Junior learned the ins and outs of the restaurant industry. ‘She taught basically everything, from the stocking, the ordering, the payroll, everything… One reason we chose the South Loop is because it is a very diverse community we want everyone to be comfortable.'”
Uncommon Ground Marks Thirty Years
WGN-TV checks in with America’s “greenest restaurant” at thirty.“Thirty years of running two busy restaurants has taught us a lot about how to evolve or die in our industry,” Mike Cameron says of the business he owns with his wife Helen. “We’ve been through a couple recessions, a housing market bubble bursting… so we are tenacious enough to make it through. That is why our special anniversary beer is called Perseverance Double IPA.” Uncommon Ground will celebrate its thirtieth anniversary all month long with a $30 prix fixe menu for takeout or dining and musical performances at its locations at 3800 North Clark and 1401 West Devon.
FILM & TELEVISION
“Ted Lasso” Co-Creator And Star Brendan Hunt Talks Nomadic Chicago Childhood
Brendan Hunt, co-creator of the kindly Apple TV Plus series with a record-beating twenty Emmy nominations tells Nina Metz at the Trib about Chicago origins: “My mom and dad were very young when they had me. They were 20 and 19 when I was born. My dad had just come back from Vietnam, and I think he had PTSD that he never treated, in that sort of macho-denial way. So they were divorced by the time I was two, and my mom tried to raise me and my younger sister by herself. That proved very taxing, so there was a lot of moving around.” When his mother remarried, Metz writes, the family settled in Lakeview. “It was an eighth grade field trip to Second City in 1987 that set Hunt on his path as an actor. ‘The show was called “Jean-Paul Sartre and Ringo.” Bonnie Hunt was in the cast and she made the biggest impression on me. That show just blew me away. I couldn’t believe these people were doing this. So that had a big effect on me. But also the same year, on another field trip, I saw “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Court Theatre, and I couldn’t believe how much I loved it. That’s when I started doing school plays and started an improv group.'”
LIT
Investigating The Allegations Of Sexual Abuse At Young Chicago Authors, Free Write Arts & Literacy And In The Spoken Word Community
“Recent departures from Young Chicago Authors and Free Write, particularly Kevin Coval and Roger Bonair-Agard, illuminate a culture that sidelined and abused women, adultified youth, and catapulted some men into celebrity status,” reports Taylor Moore in an expansive, densely reported 9,000-word investigation at the Reader. “Many poets were relieved when Kevin Coval was fired from YCA in March. Even so, many still requested anonymity. ‘I’m afraid of him. I don’t work in youth poetry anymore because of him.'” Writes Moore, “I spoke to more than 40 people about their experiences in the Chicago poetry scene, including current and former employees, collaborators, board members, and students of Young Chicago Authors and Free Write Arts & Literacy; poets who have organized around justice for survivors and had their careers ruined from speaking out; and people who say they’ve experienced abuse by those in these organizations. Many sent me documents and e-mails to corroborate their experiences. People felt more comfortable speaking to me about their experiences with YCA and in the poetry scene after Coval’s exit was announced. Even so, many still requested anonymity or agreed to only speak off the record because Coval has a reputation for silencing critics and wielding his power as a gatekeeper in art, music and activist spaces.”
MEDIA
WBBM-Channel 2 Boss Out After Investigation Of Mass Misconduct At CBS
Following a Los Angeles Times investigation that uncovered alleged misconduct, racism and misogyny within its stations division, “CBS ousted Jay Howell, general manager of KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles, and Derek Dalton, the head of the company’s Chicago station, WBBM-TV Channel 2. With the move, CBS has now changed its entire top management of the stations group,” reports the Los Angeles Times. The Times also quotes a memo from CBS chief executive George Cheeks: “While the investigation largely looked at events in the past, and the issues revealed were more pronounced in certain areas and at specific stations than others, there are clear themes that we need to address moving forward. Our diversity, equity and inclusion standards need to be a top priority for leadership in every corner of our stations business; our workplace culture needs to measurably improve; and, your trust needs to be restored with your CBS leaders.”
Harvey World Herald Among First Six Members Of The Tiny News Collective
An initiative to bring news and information to communities nationwide, the Tiny News Collective named six organizations as its first grantees, including the Harvey World Herald. “The founders behind these organizations all share a vision of serving local audiences through producing news for and with their community, a vision the Collective will foster in hundreds more places across the U.S. over the next several years,” writes the TNS. “I’m excited for this first cohort of founders as they begin their journey,” André Natta, the Tiny News Collective board chair said in a release. “I’m also excited for the Collective as an organization as we start to put everything we’ve worked on and talked about over the last year into practice.” A partnership with the Google News Initiative provides each organization with a $15,000 stipend to help get started. Amethyst Davis represents the Harvey effort: “The Harvey World Herald is a response to a global pandemic that ushered in an economic crisis not seen since the Great Depression. In a city where uncertainty is an everyday experience, the community is in need of information that shapes their daily lives now more than ever.”
ABC 7 Cancels “Windy City Live” After A Decade
“Ten years after it replaced ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ on WLS-Channel 7’s daytime lineup, ‘Windy City Live’… will cease production September 3,” reports Robert Feder. John Idler, president and general manager of ABC 7 emailed his workers: “As we continue to navigate through our industry’s challenging times, we have had to make a tough business decision to sunset the daily airing of ‘Windy City Live’… I want to thank the outstanding WCL producers and production crew for their tireless commitment to making a decade of great television. WCL’s impactful [sic] storytelling and community outreach exceeded all our expectations when we launched the show in 2011.”
MUSIC
Trib’s Last Local Columnist Is Lolla-Skeptical
“Lollapalooza, for all the economic good it does the city, feels like a mistake waiting to happen,”writes Rex Huppke. “But at this point, all we can do is watch. If it goes well and people stay healthy, we will have learned something. If not, we’ll know how far we have to go, and realize difficult conversations lie ahead as schools start reopening in about a month. Like it or not, this year’s festival is a canary in a coal mine…What if the ticket screeners aren’t thorough enough to catch people presenting fake vaccine cards or virus test papers? What if the unvaccinated people who tested negative, at some point within that 72-hour window, got exposed to the virus?”
Pritzker Says He’s Making Time For Lollapalooza
“It’s up to individuals to make a decision about whether they want to be in a large group,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at a press conference where he said he and his wife “and a few friends” will attend Lollapalooza, reports the Sun-Times.. “I would recommend to people that if they’re going to be jammed together, please wear a mask… It’s an outdoor festival, as you know, and it’s safer outdoors than it is indoors. I know lots of people will attend. I think, again, it’s up to individuals to make a decision about whether they want to be in a large group… I think it’s OK, but again, people need to be aware that we are not past this pandemic. It is with us. I just want to be clear: vaccinations keep you safe, but we all need to keep our communities and our friends and neighbors and our family members safe. Wear a mask if you can, when you feel like you should.” Chicago Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady added, “I expect cases to continue to increase regardless of whether Lolla is happening. The risk for events like this — in a lot of ways, we don’t worry as much about the large outdoor event as we do about all of the indoor gathering that tends to happen around large events. So we think about people who are at indoor parties or in hotel rooms or, you know, on transit… Maybe you don’t want to get right into the middle of the mosh pit, and I can’t make that individual level decision for you. I can tell you that the risk here in Chicago at this point, you know, for someone who is vaccinated, remains low.”
Indie Label Rosebud Allday Responds To Vocalo Reporting On Roster’s Allegations
On June 8, WBEZ’s Vocalo reported on Chicago artists including Drea the Vibe Dealer, Manny10x, Wyatt Waddell, KAI and Gem Tree, who took to social media to protest local label Rosebud Allday. Morgan Ciocca reports, “The artists alleged Rosebud Allday fostered a ‘toxic’ and ‘cult-like’ environment, with multiple of their statements referencing empty promises, defamation and gaslighting. ‘Rosebud created a codependent environment with the younger artists on their roster,’ Drea the Vibe Dealer stated on Instagram. ‘They created division and didn’t show up for any of us.’ Despite the artists’ public accusations, the label’s founders Bill Giannopoulos and Jayson Kramer — also known as Billy Ocean and Jayson Rose — insisted no wrongdoing in their written statement to Vocalo.” “For a long time I never felt heard, cared for, or a part of this so-called family,” Gem Tree said. “I later learned that the label was talking behind all of our backs to each other… As we heal, we learn and see more clearly.” The label’s statement read: “Accusations that artists were not paid for their work are false… We regret that Rosebud has been accused of exploitative practices when all music was recorded, produced, and mixed in-house under agreement at no cost to the artist and Rosebud never took more than the agreed upon twenty-percent split.”
STAGE
Steppenwolf Appoints Ensemble Members Audrey Francis and Glenn Davis As Artistic Directors
Ensemble members Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis are the new artistic directors of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, appointments which continue the Steppenwolf tradition of artistic leadership remaining in the hands of ensemble members. “This is the first time co-artistic leaders have been appointed by the forty-nine-member ensemble in our nearly five-decade history,” Steppenwolf notes in a release, “and the first time the company has elected an artistic director of color. Both deeply rooted in the Chicago community, Davis and Francis have built the foundation of their artistic careers in the city’s vibrant arts community. They each got their start at the School at Steppenwolf and, in 2017, became ensemble members under Anna D. Shapiro’s leadership as artistic director.” Fresh initiatives include “creating equitable space for individuals who have been historically under-represented and marginalized in the American theatre and welcoming audiences from across Chicago and around the world to Steppenwolf’s new 50,000-square-foot Arts and Education Center this fall.” Steppenwolf has completed the final phase of its three-phase campus expansion plan, which includes a 400-seat theater-in-the-round, a dedicated education wing and spaces for community and socializing that will open this fall. The building will be the largest permanent cultural asset in Chicago to open this year. “The Arts and Education Center was conceived as a public square to spark conversations catalyzed by the work on our stages,” E. Brooke Flanagan, executive director said. “As Chicago-based artists themselves, Glenn and Audrey are rooted in that work. Steppenwolf is an ensemble theater, a provocative launching pad for new stories and groundbreaking productions, a cultural citizen of Chicago for nearly fifty years and a leading partner in education. Together, we are committed to opening our doors to artists from across all seventy-seven neighborhoods of the city we call home and to audiences from around the world.”
Lookingglass Theatre Presents Site-Specific “Sunset 1919: A Ritual”
Lookingglass Theatre commemorates the start of the 1919 Chicago race riots, incited by the tragic murder of Eugene Williams, a Black teenager stoned to death after drifting into a “whites only” section of Lake Michigan, by establishing an artistic ritual featuring music, movement, art and word. On Tuesday, July 27 at 7pm, “‘Sunset 1919’ is meant to peacefully honor the lives of Black humans impacted by the deadly racial attacks that swept the nation that summer, the roots of which stretch back across centuries, and the fruits of which we continue to pluck – a moment in an unbroken line.” Sign-up and more here.
ARTS & CULTURE
Jose Oliva Named Director Of Chicago Region Food System Fund
Jose Oliva joins the Chicago Region Food System Fund on August 1 as director, guiding the Fund’s coming work. Karen Lehman, director of Fresh Taste, will partner with Oliva to provide strategic support. Oliva currently serves as campaigns director for the HEAL Food Alliance, and will remain in the role while serving with the Fund. The Chicago Region Food System Fund focuses on hunger and business disruption in the local food system—from production to processing to distribution to consumption—in an area approximately 200 miles from Chicago (about a day’s drive to or from the city). Fresh Taste, fiscally sponsored by Forefront, manages the Fund. Information about upcoming funding rounds will be announced in early autumn. More here.
