When thinking about common threads in this fall arts season, a fall arts season like none that have come before, the pandemic and its effects were obvious. What stood out, though, was the number of institutions that have undergone major transitions in leadership or even transformations that involve not only changes in management but in some cases new spaces or even a fundamental rethinking of how things are done. We decided to take an in-depth look at this phenomenon for our Fall Arts Preview and interviewed leaders in eight different cultural categories. In every case, the transformations are moving organizations in new and better directions.
In addition to those longer features, we offer twenty-four can’t-miss events, in the form of eight lists, for the fall. It feels great just to write that.
Thanks to the return of live theater, dance, comedy and opera, we’re bringing back a standalone dance section in this issue. As productions start to open, we’ll be reviewing them at NewcityStage.com; please visit Newcity.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Newcity Today, or our weekly Stage Letter if you’d like us to let you know when we publish them.
See you at the show.
BRIAN HIEGGELKE
Look for Newcity’s September 2021 print edition at over 300 Chicago-area locations this week or subscribe to the print edition at Newcityshop.com.
IN THIS ISSUE
The Conversation: Dawn Turner discusses “Three Girls from Bronzeville: A Memoir of Race, Fate, and Sisterhood”
Resisting Marginalization: Jeffrey Gibson reconsiders the cultural representation of indigenous people
Transformations: Fall Arts Preview 2021 Myriam Ben Salah brings global focus to the Renaissance Society Red Clay plants a seed in Woodlawn University of Chicago’s Booth School opens Mindworks as a downtown place to learn about how and why Restaurateur Donnie Madia says “we are in a different world” Rebecca Fons brings a lifelong love of cinema to the Gene Siskel Film Center In conversation with Michelle Boone, the Poetry Foundation’s new president How Lyric Opera transitioned to Enrique Mazzola, its first new music director in twenty years Steppenwolf emerges from the pandemic with new leadership and a new theater
Plus eight sets of can’t-miss fall events
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