Hubbard Street Dance Chicago’s presentation of “Decadance” By Ohad Naharin/Photo: Todd Rosenberg Photography
ART
Artadia Awards $10,000 Each To Chicago Artists Selva Aparicio, Azadeh Gholizadeh, Maryam Taghavi
Artadia, a nonprofit grant making organization and nationwide community of visual artists, curators and patrons have selected Selva Aparicio, Azadeh Gholizadeh and Maryam Taghavi as recipients of the 2022 Chicago Artadia Awards. Artadia partnered with three foundations committed to supporting exceptional artists in Chicago with these $10,000 awards: The LeRoy Neiman and Janet Byrne Neiman Foundation, The Pritzker Pucker Family Foundation, and The Joyce Foundation. Each foundation is generously sponsoring one of the three awards in their respective name. In addition to the financial awards, all awardees will have access to the ongoing benefits of the Artadia Awards program. The 2022 Chicago Artadia Award application was open to visual artists working in any visual media, at any stage in their career.
DESIGN
Property Tax Debts Could Shift Ownership Of Avalon Regal Theater
“Jerald Gary stands to lose the Avalon Regal Theater if he doesn’t act quickly,” reports David Roeder at the Sun-Times. “Records show he owes at least $210,000 in property taxes dating from 2013, not including interest the county charges on late payments. The Cook County Land Bank Authority put a no-cash bid on the property, giving it a lien that entitles it to ownership if Gary doesn’t settle the debt in six months. It’s what the land bank was created to do—take control of problem properties and wipe out the tax debt so a new owner gets clear title… The city of Chicago is involved too. The Avalon Regal could be the first application of an ordinance sponsored by the mayor that the City Council passed on March 23. It allows the city’s planning and housing commissioners to deal directly with the county land bank, acquiring its properties for little more than administrative costs.”
Unionized Hospitality Workers Call For Good Jobs At Congress Theater
“Hospitality workers from a local labor union are calling on the developer behind the $70.4 million Congress Theater rehab project to commit to offering good-paying jobs to theater workers,” reports Block Club Chicago. “Workers with UNITE HERE Local 1 are urging neighbors to oppose the project’s $20 million city subsidy if the developer won’t commit to offering good-paying jobs to theater workers. Baum Revision says it’s listening.”
City To Rebate Some Homeowners For Security Cameras
“Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city will soon begin covering some of the costs of outdoor security cameras for businesses and homeowners across Chicago,” reports WTTW of a new $5 million program. “Through the rebate program, the city will provide financial reimbursement to residents and business owners for outdoor security cameras and one year of cloud storage for video footage, outdoor motion sensor lighting and vehicle GPS trackers… Residents will be eligible for rebates up to $225 per camera or $450 per home, as well as $100 per light and up to $50 for vehicular tracking devices.” The city asks that participants register their cameras, and any cameras already installed, with the CPD. “Police would not have direct access to anyone’s camera system, nor can they access camera footage without the owner’s consent,” the city says. “There’s also no requirement to provide any footage to the CPD at any time.” It’s not an entirely new program, as South Side Weekly reported last year of the estimated 35,000 cameras the police already have access to through multiple programs and reimbursements: “In a 2019 speech to the City Club, then-Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson credited enhancements to CPD’s surveillance network for reducing crime in Englewood. Johnson boasted police were solving crimes faster and collecting stronger evidence by pulling ‘surveillance video from more than 40,000 cameras that are placed through the city.’ The transcript of Johnson’s speech… shows Johnson bragged that in one investigation detectives were able to ‘pull footage from private security cameras too.’ Those cameras are part of a network the City has quietly expanded since at least 2009 by subsidizing security cameras for renters, homeowners, and businesses who connect them to the department’s surveillance centers.”
DINING & DRINKING
Twenty-Three Chicago Restaurants Take 2022 Michelin Stars
Alinea stays top of the Michelin list with three stars. Taking two stars: Ever, Moody Tongue, Oriole, Smyth. And the single stars: Boka, Claudia, EL Ideas, Elizabeth, Elske, Esmé, Galit, Goosefoot, Kasama, Mako, Next, North Pond, Omakase Yume, Porto, Schwa, Sepia, Temporis, Topolobampo and Yugen. From earlier: Chicago restaurants that were added to the guide for 2022 and the Bib Gourmand honorees.
Yelp Aggregating Restaurant Health Inspection Records
“Yelp users in Chicago will now be able to access restaurant inspection ratings from the Chicago Department of Public Health on the restaurant reviewing platform,” reports the Trib (via Yahoo). “In Chicago, restaurants receive a ‘pass,’ ‘fail’ or ‘pass with conditions’ grade… Yelp users will be able to see health inspection data for nearly 12,000 business pages across the city.”
Shuttered Chicago Joe’s Auctioning Its Ephemera
The pandemic-closed Chicago Joe’s is selling off all its stuff before its building is torn down for a five-story apartment building, reports Block Club Chicago. “Chicago Joe’s founders Chuck Kowalski and Al Rompza opened the North Center fixture in 1988 to celebrate the idea of a ‘regular Joe.'” The in-person auction is April 30 at 10am at the restaurant, and includes “the iconic Chicago Joe’s marquee hanging over Irving Park Road… ‘We’re going to sell it to the bones. Everything is for sale, The family only took five pieces out for themselves.'”
Buyk Bankrupt, Busted
Grocery instant-delivery upstart Buyk has ended operations in New York and Chicago after filing for bankruptcy, reports Block Club. “The company’s CEO said Russia’s recent crackdowns on the United States over its sanctions in response to the war in Ukraine interfered with Buyk’s ability to receive funds from its founders, Slava Bocharov and Rodion Shishkov. The pair co-founded Samokat, a delivery service based in St. Petersburg,” causing “’an existential and, ultimately, fatal crisis’ for the the company.”
MEDIA
Washington Paper Alt-Weekly Says Goodbye To Print
And another twentieth-century journalistic treasure bites the dust: The final regular print edition of Washington City Paper will come out May 5. “Washington City Paper is becoming a digital-first publication and will no longer offer a regular print edition. This was a difficult but necessary decision, and one that many of our peer publications nationwide have had to make over the past decade. We held on as long as we could, but our current way of operating was no longer sustainable and the change will let us focus our efforts on being the best digitally native publication we can be.”
MUSIC
CSO Concert Canceled After Muti Tests Positive
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association canceled Tuesday’s CSO performance with music director Riccardo Muti, his third and final performance of the program featuring works by Mazzoli, Mahler and Bruckner. “The decision to cancel the performance comes after a positive COVID-19 test result for Muti, who has been testing daily in accordance with CSOA safety protocols.” Due to the test result, he will not lead performances on April 7, 8, 9 and 12, but the Orchestra and pianist Leif Ove Andsnes are expected to perform on these dates. Reports the CSO: “Muti is experiencing mild symptoms, is in good spirits, and may be able to resume some of his other activities, following current CDC guidelines, before his current residency concludes on April 12.” Muti says in a release: “I hope to be back as soon as possible and am looking forward to once again sharing music with the public in Chicago.”
Wicker Park Fest Returns
Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce announces the return of Wicker Park Fest for its eighteenth outing July 22-24. The festival will feature over fifty live music acts, art installations, dance performances, and a Kids Fest. Showcasing the restaurant and bar scene in Wicker Park, the festival will offer dozens of vendors serving food and drinks from local restaurants, in addition to over a hundred retail vendors. A $10 donation at the gate benefits the nonprofit Wicker Park Bucktown Chamber of Commerce, and comes with festival pin perks of receiving more than twenty discounts from festival vendors and businesses in the area. More here.
Out Of Space Announces September Lineup
Out of Space returns for its fifth season of big-name musical acts on the shores of Lake Michigan while featuring local cuisine, beverage offerings and art installations. Out of Space will be on August 4-7 at Canal Shores and September 1-4 at Temperance Beer Co. in Evanston. The September schedule features Houndmouth with Ric Wilson, Car Seat Headrest with La Luz, Neko Case with Courtney Marie Andrews, and Steel Pulse with KRS One. (Neko Case makes her Out of Space debut in 2022 after a cancellation last summer.) Out of Space is the outdoor offshoot of the Evanston downtown jewelbox venue, SPACE. Presale tickets for the September dates go on sale today to previous ticket holders, SPACE email subscribers and WXRT email subscribers. The public on-sale ticket date is Friday, April 8. More here.
STAGE
Hubbard Street Announces Remainder Of Forty-Fourth Season
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago returns to the Harris Theater for Music and Dance to end its season. Hubbard Street concludes season forty-four with two programs: Program A (May 12-13) is a two-night engagement featuring the return of Ohad Naharin’s “Decadance/Chicago,” an evening-length work curated specifically for Hubbard Street comprised of excerpts from Naharin’s most celebrated pieces, including “Sadeh21,” “Naharin’s Virus” and “Minus 16.” Program B (May 14-15) offers two evenings of a mixed-repertory program: a Chicago premiere of “Ne Me Quitte Pas” by Spenser Theberge, alongside selections from the season, including Aszure Barton’s “BUSK,” “George & Zalman” by Ohad Naharin and Amy Hall Garner’s latest work for Hubbard Street, “As the Wind Blows.” More here.
ARTS & CULTURE
Chicago Cultural Alliance Names Mónica Félix Executive Director
Mónica Félix is the new Executive Director of the Chicago Cultural Alliance. Félix began her career in public humanities with her role as the Museum Director of the DANK Haus German American Cultural Center in Chicago, one of the Alliance’s core members. Her nonprofit leadership experience continued when she stepped into the role of Chief Administrative Officer of the American Comparative Literature Association (ACLA), the principal learned society in the United States for scholars whose work involves several literatures and cultures. “I am honored to be trusted with advancing the Alliance’s mission to support centers of cultural heritage and create a more inclusive Chicago,” Félix says in a release. “I am eager to work with the board, staff, Alliance membership, and dedicated volunteers to center inclusion and diversity through our cultural heritage programming.”
