Cauleen Smith [Newcity Art 50; Newcity Film 50] and vanessa german have been named the 2022 recipients of the Heinz Award for the Arts, reports Artforum. “The unrestricted $250,000 cash prize, given annually by the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation to ‘honor individuals whose work and accomplishments are producing an impact that endures,’ is one of the world’s largest. Past awardees include Conceptual artist Sanford Biggers, cartoonist Roz Chast, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Rita Dove and interdisciplinary artist Ralph Lemon. Best known as an experimental film- and videomaker, Cauleen Smith has expanded her practice to include installation, sculpture and painting.”
National Museum Of Mexican Art Features Día de Muertos
Curated by Dolores Mercado and Cesáreo Moreno, the National Museum of Mexican Art’s thirty-sixth Day of the Dead exhibition remembers the individuals who have died from COVID and other tragedies of the past year. “The annual act of grieving has long been an essential aspect of the yearly celebration of life, as it offers a restorative way to acknowledge and accept the inevitable,” the museum writes. The exhibition contains folk art, fine art and photography, bringing to life one of Mexico’s most cherished celebrations. “Artists from both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border express a sense of continuity and culture during this season of remembering.” Programs and classes related to the exhibition will be offered through the closing of the show on December 11. Artists and more here.
Zack Wirsum Artist Talk On “Going Hard in the Paint (Water Based)”
Zack Wirsum will talk about his latest body of work, “Going Hard in the Paint (Water Based),” at Jean Albano Gallery on October 8, noon-3pm. More here.
Lucas Museum, Postponed Again, Continues Buying Spree
With the recent announcement that it won’t open until at least 2025, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles teased “a fresh look into the institution’s burgeoning, 100,000-piece collection,” reports Artnet. “Among the Lucas Museum’s 2022 acquisitions are a print series by New York-based artist Chitra Ganesh; a photograph by the late Laura Aguilar; and an illustration by Jaime Hernandez, which was created for the alternative comic ‘Love and Rockets’ and appeared on the cover of a 2010 Village Voice issue. Those artworks join other, splashier purchases made by the Lucas Museum [including] Robert Colescott’s ‘George Washington Carver Crossing the Delaware: Page From an American History Textbook’ at Sotheby’s for $15.3 million—a purchase that, for many, announced the arrival of a new major player in the world of collecting institutions. That same year, the museum picked up Kerry James Marshall’s ‘RHYTHM MASTR Daily Strip (Runners),’ a group of prints from 2018 aimed at redressing the lack of Black representation in comics, as well as pieces by Frida Kahlo and Alice Neel.”
DESIGN
West Chicago Gets Application For Second Trash Station
“West Chicago residents are concerned about the environmental impact of Lakeshore Recycling Systems’ proposed waste transfer station, half a mile from an existing station,” reports Borderless. “West Chicago is a majority Latino city. Activists and organizations like Immigrant Solidarity of DuPage see this plan as continuing a pattern of environmental racism, where Black and Brown communities in the Western suburbs bear the brunt of heavy industry and pollution.”
World’s Longest Timber-Towered Suspension Bridge To Open In Michigan
SkyBridge Michigan is about to welcome its first visitors at Boyne Mountain Resort, reports MLive. “The world’s longest timber-towered suspension bridge offering panoramic views of the Boyne Valley is set to open to the public on Saturday, October 15,” the site writes. “The debut of this year-round attraction is a big win for Boyne, which is continuing to expand and diversify the activities offered at the year-round resort while at the same time is investing more in the ski infrastructure Boyne was built on.”
DINING & DRINKING
Publican Pops Up “Bread Head” With Bake Sale
James Beard Award-winning baker Greg Wade [Newcity Big Heat 2018, 2020], the force behind Chicago’s Publican Quality Bread, is inviting Chicagoans to celebrate the launch of his book, “Bread Head: Baking for the Road Less Traveled” as he hosts the “Bread Head Bake Sale.” Following the formal debut of his book, published today, Wade will set up shop under the covered outdoor pergola at The Publican to take PQB fans and fellow “bread heads” on a “trip” through the new book, selling the baked delights found in his bread book in bake sale format. The sale will be set up with five stations in keeping with the five core chapters of Greg’s book, which each explore different types of recipes—from his takes on comfort classics to a dive into decadent pastries and a dedicated chapter paying homage to breads from far-out lands. Guests will be able to purchase items such as Buckwheat Banana Bread, Rye Focaccia with Giardiniera & Goat Cheese and Sorghum Fig Tarts, baked exclusively for the event. They’ll also have the opportunity to grab handpicked artisan goods and ingredients from some of his longtime partners and purveyors across the Midwest, including flour from Janie’s Mill, to make sure they have what’s needed to bake like the best. A coffee and morning cocktail bar will be set up inside at The Publican and limited outdoor seating will be available as well. Also: copies of “Bread Head” personally signed by Wade. All sales are a la carte and first come, first serve. Sunday, October 9, from 9am until they’re out. The Publican, 837 West Fulton Market.
Circle K Materializes In Downtown Profusion
“Circle K, a brand best known for its combined stores and gas stations along America’s highways, is leasing smaller-format outlets in and around the Loop. The company website lists ten sites in the downtown area,” reports the Sun-Times. “The company’s urban formats are about half the size of typical highway locations and don’t have gas pumps or car washes. It’s similar to a format Circle K has rolled out in Dublin, Ireland… Hong Kong, Montreal and Boston.” Chicago, said a spokesman, provided a “unique opportunity to secure some space.” “The company’s interest is welcome news for landlords of commercial buildings who have been stuck with vacant street-level frontage since the pandemic.”
FILM & TELEVISION
“Hoop Dreams” Players Remain Close
“Arthur Agee didn’t expect to still be seeing his Marshall teammates almost thirty years after the cameras stopped rolling,” writes Block Club Chicago. “The filmmakers collected more than 250 hours of footage, embedding themselves with Agee and his Marshall Commandos as they made a miraculous run from unranked to third-place state finisher in 1991. The bond forged that year and documented for the world to see led to a lifelong ‘brotherhood,’ said Agee and his teammates, now in their late forties.”
LIT
Long-Awaited Hemingway Archive Opened At Penn State
A box of stuff Ernest Hemingway left at Sloppy Joe’s Bar eight decades ago has been opened to researchers, writes Oak Park’s Robert K. Elder at The New York Times. “The trove of items deposited in Key West, now part of a new archive at Penn State, includes four unpublished short stories, drafts of manuscripts and boxes of personal effects… The trove of materials spent decades uncataloged in cardboard boxes and ammo storage containers, surviving hurricanes and floods.” The friends who held the materials “and a local historian, Brewster Chamberlin, began an inventory of the haul in consultation with the Hemingway scholar Sandra Spanier. It was here, amid bullfighting tickets, checks, newspaper clippings and letters from his lawyer, family members and friends like the writer John Dos Passos and artists Joan Miró and Waldo Peirce, that they discovered a stained brown notebook. Inside was Hemingway’s first known short story, about a fictional trip to Ireland, written when he was ten years old.”
MEDIA
Better Government Association Names Steve Warmbir Investigations Editor
Steve Warmbir, former interim editor-in-chief of the Chicago Sun-Times, has joined the Better Government Association as its investigations editor. Warmbir has more than two decades of experience reporting and editing some of the most high-impact investigations in the history of Chicago journalism. Warmbir and reporting partner Tim Novak produced the Hired Truck series, a legendary case of insider dealing and corruption in Chicago city government. The series won a national George Polk Award, among others, for local reporting. Warmbir also produced exclusives about the federal government’s Family Secrets investigation into murder, loan sharking and gambling by the Chicago mob. As an editor, Warmbir oversaw Sun-Times investigations including a series that detailed the federal probes of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Chicago Alderman Ed Burke. He also led the Sun-Times through its 2022 merger with Chicago Public Media, parent of public radio station WBEZ. More here.
Are The Funny Pages Doomed?
While hay was made of Lee newspapers dropping “Dilbert” (along with other stalwarts like “Mutts”) from nearly eighty papers last week, there’s more at work than alleged anti-conservative bias by the conservative newspaper chain. The New York Daily News: “Critics noted the changes by Lee Enterprises [affected] several comic strips with no apparent political undertones and accused right-wingers loyal to ‘Dilbert’ of using his ‘cancelled’ announcement to advance an unrelated agenda.” Comics are on the way out everywhere, reports the Washington Post. “The Lee announcement comes shortly after [the Murdoch family-owned] News Corp Australia said its scores of newspapers will drop their comic strips.” Complete comics and puzzle sections are being dropped by some papers, and in St. Louis, “the Post-Dispatch’s announcement said that ‘the company’s goal with these changes is to make sure it can still devote resources to local news coverage and strong journalism.'”
Print Edition Of Parade Is Doomed
Sunday supplement Parade, founded in 1941, will publish its final print edition on Sunday, November 6. (It’s included with both the Sunday newspapers in Chicago, the Tribune and the Sun-Times.) A digital version of the publication, directed toward elderly readers, will continue. A representative of “Arena Group, which purchased Parade earlier this year, announced the change in a letter to the newspapers that carry the magazine as an insert in their weekend editions,” writes one of its subscribers, the Columbus Dispatch. “The weekly magazine has a circulation of 22 million as an insert in hundreds of papers throughout the United States.” Says the rep, “We will, though, continue to deliver the same premium content experience of Parade in an e-Edition format to our newspaper partners… We want to ensure that we continue to serve our millions of loyal readers through our partnership with you.”
STAGE
Lynn Nottage Most-Produced Playwright Of 2022; Writes “The End” On New Play
“American Theatre’s most-produced plays and playwrights lists are back… and at the top of both lists is Lynn Nottage, with her… sandwich-shop-as-purgatory comedy ‘Clyde’s’ topping the Top 10 Most-Produced Plays List, and her Pulitzer winner ‘Sweat’ not far behind. On the Top 20 Most-Produced Playwrights list, she is tied with the prolific Lauren Gunderson with a whopping twenty-four productions each.” This is “Nottage’s first time at the very top of this list (on the strength of [those] two titles as well as productions of ‘Mlima’s Tale,’ ‘By the Way,’ ‘Meet Vera Stark’ and ‘Intimate Apparel.’)” On Sunday night, Nottage posted a major “oops” on her Twitter account along with an image to take a writer’s breath away: “I just wrote, ‘The End’ on a new script & then this happened!!! My computer slipped off of my desk onto the floor, screen cracked and hard drive died. Universe, really?!” (Commenters who followed were optimistic that the “hard drive doctors” would produce a happy ending.)
Joffrey Ballet School Takes Dance Therapy To Uvalde, Texas
It has been four months since the attack on the Robb Elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, reports KSAT San Antonio. “The community has been steeped in sadness, but… there were moments of joy at the El Progreso Library as the world-renowned Joffrey Ballet School came to teach dance and promote love and healing. ‘Love wins and we came here with love,’ said Jo Matos, the artistic director for children and youth at Joffrey School.”
“Diwali: The Story of Ram” Comes To Harris Theater
“Diwali: The Story of Ram” will be presented by Mandala South Asian Performing Arts in an annual celebration of the Indian holiday festival of Diwali that combines “the vibrancy, flavors, and colors of the performing arts traditions of South Asia, a family-friendly performance program combining dance, music, and the seventeenth-century art of the Indian region of Mewar. Celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of Indian independence, the spectacle represents Mandala’s interpretation of the ancient epic Ramayana, a classic tale that spans across cultures, producing a multidimensional performance work that combines contemporary culture and mythology. The tale of Ram, his beloved wife Sita and his brother Lakshman exiled in the forest—at odds with the brilliant king Ravana—weaves together the multiculturalism of South Asia.” Saturday, October 8. Tickets and more here.
Northlight Theatre’s fundraising event for the current season is called “Purpose. Passion. Progress.” “Northlight supporters and friends will celebrate a year of entertaining theater during a benefit evening of dinner, music and gorgeous skyline views as they celebrate a year of purpose, passion, and progress, from the art on Northlight’s stage to its education and community engagement programs.” The evening’s master of ceremonies is ABC7 Weekend News co-anchor Karen Jordan. Entertainment is by vocalist Rashada Dawan. The evening will kick off with appetizers, cocktails and music by the Evanston Township High School string quartet. The event will also include a silent auction filled with unique experiences, followed by dinner, a live auction and paddle raise. Proceeds will benefit Northlight Theatre’s arts education and community engagement programs. Thursday, October 6, 6pm, Theater on the Lake, 2401 North Lake Shore. More here.
Jackalope Sees Fifteenth Season
Jackalope Theatre Company announces their return to in-person productions with their 2022-2023 season, featuring “Among the Dead,” by Hansol Jung, directed by Jackalope artistic director Kaiser Ahmed; and the world premiere of “Pretty Shahid,” written by company member Omer Abbas Salem and directed by Sophiyaa Nayar. The season also unfurls the fourteenth Annual Living Newspaper Festival in the spring of 2023. Details here.
Rebranded Theo Ubique Turns Twenty-Five
As Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre moves into its twenty-fifth anniversary season, single tickets are on sale for the full season. The company has revealed a brand refresh with a new logo and website designed by GriffinWink Advertising. Theo Ubique will continue its dinner offerings with custom menus for each show in partnership with an Evanston restaurant. The season begins October 7 with the Midwest premiere of “Refuge,” by Satya Jnani Chávez and Andrew Rosendorf, a new play with music, combining multiple artistic disciplines to tackle the immigration crisis. The holidays will bring a “Hard Candy Christmas,” with Theo’s fresh take on the 1970s “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.” Recognizing the company’s past with composer Kurt Weill, artistic director Fred Anzevino will direct an acoustic “The Threepenny Opera.” The season closes with rock musical “Passing Strange.” Tickets and more here.
Saint Sebastian Players Open Forty-First Season With French Farce
The Saint Sebastian Players’ forty-first season opens with 1960s French sex farce “Boeing-Boeing,” by Marc Camoletti, first produced in 1960 and translated by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans in 2008. Performances are October 28–November 20 in the lower level of St. Bonaventure. Tickets and more here.
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Lincoln Square Apple Fest Blossoms
Over fifty vendors will be selling fresh apple pie, hard apple cider, candy apples, and more at Apple Fest, Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce’s (LSRCC) annual event in its thirty-fifth year. Apple-inspired food, drink and artisanal goods will be sold, and there will be live music and activities for children. Multiple Midwest farms will sell apple-themed foods, and all vendors will have at least one apple-inspired dish. Apple Fest is at Lincoln between Lawrence and Wilson with a $10 suggested donation, Saturday, October 1 and Sunday, October 2, 9am-6pm. More here.
Test Devised By Suburban Optometrist Detects CTI Injuries
“A test devised by a former suburban Chicago optometrist is getting belated recognition as a spate of scholarly studies have shown that it’s close to ninety-percent accurate in diagnosing concussions in athletes,” reports Crain’s Chicago Business. “It turns out that the best test, devised by a former suburban Chicago optometrist, is practically as easy as reading numbers off a sheet of paper. It’s called the King-Devick test, originally devised by Steve Devick and Al King in the 1970s as a graduate school thesis proving in a survey of elementary school students in Downers Grove that small, subtle eye movements could predict whether a student would read well in class… The King-Devick test is getting belated recognition as a spate of scholarly studies, authored by researchers at the Mayo Clinic and the Journal of Science & Medicine in Sport, among other places. No other test is nearly as good.”
A Hundred Guaranteed Income Pilot Programs Across Nation
“We’ve achieved a historic milestone in the fight for a guaranteed income,” reports the Economic Security Project. “We’ve now crossed the threshold of a hundred guaranteed income pilots announced–located in thirty states, these pilots are reaching more than 38,000 recipients nationwide.” Locally, reports the Trib, “Chicago’s $31.5 million guaranteed income pilot program has kicked off with slightly more than 5,000 households receiving their first payments, while Cook County is opening up applications” for a separate initiative.
