Today In The Culture, June 15, 2023: Richard Hunt Gifts Studio to Krasl | Will County Courthouse on National Register of Historic Places | Dolly Parton Books Illinois
The Tamir Rice Memorial Gazebo on the Stony Island Arts Bank campus/Photo: Rebuild Foundation
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ART
Richard Hunt Grants Benton Harbor Studio To Krasl Art Center
Sculptor Richard Hunt has gifted his satellite studio at 258 Territorial Road in Benton Harbor to the Krasl Art Center. Hunt says that his desire is to see the site remain an art space and become an active community resource. Hunt opened his satellite studio in Benton Harbor, Michigan in 1995. His artwork has become part of the area’s daily life, prominently displayed throughout Benton Harbor and St. Joseph, including at the local hospital, along the pier at Silver Beach and on Krasl Art Center’s grounds. The Center and Hunt will plan and prepare the gift over the next two years as he and his studio consolidate operations in Chicago.
More Than 150 Murals Line The Beach This Weekend At Artists of The Wall
The nonprofit Rogers Park Business Alliance is presenting the thirtieth annual Artists of the Wall festival, June 17-18, 9am-3pm, at Loyola Park and Beach between Farwell and Morse. A longstanding community event hosted by Loyola Park Advisory Council, the free festival will feature over 150 murals, six live bands and a kids’ tent. More here.
Seven Chicago Artists Featured In Tenth DuMA Biennial
Seven Chicago artists are among the sixty-five selected artists from across Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin for the tenth DuMA Biennial at the Dubuque Museum of Art. The exhibition features contemporary painting, sculpture, furniture, photography, fiber arts and more. Nearly 200 established and emerging artists submitted over 500 works to a competitive open call. Cash prizes for first, second and third place winners will be awarded. Chicago-area artists include Michele Thrane, Arlington Heights; from Chicago, Darlys Ewoldt, Scott Mossman, Louise Pappageorge and Kathy Weaver; Patrick Carr, Evanston; Liz Chilsen, Forest Park. The Summer Artist’s Party is June 17; details here.
Milwaukee Art Museum Presents Major Painting Survey This Fall
“50 Paintings” at the Milwaukee Art Museum will explore the range of contemporary painting with recent works by Amy Sherald, Cecily Brown, David Diao, Nicole Eisenman, Pat Steir, Judy Ledgerwood and others. “Eschewing curatorial narratives and thematic groupings, ’50 Paintings’ invites visitors to explore a wide array of artistic styles and strategies, engage in close looking, and formulate their own assessments of painting as it is practiced today.” “50 Paintings” will be on view November 17, 2023–June 23, 2024. “’50 Paintings’ celebrates the enduring vitality of painting, featuring artists who are shaping our contemporary visual culture,” Marcelle Polednik, director of the museum says in a release. “This exhibition offers our visitors a unique opportunity to participate in dialogue about the art of our time, and in relation to the long arc of painting’s history represented in the Museum’s collection.” More here.
Sculpture Stolen From North Dakota Museum Of Art Found In Casino Dumpster
“A sculpture that was stolen from the North Dakota Museum of Art seven months ago was found next to a dumpster at the nearby Southgate Casino, Bar and Grill,” reports Artnet. “The museum had offered $1,000 for its safe return. The disc-shaped ‘Garden Wheel’ by artist Elizabeth MacDonald is made of ceramic tiles and had been installed in the museum’s sculpture garden since 1998.”
DESIGN
Will County Courthouse Listed To National Register
The Will County Courthouse has been listed to the National Register of Historic Places, Preservation Futures posts. “The Will County Courthouse is the first Brutalist building in the State of Illinois to be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. It was designed by Otto Stark of Charles F. Murphy & Associates and completed in 1969. It was one of the first buildings in the Brutalist style to be completed in the Chicago area and influenced a generation of public and civic architecture in the region. Though it has been slated for demolition by the County, we are working with the Courthouse Preservation Partnership, a diverse coalition of local residents, to recognize the value of the Courthouse and to support its adaptive reuse.” Newcity’s in-depth April feature on the potential preservation is here.
Classic Cars Roll Onto Navy Pier
Navy Pier will host more than a hundred retro vehicles in an event organized by Klairmont Kollections Automotive Museum for their inaugural “Retro Rides.” “Visitors can take part in automotive history, iconic cars and engineering marvels while listening to a variety of local DJs and enjoying food and fun.” Navy Pier Festival Hall, Friday, July 28-Sunday, July 30. Tickets start at $15 per person here.
DINING & DRINKING
Midwest Filipino Dinner At Daisies With Chef Carlo Lamagna
Carlo Lamagna, the chef behind Portland’s popular modern Filipino restaurant Magna Kusina (Oregon’s Restaurant of the Year 2021) and offshoot Magna Kubo, is linking up with longtime industry friend Chef Joe Frillman of Logan Square’s Daisies to present a one-night-only, four-course Midwest Filipino menu at Daisies’ sprawling new location. “With an unwavering commitment to sustainable culinary practices, Chef Joe draws inspiration from the abundance of local ingredients to infuse thoughtful Midwestern traditions into the evening’s dishes. Meanwhile, Chef Carlo, renowned for his revolutionary take on Filipino cuisine, fearlessly injects a vibrant and adventurous spirit rooted in his Filipino heritage.” The four-course menu is $85 per guest with the option to add on beverage pairings for an additional $40. Reservations for their fusion menu are available on a rolling basis between 5:30pm-9pm here.
Ravenswood On Tap Returns In July
The Sixth Annual Ravenswood on Tap takes place on a new weekend, July 22-23. “The two-day craft beer festival will bring brews, bites, and live music to the Ravenswood community for the ultimate summer weekend.” Confirmed participants include “the Brewers & Distillers of Malt Row,” including Begyle Brewing, Cultivate by Forbidden Root, Dovetail Brewery, Half Acre Beer Company, Hop Butcher for the World, KOVAL Distillery, LaGrow Organic Beer Co., Odious Cellars and Spiteful Brewing. Performance listing and tickets here.
LIT
Dolly Parton And Governor Pritzker Bring Free Books To Illinois Kids
The State of Illinois has partnered with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, announces Governor Pritzker. “The recently signed FY24 budget allocates $1.6 million to the program, which is dedicated to improving the lives of children by inspiring a love of reading. The initiative includes a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth to age five, no matter a family’s income. ‘Imagination Libraries are already working their magic at a few dozen locations around the state, and the teamwork of my administration and the Dollywood Foundation will make it possible to bring Dolly to every doorstep,’ said Governor Pritzker. ‘As a longtime early childhood advocate, I’m incredibly excited for what’s to come. These are some of the most crucial years for learning of a person’s lifetime, and this initiative will connect low-income families to resources their children will need for lifelong success.'”
The Dollywood Foundation, which supports the Imagination Library Program, is a nonprofit organization founded by Dolly Parton in 1988. The Imagination Library Program was launched in 1995, with books originally being distributed to children living in Sevier County, Tennessee where Dolly grew up. However, it became such a success that in 2000, it was replicated nationally and by 2003, one million books had been mailed to children all over the country.
MEDIA
Analyzing The Success Of Block Club Chicago Where Other Local Startups Failed
“Last month, Block Club Chicago officially outlasted its predecessor, DNAinfo, a Chicago online news startup that operated for four years and eleven months before billionaire owner Joe Ricketts abruptly shuttered it (and the Gothamist network of sites) in November 2017. Newly lacking funding and employment, DNAinfo editors Shamus Toomey, Jen Sabella and Stephanie Lulay chose to continue their mission and started a new neighborhood news site from scratch, Block Club Chicago, on June 13, 2018, exactly five years ago,” writes Mark Caro at Northwestern’s Medill Local News Initiative. “Block Club Chicago has built a news staff larger than DNAinfo’s and accumulated almost 20,000 subscribers while becoming a major player on the local journalism scene.”
“The lessons to be learned from Block Club’s approach extend beyond accolades. While plenty of neighborhood-focused sites have faltered, Block Club Chicago has maintained an upward trajectory on both the journalism and business sides while remaining true to a core set of principles. It has built up its coverage neighborhood by neighborhood–it now reports to cover forty-five of the city’s seventy-seven community areas–while continually adding reporters. It has funded that work largely by asking the community to pay for it… Although Block Club Chicago has no intention of expanding to other cities, its model may be instructive to fledging news operations nationwide as they attempt to pursue aggressive hyperlocal journalism within a sustainable business model.”
Journalism Job Attrition Accelerates
“The media industry has announced at least 17,436 job cuts so far this year,” tallies Axios, “marking the highest year-to-date level of cuts on record, according to a new report… The level of cuts is worse than at the outset of the pandemic in 2020, when 16,750 job cuts were announced through May… The news industry is facing huge constraints due to a slowdown in the ad market, debt from consolidation and subscription fatigue.”
No “Free News” Is Not A Good Thing
“The loss of jobs in any industry, particularly one as central to protecting our democracy as journalism, is always worrying. But what makes [recent voluminous losses in journalism] particularly troubling is what many of these news organizations have in common: They sought to make quality news for the masses that cost little to nothing to consume,” writes New York Times columnist Lydia Polgreen. “In an ever more unequal world, it is perhaps not surprising that we are splitting into news haves and have-nots. Those who can afford and are motivated to pay for subscriptions to access high-quality news have a wealth of choices: newspapers such as The Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times compete for their business, along with magazines such as The New Yorker and The Atlantic…The people who subscribe to these publications tend to be affluent and educated.”
“It bodes ill for our democracy that those who cannot pay—or choose not to—are left with whatever our broken information ecosystem manages to serve up, a crazy quilt that includes television news of diminishing ambition, social media, aggregation sites, partisan news and talk radio… The current landscape means the mass audience that never paid for news and never will pay remains underserved, and that has big implications for the future of our country. Creating a shared reality was always the work of mass media.”
MUSIC
Winnetka Music Festival Tunes This Weekend
Space announced a partnership with Valslist to co-produce its award-winning Winnetka Music Festival, now in its seventh year. Returning to its two-day format this Father’s Day weekend, June 16-17, the festival features a lineup curated with guidance from Valslist founder and Winnetka resident, Val Haller, music tastemaker and former New York Times columnist. The lineup includes The Wallflowers, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Madison Cunningham, The Dip, Hailey Whitters and Neal Francis. Tickets and full lineup here.
Replay Adds Taylor Swift Bug-Infused Cocktail
Taking off from Taylor Swift’s onstage bug-ingestion incident last weekend, Replay Lincoln Park concocted a salute to Swift’s littlest collaborator, reports NBC 5. As part of their “Tay Tay Party” pop-up, extended through June 18, they’ve added the “Bad Bug” cocktail, which mixes “vodka, tamarind, chili pepper, watermelon, pineapple and ginger beer [topped with gummy critters] to commemorate the bug-eating saga.”
Classical Music Site Scores A Million Dollars
Canadian classical music site Ludwig Van has been acquired for $1.1 million by Canadian culture mogul Moses Znaimer’s Zoomer Media, crows Ludwig Van. Zoomer adds by press release: The site is “Canada’s leading and fastest growing digital voice for the latest classical, opera, chamber and choral music headlines, reviews, comments and personality-driven features and interviews. It is the ideal online complement to The New Classical FM, English Canada’s only all-classical music radio service, first acquired by Znaimer in 2006.”
STAGE
Steppenwolf Closes Forty-Seventh Season In “No Man’s Land”
Steppenwolf Theatre Company concludes its forty-seventh season with Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land,” directed by Les Waters, and featuring ensemble members Austin Pendleton and Jeff Perry, with Jon Hudson Odom and Samuel Roukin. July 13–August 20 in Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater. Single tickets, starting at $20, are on sale here.
“In My Granny’s Garden” Grows In City Parks
“In My Granny’s Garden,” by Pearl Cleage and Zaron Burnett Jr., “a sensory, hands-on experience for the whole family… about the origins of food and its natural growth from the earth,” will be presented this summer. Directed by Goodman Theatre BOLD Artistic Producer Malkia Stampley, “In My Granny’s Garden” is part of the Chicago Park District’s eleventh annual free Night Out in the Parks, which brings more than 700 cultural events to each of the city’s seventy-seven community areas this summer. This three-week engagement, free in thirteen park locations citywide, is produced in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Locations, performance details and reservations here.
Arpino Chicago Centennial Set For September
To celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Gerald Arpino, “one of the twentieth century’s most influential artists,” The Gerald Arpino Foundation presents the Arpino Chicago Centennial Celebration as the culminating event of a multiyear salute to the choreographer and co-founder-director of The Joffrey Ballet. Performances are September 23-24 at the Auditorium Theatre. The two programs will feature ballet companies from across the U.S. performing works that span Arpino’s lengthy and prolific career. Tickets are on sale now. More here.
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Field Foundation Awards Leaders For A New Chicago
The Field Foundation has named its 2023 Leaders For A New Chicago. “They are advocates, artists, educators, journalists, organizers and storytellers. Together, they reflect the diversity of Chicago residents and the complex issues they face. All are advancing the racial and social justice movement in Chicago and serve as powerful examples of what positive, impactful change looks like at the community level. The Leaders for a New Chicago program recognizes past accomplishments in the fields of art, justice or media and storytelling and seeks to build a more inclusive city by promoting leaders who are designing new approaches to civic discourse and action. Each of the 2023 awardees will receive a no-strings-attached award of $25,000, and their affiliated organizations will receive an additional $25,000 general operating grant.” The awardees are Amethyst J. Davis, Carlos Flores, Glo Choi, Judith McCray, Ling Young, Mark Clements, Nasir Zakaria, Pastor Phil Jackson, Vanessa Harris and Yvette Moyo. Biographies here.
Rebuild Foundation Celebrates Tamir Rice’s Twenty-First Birthday
“As we approach June 25, the day that would have marked Tamir Rice’s twenty-first birthday, we are reminded of the milestone moments that carry immovable weight in raising generations of Black and Brown children in this country,” relays the Rebuild Foundation. “On this milestone birthday, we are humbled and honored to join Samaria Rice, Tamir’s mother, in celebrating his life, legacy and her righteous campaign for justice. We invite you to join us as we honor and celebrate Tamir with his mother Samaria Rice, family, friends and the Tamir Rice Foundation at the Tamir Rice Memorial Gazebo on the Stony Island Arts Bank campus. Rebuild Foundation is the proud steward of the Tamir Rice Memorial Gazebo, the material memorial of the structure near which Tamir Rice was murdered by Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann.”
“After the City of Cleveland moved to destroy the structure and a number of institutions in Cleveland declined to house the gazebo, our founder, artist Theaster Gates, offered to help preserve and make the structure visible as a call to action and potent reminder of the racial violence Black bodies face at the hands of law enforcement.” The day will include a prayer by Michael ‘Uncle Mike’ Petty; a welcome by Ms. Samaria Rice; guest speeches by Terrence Spivey on the performing arts, LaTonya Goldsby and Kareem Henton on activism, and Dion Green on gun violence; performances by avery r. young, Syleena Johnson and Terence Tykeem; and closing remarks by the Rice Family. Sunday, June 25, 3-5pm. RSVP here.
LGBTQ+ Workers Seen At Forefront Of Chicago’s Labor “Resurgence”
“The last two years have seen a wave of union filings emerge from Chicago’s coffeehouses and university halls, from its cannabis dispensaries to the steps of its vaunted museums,” reports the Tribune. “As of the end of last year, union filings in the Chicago area were up more than seventeen-percent over the prior year. Nationally, union campaigns have taken root at retail giants including Starbucks, REI, Apple and Trader Joe’s, as well as among graduate students at top U.S. universities and cultural workers at museums… Many of the new faces on picket lines and sitting across bargaining tables are relatively young, and many of them are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. ‘People who are in the queer community are very comfortable in organizing spaces,’ said Tat Scott, twenty-eight, who works as an internship coordinator at the School of the Art Institute. ‘We’re used to advocating for ourselves, advocating for each other—in this case for our colleagues.'”
1865 Fest Returns This Weekend
The Garfield Park 1865 Coalition will host a three-day African American cultural festival celebrating Juneteenth Emancipation Day, or Freedom Day, from Friday, June 16 through Sunday, June 18. “The Garfield Park 1865 Coalition is a dedicated group of community organizations, families, local businesses, and churches coming together with the intention of improving the Garfield Park community’s quality of life, and ensuring that quality is kept sustainable for generations to come.” More here.
Ida B. Wells Society Internships Canceled
“Journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, best known for founding The 1619 Project, [has] said… that administrative delays have made it impossible to carry on with several academic projects intended to foster the careers of young Black investigative journalists,” reports NPR. “The Ida B. Wells Society was named for a crusading Black journalist active in the late 1800s and early twentieth century… Over the years, the Ida B. Wells Society has received approximately $3.8 million in funding from philanthropies, including the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Only about half of that amount has been transferred to [its latest home at] Morehouse so far.”
Ohio Republicans Refuse Full Hearing Before Forcing “Don’t Say Gay” Bill
Florida was just a legislative beginning: “Ohio House Bill 8, the ‘Parents’ Bill of Rights,’ passed out of the Primary and Secondary Education committee on Tuesday in a fifteen-minute hearing that featured no opportunity for opponents to testify in person before the committee,” reports The Buckeye Flame. “The bill would force all teachers and school staff—including social workers and school counselors—to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents, even if there is suspected anti-LGBTQ+ abuse within the home. The bill also requires parental notification regarding materials in the curriculum that include any description of ‘sexuality concepts or gender ideology.’ LGBTQ+ advocates say the language amounts to a ‘Don’t Say Gay/Trans’ bill that could result in major safety risks to LGBTQ+ students and censorship in school curricula across the state.”
