Meg Jackson Fox, incoming Dana Feitler Director of the Smart Museum of Art/Photo: Fletcher and Co.
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ART
Smart Museum Director Of Feitler Center Named
Vanja V. Malloy, the Dana Feitler Director of the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, announced the appointment of Meg Jackson Fox as Director of the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry and Head of Education. In this leadership position, Jackson Fox will serve as a critical ambassador for advancing the role of art in teaching at large and will shape interdisciplinary pedagogy and engagement at the University of Chicago through partnerships with faculty, students, and community members. “Meg is a visionary educator, an accomplished museum professional, and curator who is committed to mutual collaboration, interdisciplinary exchange, and elevating inclusive models of history that simultaneously reflect our times,” said Malloy. “I am pleased to announce Meg’s appointment to this significant senior leadership role at the Smart Museum.” Jackson Fox is currently the Curator of Interdisciplinary and Community Practices and a member of the senior leadership team at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography.
Tenth Beverly Art Walk This Weekend
The Beverly Art Walk, a fall tradition in the Beverly-Morgan Park neighborhood, marks its ten-year anniversary on Saturday, September 23 from noon-5pm. This highly anticipated event, organized by The Beverly Area Arts Alliance, “promises an immersive experience that showcases the vibrant artistic community and fosters a sense of celebration and unity.” More here.
DESIGN
Signature Lightfoot Initiative INVEST South/West Losing Name
“A top Johnson aide said the INVEST South/West development program on the South and West sides, a hallmark of the Lori Lightfoot administration, is perceived as ‘an unfulfilled promise,'” reports WBEZ. “While Johnson’s team is still evaluating the program, they may take ‘a very different path’ toward investing in the South and West sides, and a forthcoming approach won’t be dubbed INVEST South/West, according to Johnson’s Deputy Mayor of Business and Neighborhood Development, Kenya Merritt.”
Chicago-Area Home Prices Rising At Twice The Speed Of National Average
“Chicago-area home prices are growing twice as fast as the nation’s,” reports Crain’s. “It’s the exact opposite of what was happening a year ago. The median price of homes sold in the nine-county Chicago metro area rose to $339,900 in August, up 9.6 percent from the same time a year ago, according to data released by Illinois Realtors. Nationally, the median price increased 3.9 percent to $407,100, according to a separate report from the National Association of Realtors.”
DINING & DRINKING
Portillo’s Sees 900 Sites In Its Future
“Portillo’s is updating its growth projections for the first time since it went public almost two years ago,” reports Crain’s.
MEDIA
Fox Chieftain Rupert Murdoch Stepping Aside For Son Kendall—Er, Lachlan
“Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is stepping down as the chairman of his empire,” writes the Hollywood Reporter. “Fox Corp. and News Corp. said that Murdoch would step aside as chairman of both companies, effective as of the annual meetings in November. Lachlan Murdoch will continue to lead the two companies. ‘On behalf of the Fox and News Corp boards of directors, leadership teams, and all the shareholders who have benefited from his hard work, I congratulate my father on his remarkable seventy-year career,’ said Lachlan Murdoch in a statement.” Murdoch, who is the mass media and one of the most elite multibillionaires, said in his statement, “Self-serving bureaucracies are seeking to silence those who would question their provenance and purpose. Elites have open contempt for those who are not members of their rarefied class. Most of the media is in cahoots with those elites, peddling political narratives rather than pursuing the truth.” Murdoch’s full memo is here, via Twitter.
Jared Yates Sexton has one of the first necessary cautions to the Murdoch news: “One of the most destructive men of the modern era is walking away. Let us never forget what he’s done… In his seven decades of cooking, twisting and ultimately mortally wounding the truth, he has pioneered a new era of projection and weaponized lying. Fox News (one of the most destructive and consequential innovations of the twentieth century) was hatched in 1996 with the expressed and intended purpose of working in cahoots with elites within the billionaire class and the Republican Party. Peddling political narratives was the strategy… That is Murdoch’s legacy.”
Chronicler Saw End Of Fox News And Murdoch Family Empire
Midweek, Murdoch chronicler Michael Wolff, with a book on the way, predicted the exodus of the fading elder of the Murdoch worldwide enterprise in an interview at Vanity Fair. “I think [Fox] will cease to exist in its present form. I think it will go into a radical transition in which, either James Murdoch will take over and change it into something else, or they will sell it. Fox has existed in its present state just for one reason: It’s controlled by Rupert Murdoch, who is the one man who can stand up, or has been able to stand up, to the political and social opprobrium at a fierce, fierce level, and to do this for the sake of making enormous amounts of money. But when he departs, that changes very clearly and very quickly.”
Comcast Will Fund Digital Navigators At Twenty-Six Chicago Public Library Branches
Mayor Johnson, Chicago Public Library and Comcast announced an initiative in digital equity, “one of Chicago’s most important socioeconomic issues,” relays Comcast in a release. “Comcast joined Chicago Public Library at its Austin Branch to announce a $250,000 grant to Chicago Public Library Foundation to fund digital navigators at twenty-six Chicago Library branches, as well as the donation of a thousand laptops to ten city nonprofit organizations to give to the people they serve.”
“Dashing” Editor-Publisher James Hoge Remembered
“As dashing as a movie star and one of the giants of twentieth century journalism, James Fulton Hoge Jr., died Tuesday in a Manhattan hospital. He was eighty-seven,” remembers Rick Kogan at the Trib. “Hoge started his career as a reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times in 1963. It was still a rough and tumble newsroom, filled with cigar-chomping characters in wrinkled and rumpled clothing. That was not Jim Hoge, who maintained a cultured manner befitting his upbringing… He did not consider himself to be a gifted writer at the newspaper and, though prolific as a reporter, he was drawn to editing. Before turning thirty, he became the paper’s city editor, four years later its editor-in-chief, then added the title of publisher at age forty-four. He was also later named editor-publisher of the Sun-Times’ sister publication, the Chicago Daily News. With a sharp eye for talent, he helped launch and nurture the careers of then-youngsters Bob Greene, Ron Powers, Roger Simon and Roger Ebert.”
The Sun-Times notice is here: “James Hoge, [was the] Sun-Times editor who oversaw era of audacious investigations and six Pulitzers… Hoge didn’t hesitate to sign off on the Mirage Tavern sting when reporter Pam Zekman pitched it to him while walking across the Michigan Avenue Bridge in 1977.”
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Andersonville Arts Weekend Returns For Nineteenth Year
The Andersonville Chamber of Commerce welcomes back its nineteen annual Andersonville Arts Weekend, with the neighborhood transformed into a walkable art gallery, Friday, September 29–Sunday, October 1. The free, three-day event includes over forty businesses and more than a hundred artists representing visual art, theater, dance, music, makers, film, culinary, student art and public art. Returning Arts Weekend mainstays include a Self-Guided Art Walk on all three days and the popular Night of Parties, an evening of artist receptions kicking-off on Friday, September 29 at 5pm. Special weekend events include: the Jackalope Theatre Block Party (Saturday, September 30, 3pm-8pm), the GUS® Jazz & Hip Hop Dance Show (Saturday, September 30, 3pm), the Fad2Fresh’s Fadtastic Voyage: An Old School Block Party (Sunday, October 1, 11am–7 pm), ABBA Acoustic: A Dancing Queen Matinee (Sunday, October 1, 2:30pm-4pm). More here.
Biden Aides Ask Ambassador Rahm To Stop Taunting China’s Boss
“President Biden’s aides have asked that Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, stop posting messages on social media taunting Chinese President Xi Jinping,” reports NBC News.
Anheuser-Busch Has Stopped Amputating Budweiser Clydesdales’ Tails
“Facing pressure from animal rights activists, Anheuser-Busch announced on Wednesday that it had ended the practice of amputating the tails of its Budweiser Clydesdales, the familiar equine figures in the brewing company’s advertising campaigns for nearly a century,” reports the New York Times. “The move came as Anheuser-Busch, Budweiser’s parent company, has faced criticism for the practice, which is banned in several countries and has been denounced as inhumane by animal welfare organizations.”
Purveyor Of Chicago’s $29 Million Migrant Base Camps Has Questionable Past
“A company contracted to help ship migrants from Florida to Democrat-led cities has been hired by Chicago officials to build tent cities for migrants,” reports Block Club Chicago. “City officials signed a $29 million contract with Virginia-based GardaWorld Federal Services and its subsidiary Aegis Defense Services on September 12 for the firm to ‘provide temporary housing, on an as-needed basis’ for asylum seekers… Virginia-based GardaWorld Federal Services also was hired by Florida Governor DeSantis to send migrants to Democrat-led cities. The company has faced criticism for its treatment of asylum seekers in other states and in Canada.” WGN-TV has more details on the provisions. Tribune reporter Alice Yin posts on Twitter the Johnson administration’s reply.
Federal Free COVID Tests Available Monday
Free tests, four at a time, for all American households that apply will be available on Monday. More here. Apply here.
Today In The Culture, June 16, 2023: No Wherewithall | Whither Thompson Center Art? | RIP Blackie Onassis Get daily culture news sent to your inbox every weekday morning. Subscribe to Newcity Today here. ART MCA Increasing Admission "A suggested-admission increase for the Museum of Contemporary Art was approved Wednesday by the Chicago Park District. The price change takes effect this month," reports the Sun-Times. "For Chicago residents, student and senior tickets will increase from $8 to $10, and…
