Here are Newcity’s “big ten” events for fall. See links below for each of the artistic genres with their own fall previews.
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
The legendary community organizer’s West Side headquarters has undergone a major renovation, including opening its second floor to the public for the first time ever and the addition of a new permanent exhibit, “The Making of a Political Woman.”
Reopens September 8 at Jane Addams Hull House Museum
Sonar Festival
The Catalonia-based electronic music festival has recently begun forays into international markets, this year marking its first appearance in Chicago. Switching off venues between the Cultural Center and Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion, the lineup features artists like The Slew (featuring Kid Koala), Oval and Ben Frost.
September 9-11 at Pritzker Pavilion and Chicago Cultural Center
Renegade Craft Fair
This outdoor extravaganza may be the perfect retail experience for our times, with its mix of DIY aesthetic, playfully edgy designs (art, home and fashion) and accessible price points. It’s no wonder they’ve taken the thing to four other cities, but this is where it all began.
September 11-12 on Division Street between Damen and Paulina
Uncovered & Rediscovered: Stories of Jewish Chicago
Spertus debuts an ambitious, six-part revolving multimedia exhibition that promises to tell the stories of Jews in Chicago, ranging from the “nineteenth-century romance behind the launch of the Spiegel mail order catalog to the impact of Jewish votes from Lawndale on the election of President Kennedy.”
Opens September 19 at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies
Jim Henson’s Fantastic World
Perhaps the science is biology, as in frogs (Kermit), pigs (Miss Piggy) or even vampire bats (The Count)? But who cares when we’re offered entreé into the creative world of the late Jim Henson, with an exhibit showing more than a hundred original drawings, along with plenty of puppets and TV clips. Me want cooookie.
Opens September 24 at the Museum of Science and Industry
The Soviet Arts Experience
Spanning twenty-five cultural institutions, more than a hundred events in disciplines ranging from art, dance, music and theater, this unique thematic collaboration got its start from its crown jewel, Pacifica Quartet’s first-ever-in-Chicago complete cycle of all fifteen Shostakovich string quartets.
October 1 through January, 2012, at various venues; see sovietartsexperience.org
Emporium
The Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair adds a hip urban pavilion to its vast offerings, targeting an eclectic mix of more modern styles.
October 1-4 at The Merchandise Mart
Gold
The shiny metal’s been a symbol of wealth and source of strife long before Glenn Beck got into its bizness—remember King Midas? The Field Museum’s gathered up more than 550 objects, including our favorite, the White Sox World Series Trophy, to tell the story of this most precious metal.
Opens October 22 at the Field Museum
Sam Shepard/Photo: Brigitte Lacombe
The Chicago Humanities Festival
Artists, writers and thinkers come together around this year’s theme, “The Body,” with presentations on everything from mummies to condoms, “Law and Order: SVU” to immigration law, plus readings from this year’s Tribune Literary Prize winner Sam Shepard and Trib Heartland Prize winners E.O. Wilson (fiction) and Rebecca Skloot (nonfiction).
October 24 and November 2-14 at various venues; see chicagohumanities.org
SOFA Chicago 2010
The long-running decorative art and design fair at Navy Pier adds a sister show this year, picking up The Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art.
November 5-7 at Navy Pier
Fall Art Preview
Fall Dance Preview
Fall Film Preview
Fall Lit Preview
Fall Music Preview
Fall Stage Preview
