Don’t miss the Family-Friendly Open House Event Saturday, December 9 from 1-6pm

 

CHICAGO — Located at the corner of Michigan Ave. and Randolph St. in the heart of downtown, the Chicago Cultural Center is a historic gem offering diverse, free arts offerings year-round programmed by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and its partners. This winter, visitors can experience exhilarating visual art exhibitions, films, and opportunities to engage with Chicago artists and observe the artistic process. Visit ChicagoCulturalCenter.org and follow on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for the latest events and updates.

All ages are invited to enjoy the third installment of the Chicago Cultural Center Open House Series, Saturday, December 9 from 1-6pm. The free family-friendly event features live performances from Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir), Changing Worlds and more, films from the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, fun activities presented by SLOOMOO Slime Activation, puppet making workshops by Chio’s Puppetry, a building-wide BINGO game and more. View the full schedule online; RSVP's are recommended but not required.

The Buddy store on the 1st floor of the Chicago Cultural Center sells original works by more than 200 local artisans, making it a great destination for special holiday gifts. The shop is a treasure trove of prints, unique art pieces, and an assortment of handcrafted wares. All proceeds support working artists and contribute to the vibrant tapestry of Chicago's creative community. Go shopping at Hi-Buddy.org.

“All are invited to experience and connect with the creative community in the welcoming atmosphere of the Chicago Cultural Center. The arts programming this winter is especially invigorating with transformative visual art exhibitions on all four floors. For the December Open House we’re excited to offer live performances, films and interactive arts and crafts geared especially for kids. It’s the perfect way to spend a Saturday downtown with the family—and you can check out the Chicago Christmas Tree and ice skating in Millennium Park across the street after your visit!” said DCASE Deputy Commissioner of Programming Nancy Villafranca.

Dynamic visual arts exhibitions are featured at the Chicago Cultural Center this winter, including A Long Walk Home’s Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar, which runs through March 10, 2024. This project supports a necessary dialogue with the City of Chicago about the crisis of missing and murdered Black girls and young women. The exhibition creates a space for artists, families, organizers, and young people to engage in public conversation. A wide range of programming includes talks, community-based projects, and altar making. See the full schedule. The Chicago Architecture Biennial’s CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal features a robust series of exhibitions and installations at the Chicago Cultural Center through February 11, 2024. The fifth edition of the biennial explores how contemporary environmental, political, and economic issues are shared across national boundaries but are addressed differently around the world through art, architecture, infrastructure, and civic participation. A complete list of FREE public programming and participant projects is available online.

The Chicago Film Office continues to offer a wide spectrum of cinema experiences both for learning and enjoyment. This winter, the Claudia Cassidy Theater hosts various film screenings from the Chicago Film Office, in partnership with industry and community organizations—including films from the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, December 9. February will feature a Lunar New Year celebration, with a screening and live performance courtesy of Asian Pop-Up Cinema. In April, One Earth Film Festival will join the Film Office for an Earth Day screening, along with a showcase of local environmental groups to help educate audiences on how to protect our planet. More information on free film events is available at ChicagoCulturalCenter.org.

DCASE is pleased to welcome the latest cohort of artists for the 2023-2024 Chicago Cultural Center Dance Studio Residency. Nine Chicago-based dancemakers have been selected to receive space, time, and funding to create new works through June 2024. The recipients are: Chih-Jou Cheng, Aaliyah Christina, J’Sun Howard, Keisha Janae, Helen Lee / Momentum Sensorium, Amalia Raye Wiatr Lewis, Drew Lewis / House of DOV, Jenna Pollack and Amanda Ramirez. A panel discussion on December 12 at 6pm introduces the cohort. A series of Open Studios that start in 2024 invite the public to experience informal workshops, talks and works-in-progress. Programming details at ChicagoCulturalCenter.org.

Following the model of residencies for dancemakers, DCASE is excited to announce the piloting of a new play development program, currently for text-based projects. Artists and companies in residence for the Chicago Cultural Center Studio Theater Residency Pilot include: New Personalidad, by Nelson A. Rodriguez with Visión Latino Theatre Company; Tomato Tattoo, by Rammel Chan with APIDA Arts; It’s Whampo, Whampo, Whampo Time; Where All Of It Is True and None Of It Is Real, by Arlene Malinowski with Bodies of Work and Chicago Dramatists; and IS YOU IS, by L.C. Bernadine, Erik Olsen and Nik Whitcomb, presented in partnership with The Stillwell Institute for Contemporary Black Art. Each recipient will offer a free dramatic reading of their script on select dates throughout December. The full schedule is below and available at ChicagoCulturalCenter.org.

Completed in 1897 as Chicago’s first central library, the Chicago Cultural Center serves as a cultural hub for Chicagoans and visitors year-round with free arts programming, breathtaking architecture, and tours. Enclosed are details for the winter programming and events. Visit ChicagoCulturalCenter.org and follow on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for the latest events and updates.

 

Winter Programming Highlights:

Open House: “Family-Friendly Edition”
Saturday, December 9, 1-6pm
Chicago Cultural Center
Free; RSVPs recommended but not required. RSVP online.
Photos >>

The winter Open House event presents family-friendly activities for all. The historic building invites all ages to join in on the fun with a SLOOMOO Slime Activation, live performances by Uniting Voices Chicago, Changing Worlds, Chicago Inclusive Dance Festival and Son Monarcas, family films, holiday shopping at Buddy, Bingo and more!

December 9: Open House Programming

1st Floor

Learning Lab, 1st Floor South
1-6pm              Stop by to meet Artist in Residence, Mobile Makers with CAB Youth Council, and participate in an interactive art-making experience

Welcome Center, 1st Floor North
2:30pm             Building Tour Meetup

Michigan Avenue Galleries, 1st Floor East
Until 5:45pm    Exhibition: Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar

Landmarks Gallery, 1st Floor West
Until 6pm         Exhibition: Great Ideas of Humanity: One of a Series

Randolph Square, 1st Floor North
1-6pm               SLOOMOO Slime Activation
Until 6pm        Exhibition: Chicago Architecture Biennial

Chicago Latino Theater Alliance (CLATA) Office, 1st Floor South
1-3pm               Chio’s Puppetry hand puppet making workshop

Buddy, 1st Floor South
1-1:30pm           Shop Tour
1:30-3:30pm     Craft Workshop by Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange
Until 6pm         Store open for holiday shopping and unique gift ideas

Lobby Area Desks
Until 6pm         Pick up a BINGO card to play for a prize!

2nd Floor

Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor North
2pm & 4pm       Chicago International Children's Film Festival: Encore Screenings

GAR Hall, 2nd Floor North
2-5pm               Changing Worlds; Storytelling & Dance Workshops African Dance 2pm (45min) / Hip-Hop 3pm (45min) Storytelling 4pm (45min)
Until 6pm         Exhibition: Surviving the Long Wars: Transformative Threads

Chicago Rooms, 2nd Floor North
4-6pm                Chicago Inclusive Dance Festival, Neighborhood Cultural Spotlight
Until 6pm          Exhibition: Chicago Architecture Biennial

3rd Floor

Preston Bradley Hall, 3rd Floor South
2-4pm                Uniting Voices Chicago
4:30-5:30pm     Son Monarcas, music performance

4th Floor

Yates Gallery, 4th Floor North
Until 5:45pm      Exhibition: Chicago Architecture Biennial

Exhibit Hall, 4th Floor North
Until 5:45pm      Exhibition: Chicago Architecture Biennial

Roving

1:30-2:30pm       BandWith Chicago, Marching Band performs building-wide

 

Visual Art Exhibitions:

New: “Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar”
November 1, 2023 – March 10, 2024
Michigan Avenue Galleries, 1st Floor East
Photos>>

The exhibit is a multimedia, artifact-based, video, and object-based artwork to create sacred spaces and honor the lives of Black girls and young Black women who have gone missing or been murdered. As a mode of urgent healing – weaving together commemoration and advocacy – The Black Girlhood Altar is built on years of engaged work in Chicago and taking on national prominence. This iteration Freedom Square: The Black Girlhood Altar supports a necessary dialogue with the City of Chicago about the crisis of missing and murdered Black girls and young women. This exhibit creates a space for artists, families, organizers and young people to engage in public conversation.

 

New: Chicago Architecture Biennial, CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal
November 1, 2023 – February 11, 2024
Photos>>

For its fifth edition, CAB 5: This is a Rehearsal presents an array of though-provoking exhibits at the Chicago Cultural Center. This is a Rehearsal’s horizontal approach demonstrates a commitment to engaging multiple publics and practices while inviting visitors to understand architecture through the city.

Under the Artistic Direction of the Chicago-based artist collective, Floating Museum, CAB 5 features the work of more than 80 local and international participants at locations ranging from outdoor community sites to exhibitions spaces that span across the city. CAB 5 tours begin every Saturday from December 2 through February 10, 2024. Tours will be offered at 10:30am and 1pm, except for December 2 [1pm tour only]. The one-hour tour is free and open to the public; tours begin in Randolph Square and end in the Washington Lobby. For a complete list of FREE public programming and participant projects at the Chicago Cultural Center is available online.

 

Ongoing: “Great Ideas of Humanity: One of a Series”
Presented in collaboration with the Design Museum of Chicago
September 2023 - Ongoing
Landmark Chicago Gallery, 1st Floor West
Photos>>

Featuring works that embrace the increasing globalization of our world and celebrate the resulting cross-pollination of ideas, philosophies, societies, and cultures. The exhibition is a visual response from a variety of artists on the idea of great design and creativity in history.

 

Upcoming: “Surviving the Long Wars: Transformative Threads”
December 9, 2023 – December 8, 2024
Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Hall, 2nd Floor North
Photos>>

The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Hall was built as a memorial to the sacrifices of Civil War veterans and their families and is a great site to consider the threads of connection that emerge between artists differently impacted by US long wars, from veterans to civilians. Through diverse approaches, the featured artists challenge colonialism, critique racism, and delve into the ways militarism is woven into daily life. Together, their artworks propose alternative ways of understanding US wars, create space for solidarity, and insist on survival.

 

Upcoming: “Victoria Martinez: Braiding Histories”
Presented in collaboration with Art Design Chicago
April 6, 2024 – July 28, 2024
Chicago Rooms, 2nd Floor North

This one-person exhibition features the art of Chicago-based creative Victoria Martinez who works in a variety of materials and scales, drawing inspiration from the body, the urban environment, architecture, and graffiti. Victoria Martinez: Braiding Histories is part of Art Design Chicago, a citywide collaboration initiated by the Terra Foundation for American Art that highlights the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.

Victoria Martinez: Braiding Histories is funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art.

 

Dance Programming:

The Chicago Cultural Center Dance Studio Residency returns for a second year, with nine Chicago-based dancemakers selected to receive space, time, and funding to create new works through June 2024. Starting in 2024, the public is invited into the Dance Studio to get a sneak peek at work-in-progress showings, artist talks, and more hosted by the current Chicago Cultural Center resident artists. In late 2023, the cohort will be introduced [in dialogue] at free public panels in the Chicago Cultural Center Dance Studio. The public panels are an opportunity to hear from the artists in the intimate setting of the Dance Studio. Programming details at ChicagoCulturalCenter.org.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Walder Foundation. Additional support is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dance Artist Panel
December 12
6pm
Dance Studio, 1st Floor North

Join Dance Studio resident artists, Aaliyah Christina, J’Sun Howard, Keisha Janae, Drew Lewis, and Jenna Pollack in an open conversation to introduce their projects and the ideas and curiosities that propel their creative investigations. Dance/USA’s Kellee Edusei serves as moderator.

Open Studios will continue through June 2024. All programs are scheduled to take place in the Dance Studio, 1st Floor North. Winter Open Studios include free public programs with: J’Sun Howard (January 9, 6pm and March 5, 6pm); Amalia Raye Wiatr Lewis (February 13, 6pm); Amanda Ramirez (March 4, 6pm); J’Sun Howard (March 5, 6pm); Chih-Jou Cheng (March 12, 6pm); Chih-Jou Cheng (March 23, 11am, and March 23, 11am); Helen Lee/Momentum Sensorium (April 7, 11:30am); Drew Lewis/House of DOV (April 9, 6pm); and Aaliyah Christina (April 11, 6:30pm).

 

Theater Programming:

The Chicago Cultural Center invites the public to attend free dramatic readings of theater scripts by companies in residence during the New Play Reading Series. All readings take place in Studio Theater, 1st Floor North. Full program details are available at ChicagoCulturalCenter.org.

New Play Reading Series
December 9
11am–1pm
New Personalidad, by Nelson A. Rodriguez with Visión Latino Theatre Company

December 16
1:30–4pm
Tomato Tattoo, by Rammel Chan with APIDA Arts

December 17
2–4:30pm
It’s Whampo, Whampo, Whampo Time; Where All Of It Is True and None Of It Is Real, by Arlene Malinowski with Bodies of Work and Chicago Dramatists

December 18
6:30–8:30pm
IS YOU IS, by L.C. Bernadine, Erik Olsen and Nik Whitcomb presented in partnership with The Stillwell Institute for Contemporary Black Art

 

Neighborhood Cultural Spotlight:

Features people, places and things nominated by Chicagoans for their cultural contribution to their neighborhood’s vitality. Check out the features in the Chicago Rooms, 2nd Floor North. Full program details are available at ChicagoCulturalCenter.org.

 

The Chicago Inclusive Dance Festival
December 1, 2, 15 & 16
2-3pm

The Chicago Inclusive Dance Festival/DisFest is an annual event focused on community building through inclusive dance. CIDF/DisFest features inclusive movement workshops alongside non-movement activities, such as short film and dance video viewings, academic presentations, discussions, and networking opportunities. The festival connects this small community in meaningful and measurable ways by encouraging integrated, inclusive, and adaptive dance practitioners to dance together, to share their work, to collaborate, to discuss guidelines and procedures for best practices, and to network. The integrated and inclusive dance community has gained visibility in Chicagoland and the larger dance community through CIDF/DisFest.

 

Aguijón Theater – Belmont Cragin
April 5, 6, 19 & 20, 2024

Founded in 1989, Aguijón Theater Company is dedicated to creating exciting and meaningful theatrical experiences through the cultural exploration, discussion, and performance of works in Spanish. As Chicago’s longest-running Latino theater, the company strives to foster, promote, and celebrate the diverse cultural excellence of the city’s Latino theater artists while challenging and inspiring its audiences to surmount language barriers and cross-cultural boundaries. Fiercely committed to ensuring that the arts are accessible in every Chicago neighborhood, Aguijón is especially dedicated to creating for and with the Belmont-Cragin community where the company has been rooted since 1999.

 

Shopping:

Buddy Store
Located on the 1st floor, the Buddy store supports more than 200 local artists and small manufacturers selling Chicago-made art, objects, and more. This collaboration between Public Media Institute and DCASE furthers both institutions’ goals of providing visibility and opportunities to artists across the Chicagoland area. Details at Hi-Buddy.org.

Upcoming: Buddy Art 4 Sale, Ornaments 4 All 2024: Holiday Exhibition
Through December

Buddy’s series of curated exhibitions dedicated to specific themes, artists, products, and organizations rotating periodically throughout the year.

Upcoming: Buddy’s Randolph Window: Winter
Through February 2024

 

Engagement Programs:

“Meet an Artist”
December 8, 9, 22 & 23
12-2pm
Learning Lab, 1st Floor South

Mobile Makers Chicago is a nonprofit organization that makes design education accessible to all. Their bright orange renovated mail truck can be spotted around the city encouraging conversation about positive change in the built environment. Join us for design and skill-building workshops on the second and fourth Friday and Saturday of the month through December.

 

Tours
Building tours reveal the storied history of the landmark Chicago Cultural Center and are offered year-round on Thursdays and Fridays at 1:15pm. Tours are free and led by volunteer docents and/or staff. Limited to the first 25 people who sign up at the Randolph Street desk upon arrival.

 

Chicago Cultural Center
Completed in 1897 as Chicago’s first central library, the building was established as the Chicago Cultural Center, the nation's first and most comprehensive free municipal cultural venue, in 1991. One of the most visited attractions in Chicago, the stunning landmark building is home to two magnificent stained-glass domes, as well as free art exhibitions, performances, tours, lectures, family activities, music, and more – presented by the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) and many others. Learn about the latest events and news at ChicagoCulturalCenter.org and by following the Chicago Cultural Center on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
The City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) supports artists and cultural organizations, invests in the creative economy, and expands access and participation in the arts throughout Chicago’s 77 neighborhoods. As a collaborative cultural presenter, arts funder, and advocate for creative workers, our programs and events serve Chicagoans and visitors of all ages and backgrounds, downtown and in diverse communities across our city — to strengthen and celebrate Chicago. DCASE produces some of the city’s most iconic festivals, markets, events, and exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center, Millennium Park, and in communities across the city — serving a local and global audience of 25 million people. The Department offers cultural grants and resources, manages public art, supports TV and film production and other creative industries, and permits special events throughout Chicago. For details, visit Chicago.gov/DCASE and stay connected via our newsletters and social media.

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