City of Chicago: Month-long Public Art Festival throughout October

Chicago, 2017-Aug-12 — /Travel PR News/ — Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) will celebrate the Year of Public Art with a month-long Public Art Festival throughout October, culminating with a Public Art Symposium on October 26 and 27 at the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St.). The symposium will convene artists, scholars, community organizers and public agents to celebrate art across the city. The culminating event coincides with the release of Chicago’s first Public Art Plan, a set of recommendations that will help shape the future of public art in Chicago.

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of both the Chicago Picasso on Daley Plaza and the Wall of Respect that once stood at 43rd Street and Langley Avenue, the City of Chicago designated 2017 as the “Year of Public Art.” As part of the year’s activities, the month-long Public Art Festival will feature a series of neighborhood programs and events highlighting the city’s public art collection located throughout the city. Additionally, programs will celebrate the completion of several new artworks as part of the 50×50 Neighborhood Arts Project, a citywide initiative that commissioned dozens of local artists to create new sculptures, murals and other public artworks in Chicago’s 50 wards, representing a $1.5 million investment in artist-led community projects. In June, the City of Chicago announced the selected local artists and the participating communities. Many of these works are in the early stages of production and will be dedicated this October during the festival.

Highlights include the soon-to-be-installed Wabash Avenue Flying Creatures along Wabash Avenue at Lake Street will be a series of kinetic street sculptures – or modern gargoyles – designed to animate Chicago’s streetscapes. Part of DCASE partnership with the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) artscape program, the creatures are being created by students in creative youth programs across the city this summer. The flying creatures will coincide with Arts in the Dark on Saturday, October 21 at 6pm, when the city’s many creative spirits will unite for a magical Halloween parade on Columbus Dr. from Balbo St. to Monroe St.

For more information about the Year of Public Art including a schedule of events throughout the city, visi cityofchicago.org/yopa. Public Art Festival events will be added in September.

Year of Public Art Fall Events – Highlights

(Schedule is subject to change)

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
Public Art Film Series
August 12–13, 2 pm and August 14–15, 6:30 pm

The Chicago Cultural Center will screen a series of films that offer a time capsule to an era in Chicago when public art, murals and sculpture were just beginning to take form.

chicagoculturalcenter.org

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.
FREE

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
50 Years Later: Reflections on Chicago’s Picasso
August 15, 12:15 pm

Cultural historian Paul Durica will moderate a conversation among Chicago artists, YouMedia teens and representatives from the Studs Terkel Radio Archive in a discussion examining the impact of this iconic artwork on the public art landscape since its dedication on August 15, 1967.

chicagoculturalcenter.org

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.
FREE

Chicago Public Library
The Chicago Picasso: A Point of Departure
August 15, 6 pm

Art historian Patricia Balton Stratton, along with an esteemed group of panelists will discuss her new book The Chicago Picasso: A Point of Departure.

cityofchicago.org/yopa

Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St.
FREE

Expo Chicago and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
Artwork: OVERRIDE
August 28–September 17

A collaboration between EXPO CHICAGO and DCASE, the Override Billboard Project is a temporary citywide public art exhibition that will activate the 28 LED digital billboards in Chicago’s City Digital Network with works by leading international artists.

expochicago.com

Locations citywide
FREE

Wabash Arts Corridor
Exhibition: A More Perfect Union
September 1–October 20

For the second annual Wabash Arts Corridor exhibition, A More Perfect Union takes an expanded look at inclusivity and features murals by artists from all over the world.

wabashartscorridor.org

623 S. Wabash Ave.
FREE

Columbia College Chicago
Exhibition: ¡Sí, Se Puede!
September 5–November 4, 9am–5pm

Six artists will immerse themselves in archives of Victor Alemán, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta and their work with the United Farm Workers to curate ephemera from these activists’ work and create new works, public artworks along the Wabash Arts Corridor and in Pilsen and Little Village.

students.colum.edu/deps/glass-curtain-gallery

Glass Curtain Gallery, 1104S. Wabash Ave.
FREE

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
Special Event: Public Art Festival
October 2017

Throughout the entire month, a series of neighborhood programs and events will highlight the public art located throughout the city.

Grant support provided by Allstate Insurance Company

cityofchicago.org/yopa
Locations citywide
FREE

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
Artworks: 50×50 Neighborhood Arts Projects
October 2017

The 50×50 Neighborhood Art Project is a collaboration between DCASE, Aldermanic Offices and residents and artists to bring new public art projects to all 50 wards.

cityofchicago.org/yopa
Locations citywide
FREE

Terrain Biennial
Exhibition: Terrain Biennial
October 1–November 15, 2017
October 1: Opening Block Party

The 3rd Annual Terrain Biennial repurposes private spaces, such as front yards, and fills them with artworks that challenge traditional notions of home, neighborhood and public art. The Biennial will engage spaces across the country, with a focus on the City of Chicago’s 50 wards.

terrainexhibitions.com

Locations citywide

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
Special Event: Celebrate Cloud Gate
October 17

Widely recognized as one of the greatest public art pieces in the World, Cloud Gate has become a destination for residents and visitors alike. Join us for a celebration of “The Bean” in Millennium Park.

Millennium Park and Chicago Cultural Center
FREE

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
Artwork: Wabash Avenue Flying Creatures
October 21, 2017

The Flying Creatures Initiative is a series of kinetic street sculptures — or modern gargoyles — designed to animate Chicago’s streetscapes. Creative youth programs from across the city will work with their students to create the flying creatures.

cityofchicago.org/dcase

Wabash Ave. and Lake St. to Harrison St.
FREE

Creative Spirit Chicago
Special Event: Arts in the Dark
October 21, 6pm

Chicago’s diverse creative spirits unite in a magical nighttime Halloween parade.

facebook.com/LUMA8Chicago/

Columbus Dr. from Balbo St. to Monroe St.
FREE

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events
Special Event: Public Art Symposium
October 26–27

Coinciding with the release of Chicago’s first Public Art Plan, artists, scholars, community organizers and public agents will convene to explore the interesting values of their work in public art.

Grant support provided by Terra Foundation for American Art.

cityofchicago.org/yopa

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.
FREE

Hyde Park Art Center
Exhibition: Bill Walker: Urban Griot
November 5 – April 8, 2018

William “Bill” Walker was a prolific muralist best known for crating the iconic Wall of Respect on Chicago’s South Side. Urban Griothighlights Walker’s artwork beyond the wall in a series of drawings and paintings that he made between 1979 and 1984.

hydeparkart.org

5020 S. Cornell Ave.
FREE

Art Institute of Chicago
Talk: The Future of Public Art in Chicago
November 30, 6pm

Presented by The Department of Museum Education, DCASE Commissioner Mark Kelly and others will discuss the future of public art in Chicago

artic.edu

111 S. Michigan Ave.

FREE Thursday Evenings for Illinois residents

Guided by the Chicago Cultural Plan, Mayor Emanuel has outlined a citywide vision for art and culture that has incorporated public art into projects at a variety of City departments—including DCASE as well as the Department of Transportation, Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Library and Chicago Transit Authority, among others. Grant support for the Year of Public Art is provided by Allstate Insurance Company and Terra Foundation for American Art.

The Chicago Public Art Collection managed by DCASE includes more than 500 works of art exhibited in over 150 municipal facilities around the city, such as police stations, libraries, and CTA stations. The Collection provides the citizens of Chicago with an improved public environment and enhances city buildings and spaces with quality works of art by professional artists. DCASE also administers the City’s Percent-for-Art Ordinance established in 1978, which stipulates that 1.33% of the cost of constructing or renovating public buildings will be used for public art.

For more information, visit cityofchicago.org/yopa—and join the conversation on Facebook (Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events), Twitter and Instagram, @ChicagoDCASE #2017isYOPA #ChiPublicArt.

Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is dedicated to enriching Chicago’s artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. This includes fostering the development of Chicago’s non-profit arts sector, independent working artists and for-profit arts businesses; providing a framework to guide the City’s future cultural and economic growth, via the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan; marketing the City’s cultural assets to a worldwide audience; and presenting high-quality, free and affordable cultural programs for residents and visitors.

Source: City of Chicago