Theaters, comedy clubs, museums, galleries, and other venues are blowing off the COVID-19 shutdown dust and preparing to welcome you back this fall. Many companies are picking up with productions that were cut short in March 2020, while others have world premieres up their sleeves. We suggest calling venues ahead of time or checking their […]
Author Archives: Deanna Isaacs
Posted inOn Culture
Fred Hampton is having a moment
If you’ve seen Judas and the Black Messiah, the multiple-award-winning film about the 1969 murder of Illinois Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton, you’ve got a picture in your head of the 4:30 AM raid in which a drugged and sleeping Hampton was killed by a barrage of police bullets. The raid was carried out […]
Posted inOn Culture
Ravinia opens its Music Box
Here’s one way to think about the Ravinia Music Box, the new, high-tech attraction that debuted this month in its own building on the festival grounds: it takes the legendary music venue back to its earliest days. In 1904, when Ravinia first opened, it was an amusement park, intended to drum up passengers for a […]
Posted inColumns & Opinion
With the Thompson Center on the block, CAC celebrates its late creator
“Helmut Jahn: Life + Architecture” at CAC offers big pictures and tiny buildings.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Groundhog Day in federal court for the Obama Center
Protect Our Parks wants to put the brakes on the Obama Center groundbreaking.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Looking for YOMHN with Monica Brown
In “Roots, Branches: Ancestor(s) Stones,” Monica Brown traces ancestral legacies.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Sheboygan visionaries
Dr. Charles Smith and other artists find a new home at the Art Preserve.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Terell Johnson joins Chicago Philharmonic as executive director
The “musician-governed” Chicago Philharmonic looks to innovative programming for the future.
Posted inArts & Culture
Lyric’s al fresco Hansel and Gretel is a family-friendly treat
North Park Village Nature Center provides an ideal setting for Lyric’s Hansel and Gretel.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
The art of war and more from Bill Mauldin
The Pritzker Museum highlights Bill Mauldin’s 50-year fight with injustice.
Posted inArts & Culture
Lyric and Joffrey, together at last
Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Joffrey Ballet announce in-person 2021-2022 seasons.
Posted inNews & Politics
Helmut Jahn is gone, and the Thompson Center is for sale
Can we save his most important Chicago building?
Posted inArts & Culture
Opera on your phone; CSO (lite), live and in person
While Chicago opera plays on your phone, Symphony Center announces May opening.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Arts 77 shores up the city’s creative infrastructure
Chicago’s new Arts 77 program will spend $60 million on cultural facilities and art.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Rethinking public art with the Chicago Monuments Project
With 41 pieces flagged as potentially problematic, the city seeks input about next steps.