When COVID-19 swept the country, music venues were among the first to shutter, throwing tens of thousands of live entertainment professionals out of work and sidelining artists who depend on touring income. The National Independent Venue Association formed in April 2020 and currently represents more than 3,000 performance halls, promoters, and festivals; it’s done much […]
Tag: Mark Kelly
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.
Posted inArts & Culture
Chicago Dance History Project’s Interview Marathon talks up a storm
Local and international luminaries provide a “microcosm” of CDHP’s archival mission.
Posted inMusic
Lightfoot hijacks Lollapalooza
Did Chicago musicians booked for Lollapalooza know their sets might look like an endorsement of Mayor Lightfoot?
Posted inMusic
Thirty-five moments that brought Chicago music to the world
The Year of Chicago Music has had less music in it than anybody anticipated, but we still have plenty to celebrate.
Posted inMusic
The Chosen Few Picnic & Festival comes to everybody’s backyards
For its 30th anniversary, one of the world’s largest house-music parties has been pushed online by the pandemic—but it might reach even more people that way.
Posted inMusic
Why won’t City Hall fight for Chicago’s homegrown music scene?
The Chicago Independent Venue League shouldn’t have to push back against the Live Nation handouts in the Lincoln Yards development—but City Hall doesn’t protect Chicago’s homegrown music scene.
Posted inBlogs
Will the Green Line Arts Center help turn the south side into ‘Florence during the Renaissance’?
The new theater in Washington Park is the first performing arts center to open on the south side in 40 years.
Posted inBlogs
What’s in Chicago’s new Public Art Plan?
Chicago introduces its first Public Art Plan.
Posted inBlogs
Sessions: DOJ will crack down on federal grants for sanctuary cities, and other Chicago news
Also, the Chicago Blues Experience museum is set to open near Millennium Park in 2019.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
Ten surprising stories from the year in Chicago culture
From Theater on the Lake to spaceship on the park, 2016 was a weird time in the city.
Posted inColumns & Opinion
How did an academic administrator become the new city arts czar?
A conversation with Mark Kelly
Posted inBlogs
City culture czar Michelle Boone says she’s jumping to Navy Pier
Michelle Boone steps down as Chicago’s Commissioner of the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events; she’ll be replaced by Columbia College vice president Mark Kelly.