The 20th Annual Chicago Artists Month highlights the work of hundreds of artists throughout Chicago with performances, exhibitions, open studios, tours and neighborhood art walks. Chicago Artists Month (CAM) will invite residents and visitors to meet artists and see their work at venues across Chicago from October 1 through November 15.
With its 2015 theme, “The City as Studio,” CAM 2015 is in dialogue with the inaugural Chicago Architecture Biennial. As the world comes to Chicago to discuss the state of architecture, CAM presents artists, architects, designers, performers, makers and other creatives who look at the City as a place for experimentation, innovation and production.
Twenty programs and representative artists are featured to celebrate this anniversary year. Migration, renewal, connection, and discovery are explored through film festivals, dance parties, walking tours, and exhibitions. Celebrate the “Permanent Record of 40 years of HipHop Kulture,” visit the recording studio where “Nalege is Power!,” vote for your favorite Chicago ethnographic short film, and share your Instagram images of “My City, Our City.” Experience dance and performance through the “Technology of the Circle,” and understand renewal and regeneration of refugee communities through the workshops of “Craft(ing) Culture(s).”
Featured events include:
Arts in the Parks – The People’s Studio: Experience the work of citizens from across the city who make the parks their canvas, their stage,and their space for creative dialogue. On October 1, explore three distinct community cultural organizing projects from Englewood, Austin, and West Rogers Park through an interactive dialog with the citizens, artists, and park staff. On October 24, the Chicago Park District presents a dialog on “Design for Public Play” with urban playground designers, academics, and community; tours of nature play areas; and play activities for all ages. On November 7, there will be a youth-lead interactive discussion about the role of arts in their lives and communities; featuring Arts partners and programs from the Chicago Park District–Arts and Culture.
Font Porch – An Afternoon of Concerts: Local musicians from all over the city will come together in Logan Square to perform on three different front porches in the neighborhood. As you walk from one porch to another, you will get a tour of historic places, pretty outdoor spaces, restaurants, and cool shops that help create the environment of Logan Square. Come to meet fellow music lovers, and enjoy the inclusive, homegrown experience of gathering on a front porch to listen to music and share stories.
Work, Working, Worked – Live on WLPN 105.5: Connect. Investigate. Explore. Create. Using broadcasted FM radio, maps and digital navigation devices, participants will undertake an afternoon long interactive-exploration of Chicago’s Bridgeport, a neighborhood where history is so present that it can remain easily unseen. Venture into the past, present and future through a series of stops, encounters, and events at historically relevant, invisible, and artist-run spaces. This audio interactive journey will highlight the architectural legacies of John S. Flizikowski and Henry Engelbert, the current practice of Urban Lab, the writings of Finley Peter Dunne, Upton Sinclair and Mike Royko, along with stops at active arts spaces and incubators like the Learning Machine and Bubbly Dynamics. Reveal the unseen. And feel the resonant interaction between place and creativity—what works, has worked, and is working.
CAM is an initiative of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events that showcases the work of Chicago’s independent artists and arts organizations. As a platform for independently-produced events and programs in all disciplines, CAM highlights creative activity in Chicago neighborhoods; encourages tourism and small business development; and fosters collaboration and opportunities for creative expression and learning.
