This is the sixth season of the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, but it's the first outing for new Festival Director Kate Dumbleton.
CSO ends strike, tensions remain
Sep. 25, 2012
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has come to a tentative contract agreement after its first strike in 21 years.
Musicians walked out over the weekend after previously authorizing a strike. They were only out two days. Still, Stephen Lester, who represents the musicians, says reaching the three-year agreement wasn’t easy.
He says musicians will get what he calls a modest salary increase and pay more for health benefits, though not as much as CSO management had asked for.
But Lester thinks the fall-out from the strike is about more than finances: "This was a contentious and difficult negotiation.
Architectural swap meet?
Sep. 21, 2012
Bertrand Goldberg's 1975 Prentice Women's Hospital is a crowd-splitter of a building. Fans point to the building's complex engineering and singular look. Detractors find it ugly, a jarring contrast set against other modern architecture.
The old Prentice is an unforgettable building, involving a tall, clover-shaped structure perched atop a squat square base - a sort of space-age, modernist take on a merry-go-round.
But there's practicality behind the curious look of the building. Goldberg's design allowed for a central nurses' station, from which the hospital rooms radiated out like spokes on a wheel. Instead of traveling a long corridor to see patients, caregivers could assess the state of things at a glance around the circular space.
Expo organizer: Chicago's art scene is on fire
Sep. 19, 2012
Expo Chicago is the latest in a long history of attempts to create a truly international art fair in Chicago.
As Wednesday's opening night reception approaches, the fair's site, at Festival Hall on Navy Pier, is a whirl of activity. Workers are unloading wineglasses and polishing floors. Representatives from galleries around the world are taking care of last-minute details.
Natalia Sacasa is the senior director of Luhring Augustine, a New York gallery. She loves the look of Expo Chicago. "It’s beautiful, open space," she says. "And the mix of galleries is very interesting.
Khaled M: Ambassador's death an embarrassment for Libya
Sep. 12, 2012
People around the world, incuding Chicagoans, are mourning the death of Christopher Stevens, the U.S. ambassador to Libya.
Khaled M is a Chicago-based hip-hop artist and the son of Libyan exiles who fled the country in the 1970s. He went to Libya for the first time last December, after the fall of Moammar Ghadafi. That's when he met Christopher Stevens.
"He was a very cheerful, positive, sincere fellow. You could tell he really wanted to embrace the Libyan culture."
Stevens wasn’t yet the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, but he already had a high profile in the country. "As far as I know all Libyans embraced him and loved him, Khaled said, adding "He was definitely a charismatic guy."
Khaled says Stevens practiced what he calls the “rawest” form of democracy.
Cherokee values at Elmhurst College
Aug. 30, 2012
Elmhurst College is pretty much postcard perfect--just how you’d imagine a liberal arts school would look. At the center of campus is a small mall, bordered by a trim row of student housing. On the late summer day I visited, everything was lush and green. And quiet - students were still on summer break.
From many points on campus you can see the spire of Hammerschmidt Chapel, a towering reminder of Elmhurst’s religious roots. Inside the lobby of Lehmann Hall is a tile mosaic inscribed with the Elmhurst motto: “An ever widening circle.” It was adopted in the 1920s by an Elmhurst president. But the mosaic also reflects the man currently in charge, S.
Arts'ing up Labor Day weekend
Aug. 27, 2012
The Latest Las Manos Art Gallery in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood says it's lost its lease and must move by the end of October. The gallery has been in the neighborhood for 18 years, 14 of them in the same building. Owner Michelle Peterson-Albandoz speculates the landlord wants more rent, which she chalks up to gentrification. The news has certainly caused a bit of a stir. Here’s 40th Ward Ald. Patrick O’Connor’s statement:
Las Manos is exactly the kind of business that this
community seeks out and wants to retain. One would hope that local
landlords would understand that by now and be supportive of the
community's vision, but every once in a while these types of battles
arise and we must work to find ways to resolve the issues of
displacement. The neighborhood is mobilizing and I will work with them
and the Alderman of the 48th Ward, Harry Osterman, to see if we can find