Alison Cuddy

Forecast: Bold weekend ahead!

By: Alison Cuddy | Jul. 20, 2012

Jul. 20, 2012

Nickel History: Nation of Heat from Kristin Reeves on Vimeo.

For the past three summers running, Steppenwolf has played host to artist and actor Tony Fitzpatrick’s American trilogy, a theatrical train of thought and performance that meanders through some of the historical and mythical elements at play in our national psyche.

In This Train and Stations Lost, Fitzpatrick explored his own life and Chicago’s character. Nickel History: A Nation of Heat zeros in on ideas of sacrifice during World War II and in our current moment. But as much as the plays are showcases for Fitzpatrick’s words and images, an equally significant element across the trilogy is the video and film work of Kristin Reeves.

Despite their differing mediums, there are quite a few parallels between Fitzpatrick and Reeves’ aesthetics.

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Chicago's Cultural Plan is a blueprint for democracy

By: Alison Cuddy | Jul. 17, 2012

Jul. 17, 2012

If you want to figure out how culture grows in Chicago, look no further than the street pageantry put on by local group Pocket Guide to Hell. Over the weekend I participated in their latest production, Like A Secondhand Sea, which revisits some of the events leading to the reversal of the Chicago River, one of our city's great feats – or follies, depending on your point of view.

Pocket Guide's reenactments tackle many corners of Chicago history, from the well-known (Haymarket riot) to the more obscure (the inaugural performance of the Compass Players, hailed for creating modern improv comedy in Chicago). The group is the brain child of Paul Durica, who relies on friends to help mount the production. He's also a bit of a cultural connecter - he brings various arts and community organizations together via a quid pro quo: If those organizations supply bodies for the show, Pocket Guide promotes their missions in its program.

Durica mainly raises money on his own.

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Chicago to unveil cultural plan draft

By: Alison Cuddy | Jul. 16, 2012

Jul. 16, 2012

The city of Chicago today releases a draft version of its 2012 Cultural Plan, after months of public and private meetings. This is the city's first cultural plan in about 25 years; the last one was created under then-Mayor Harold Washington.

Some proposals are big-ticket items.

A "museum campus south" would see new infrastructure built around the Museum of Science and Industry and the DuSable Museum of African American History.

Despite recent cuts to music festivals, three entirely new festivals are proposed, as well as a dedicated, year-round city festival site.

One of the biggest initiatives involves overhauling arts education at Chicago Public Schools, which would include a district-wide curriculum, new state standards and city funding.

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Psst: How about a side of beefcake with your movie?

By: Alison Cuddy | Jul. 13, 2012

Jul. 13, 2012

Mmm beefcake! How could something that sounds so delicious cause such a stir?

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A cure for cultural indigestion!

By: Alison Cuddy | Jul. 13, 2012

Jul. 13, 2012

I’ve been taking a photography class for a while now, and this week, at our final session, a discussion about how to shoot photos in a crowd turned to talk of Taste of Chicago.

In outraged tones a couple of people declared, “They’ve ruined the Taste!” “They” of course is the city and ruined meant a bunch of things: a shorter fest and no fireworks, fewer food vendors but more expensive food tickets, and having to pay for seats at the music acts.

All of this even before they found about there’d be no barbeque turkey legs, at which one point one of them threw up her hands and said, “But that’s what the Taste is all about  – food on sticks!&r

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The Chosen Few spotlights house music

By Alison Cuddy | Jul. 9, 2012

Jul. 9, 2012

Chicago's summer calendar is jam-packed with high-profile music festivals, from Lollapalooza to this weekend's Pitchfork. But The Chosen Few, one of the city's bigger and longer-running music events, is still little known outside house music circles and the city's South Side.

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Weekender feasts on house music and skyscrapers!

By: Alison Cuddy | Jul. 6, 2012

Jul. 6, 2012

Damn if R. Kelly doesn’t love the drama. The Chicago R&B artist’s autobiography Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me comes out this weekend (although Kelly won't be making promotional appearances, citing a recurrence of the throat problems he had last year).

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Street photographer’s vintage prints put Chicago on display

By: Alison Cuddy | Jul. 3, 2012

Jul. 3, 2012
'We nicknamed her Frau Blucker. She reminded me of the Chloris Leachmann character in Young Frankenstein.' - Jim Dempsey, Corbett vs. Dempsey co-owner (Vivian Maier)

By now many Chicagoans have become familiar with the name Vivian Maier. The one-time nanny would never have made it into the history books, except for her hidden passion: photography. From the mid-1950s through the late 1990s Maier roamed the streets of Chicago (and other cities) photographing the indigent and rich, the young and the old – pretty much anyone who passed by her lens. But unlike other amateur shutterbugs, time and time again she took absolutely great and mesmerizing pictures.

Maier’s sharp, critical and oftentimes funny eye was only discovered about five years ago, when tens of thousands of her images (negatives, undeveloped film, prints) were sold at auction.

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