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ART

Tariffs Could Be “Kiss Of Death” For Art Transactions

“Proposed tariffs and counter-tariffs between the United States and several countries” would cause complications, “especially as the art fair calendar advances,” reports ARTnews, “with Frieze Los Angeles set to take place next week and Art Basel Hong Kong scheduled for March.” “If you’re spending ten million on a work of art and you’re paying $1 million or $2 million, or even $2.5 million in tariffs because it was imported, you’d say, ‘No way. Forget it. It’s a write-off of $2.5 million. I can’t do that. I’ll go for real estate, or I’ll go for stocks and shares,’” said Philip Hoffman, founder and CEO of the Fine Art Group. “It’ll be the kiss of death.”

Calatrava’s Milwaukee Art Museum Could Go Lego

“Former Milwaukee resident Todd Elliott, the designer behind last year’s viral Brewers Famous Racing Sausages Lego set idea, refined his art museum model,” reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Soon, you can vote for it online to be considered for production as a limited-edition Lego set.” Elliott’s museum design “was accepted to BrickLink’s Designer Program competition. BrickLink is a Lego Group-owned online community, marketplace and design software… Through the Designer Program, anyone with a free BrickLink account can vote for their favorite designs.”

Threewalls Adds Board Member

Threewalls has added L. Denise Turner to their board, who has been with the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago as the senior director of strategic initiatives. More Threewalls here.

 

DESIGN

Under Musk, GSA Plans Fire Sale Of Fed Buildings, Including Mies-Designed Kluczynski Federal Building

“The General Services Administration, staffed at its upper levels by Elon Musk associates, plans to sell 500-plus buildings—some of which house government agencies and the offices of U.S. senators,” reports Wired. “According to the list, the buildings destined for the block include the John C. Kluczynski Federal Building in Chicago, which houses satellite offices for the Department of Labor, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Internal Revenue Service, a probation office, and offices for Democratic Illinois senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin. The building also has broader cultural significance—it was designed by renowned architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and features an iconic Alexander Calder sculpture.”

The goal of letting go of seventy percent of federal real estate would exempt buildings “like federal courthouses, border inspection stations or law enforcement facilities.” Talking Points Memo looks at the reaction from the judiciary as “federal public defender offices given notice of possible lease cancellation.”

Shapack Looks Toward Mid-Rise Development In Fulton Market

“Shapack Partners and affordable housing developer Bill Williams are proposing a seventy-nine-unit residential building at 450 North Morgan,” reports Crain’s. That’s across the street from 1100 West Grand, a seven-story project with ninety-nine apartments, and reflects a broader trend in developing mid-rise buildings, as financing larger projects remains a challenge. Shapack is known for bringing Soho House, Knoll offices and The Hoxton Hotel to Fulton Market, among other projects.

Architectural Head Games At Chicago Architecture Center

The Chicago Architecture Center’s upcoming exhibit, “Architectural Head Games,” “showcases wearable works of art that celebrate our built environment. The exhibit features unique headdresses created by Chicago architects to represent their favorite architectural spaces in the city. From a disco ball version of The Bean to a 3D model of buildings in Chinatown, these headpieces build on the long history of architects wearing structures beginning with the Beaux Arts Ball in the 1930s. The exhibit stems from a larger project that brought together forty-three architects to design and create wearable architectural art for last October’s Arts in the Dark parade.” Opens Friday, February 21. More here.

Development Planned For Belmont Ann Sather Site Is Downsized

Financing challenges, they say: “An apartment development on Belmont in Lakeview has been significantly downsized, with developers scrapping affordable housing units and cutting the building’s height in half from previous proposals,” reports Block Club. The latest proposal for the site, which houses Ann Sather restaurant and Belmont Army Vintage, “eliminates affordable housing and other amenities included in previous versions of the project, which initially envisioned a ten-story, 200-unit development that required a zoning change.”

 

DINING & DRINKING

Checking Into Margie’s Candies For Valentine’s Day

“If ever there were a spot that put the sweet in ‘Sweet Home Chicago,’ it would be the corner of Armitage and Western. Margie’s Candies—founded in 1921—is an ice cream parlor, a candy shop and a Chicago landmark. The neon sign, vintage booths, Tiffany lamps, tabletop jukeboxes, and clamshell dishes are familiar to generations of Chicagoans,” reports WGN-TV, which takes a tour of the off-limits basement where sweetness is made.

LIA Takes Cues From Art Like Jackson Pollock’s

“Metro Detroit native chef Justin Vaiciunas is making his splashy Chicago debut this spring,” reports Eater Chicago. When Vaiciunas “is considering a new dish on his menu, he’s looking for elements beyond the flavor. He’s looking at color composition and texture. He sees a plate the same way a painter sees a canvas. Vaiciunas and business partner Michael Mauro took this approach last year when launching their first restaurant, the Jackson (named after American artist Jackson Pollock), in the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills. This spring, the pair will bring their vision to Chicago when they open LIA in River North.” More LIA here.

Times Notes Nationwide Omelet Calamity

“My loyal customers would rather pay fifty cents more an egg right now than to see these doors close because I can’t pay my rent,” a Cleveland-area restaurateur tells the New York Times (gift link). “As the wholesale price of eggs—what retailers and restaurants pay—rises, hitting a new high of $8.11 a dozen, breakfast specials at some restaurants are getting more expensive… Making scrambled eggs at home isn’t much cheaper these days, either. Shoppers at many grocery stores, including Costco and Trader Joe’s, are finding sparsely filled shelves and signs limiting how many cartons of eggs they can buy at a time. Those lucky enough to find eggs to buy are paying significantly more for them.”

 

LIT

Poetry Foundation Lists Calendar Of Spring Events

The Poetry Foundation has announced its free public events for the spring season under the theme “Power Lines,” inspired by the anthology released by the Guild Literary Complex twenty-five years ago. The season highlights new work by Chicago and Midwest presses, partner organizations and authors. Details here.

Britannica Rules The Waves

“Encyclopædia Britannica will continue to use ‘Gulf of Mexico’ for a few reasons,” the Chicago-based information source posts. “We serve an international audience, a majority of which is outside the United States. The Gulf of Mexico is an international body of water, and the United States’ authority to rename it is ambiguous. It has been called the ‘Gulf of Mexico’ for more than 425 years. But it’s important to note the distinction between international and domestic areas.

“President Trump has also signed an executive order to change the name of the Alaskan mountain called ‘Denali’ back to its former name, ‘Mount McKinley.’ When that change is made official by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, we will also make that change. Just as we did in 2015 when President Barack Obama changed the name of ‘McKinley’ to ‘Denali.’”

Barnes & Noble’s Paper Source Cuts Hundred Jobs With Forest Park Warehouse

“Paper Source will cut more than a hundred jobs at its Forest Park warehouse when the stationery retailer closes its facility,” reports WMAQ-TV. “Paper Source was founded in Chicago in 1983 and bought by Barnes & Noble’s owner in 2021 after the stationery and gifts retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.”

 

MEDIA

Nieman Foundation Curator Ann Marie Lipinski Steps Down

“Ann Marie Lipinski, the curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, will step down on July 1, completing a fourteen-year tenure framed by dramatic disruption and reinvention in journalism,” announces the Nieman Foundation. “Before coming to Harvard as Nieman curator, Lipinski served as senior lecturer and vice president for civic engagement at the University of Chicago. Prior to that, she was the editor-in-chief and senior vice president of the Chicago Tribune. As a Tribune reporter, Lipinski was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism. As an editor, she oversaw a newsroom awarded Pulitzers for international reporting, feature writing, criticism, explanatory reporting, editorial writing and investigative reporting.”

 

MUSIC

Ravinia Pavilion Begins $75 Million Renovation

“The Ravinia Festival will renovate its grounds from now through 2029, starting with its 3,350-seat Pavilion,” reports the Trib. “Ravinia plans to unveil the updated Pavilion in July 2026 as the Hunter Pavilion, named for a $10 million donation by the Hunter Family Foundation. The backstage area will also be renamed the Negaunee Foundation Artist Center, after a $21 million donation by the Negaunee Foundation. Lohan Architecture, a successor firm to Mies van der Rohe’s office, will lead the project, with additional acoustic consulting by Threshold Acoustics and stage design consulting by Schuler Shook.”

Wilco’s “A Ghost Is Born” Box Set Provides Surprises

A “super-deluxe reissue of the 2004 classic features more than sixty-five unreleased recordings and alternate takes,” reviews Rolling Stone, offering a guide to the “best” of them.

Death Cab For Cutie Has “Plans” For Twentieth Anniversary

Death Cab For Cutie will commemorate its major-label debut with four shows this August, relays Rolling Stone, including August 5 at the Chicago Theatre.

Jeff Goldblum Brings Snazzy Piano Stylings And Buzzy Banter To Chicago Theatre

Actor Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra will play the Chicago Theatre on July 2, advises Jam Productions on Facebook. “Enjoy an evening of classic jazz and American songbook standards.” Reserved seats are available today at 10am.

 

STAGE

Court Theatre Call For Artistic Director

The Court Theatre has put out a call for their new artistic director: “Court Theatre is… seeking its next Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director. Winner of the 2022 Regional Theatre Tony Award, Court Theatre reimagines classic theatre to illuminate our current times. The artistic director will find a high-performing, passionate staff and an organization producing exceptional artistry in an intellectually and culturally rich community. The artistic director co-leads the organization alongside the executive director and reports to the University of Chicago Provost. The University of Chicago has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to facilitate this search.” A full position description is here.

Million-Dollar Grant Awarded To Paramount Theatre

“The Aurora Women’s Empowerment Foundation has committed a transformative $1 million gift for downtown Aurora’s Paramount Theatre to support two of its cornerstone programs: Paramount’s New Works department and the Paramount School of the Arts,” relays Broadway World.

Fifty-Year-Old “Saturday Night Live” Has Deep Roots In Sixty-Five-Year-Old Second City

Since “SNL” began, “the show has hired fifty cast members and writers from the Old Town comedy club,” writes Justin Kaufmann at Axios Chicago. “This includes original cast members John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, plus Bill Murray, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Chris Farley and many other household names… ‘When “SNL” started, they basically took our format and put it on television,’” says longtime Second City producer Kelly Leonard.

Jeff Awards Want Nominees For Special Prize

“As part of the yearly awards ceremony for Non-Equity Theater, a Special Award is presented to honor the achievement of an individual or organization making a significant and lasting contribution to the Chicago theater community,” reports Broadway World. Nominations for this Special Award of the Fifty-First Anniversary Jeff Awards for Non-Equity Theater will be accepted through Wednesday, February 26, 6pm. Email here.

Brown And Trinity Suspend Acting And Directing MFA Programs

“Brown University’s MFA acting and directing programs, a program offered in partnership with Trinity Repertory Company, have been put on indefinite pause,” reports Playbill. “Changing conditions,” they say. “The programs will continue to operate through June 2026, allowing all current students to finish their programs. The programs currently have two classes of students enrolled, one of which will graduate this spring.”

 

ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.

Trump Appoints Self Chair Of Kennedy Center

Trump fired the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ longtime president, Deborah F. Rutter, and appointed himself chairman, reports the New York Times. Rutter previously served as president of Chicago Symphony Orchestra. New board members were named by Chairman Trump, including eighty-two-year-old country performer Lee Greenwood, as well as loyalists, including “Pam Bondi, Trump’s recently appointed U.S. Attorney General; Dana Blumberg, the wife of Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots; Usha Vance… and Andrea Wynn, wife of Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino mogul who was forced to step down from his company in 2018 following accusations of sexual misconduct.”

Previous Trump board appointee Paolo Zampolli suggested changes, reports the Washington Post, which could include “‘thematic and cultural lounges’ for Qatar, Israel, Africa and more ‘global representation’; partnerships with NASA or SpaceX for ‘artistic collaborations in zero gravity’; [and] a blue-carpet, Valentino-designed fashion event inspired by Jacqueline Kennedy.” The Trump release is here.

Soprano Renée Fleming said “she would step down as an artistic adviser to the center. She praised the center’s departing leaders and said that ‘out of respect, I think it right to depart as well.’” Also departing: Shonda Rhimes, who had been treasurer of the Kennedy Center, and singer-songwriter Ben Folds, who resigned his post after eight years “as an adviser to the National Symphony Orchestra, which is overseen by the Kennedy Center.”

Philip Kennicott sees warnings galore at the Washington Post (gift link). “As leaders of this sector try to gauge what the future holds, some are coming to terms with a warning: The federal government has potentially enormous powers of coercion when it comes to the cultural and nonprofit sector, from the tax code to visas for artists to novel interpretations of antidiscrimination laws… Trump, who has shown little interest in or knowledge of the arts before, has indicated that he wants to be more than an advocate or patron; he apparently wants a veto over content at one of the country’s preeminent cultural institutions.”

New Institute At Northwestern-Kellogg Lands $25 Million

“Northwestern University and its Kellogg School of Management received a $25 million donation from the Future Wanxiang Foundation to launch a new cross-disciplinary institute,” relays Crain’s, “to examine how innovation occurs across science, technology and business.”

Five Hundred Joann Stores Will Close, Including In Chicago

“Less than a month after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in a year, craft retailer Joann is preparing to close hundreds of stores,” reports WGN-TV. “Joann listed roughly 530 ‘underperforming’ stores across more than forty states that it would like to ‘immediately’ begin closing.” The closings include two stores in Chicago, on Elston and on Roosevelt, and a total of twenty-six in Illinois.

 

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