Blog

Get Chicago & Great Lakes culture news sent to your inbox every weekday morning. Subscribe to Newcity Today here.

ART

ADAA’s The Art Show Cancelled

“The thirtieth edition of the Art Dealers Association of America’s flagship art fair, The Art Show, has been cancelled” in New York City, “marking the first time in decades that the fair will not take place at the Park Avenue Armory,” relays ARTnews. The event was planned for an October 28 opening. “While we understand this news may be disappointing, we believe this pause presents a meaningful opportunity to reimagine The Art Show with long-term sustainability and member value in mind,” the ADAA told members in an email. “It allows us to evaluate how best to support our members, partners and the broader arts community in an evolving cultural and market landscape.”

Museum Curators And Art Leaders Moving Up

Culture Type’s survey of art figures making moves in 2025 includes former Chicagoans Erin Harkey, the previous head of DCASE, as well as Deana Haggag (Newcity Art 50, 2017), who once led United States Artists. Also on the list is Chicagoan Dana Loatman, who was named the inaugural head of the Virgil Abloh Foundation earlier this year after a stint at the Obama Foundation.

Crystal Bridges Takes In Trove Of Contemporary Indigenous Art

“The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, and the Art Bridges Foundation, its museum-partnership, have acquired ninety contemporary works made by Indigenous artists,” reports Artforum. “The works were received from the John and Susan Horseman Collection in St. Louis, which [concentrates on] Native and African American art. Art Bridges acquired eighty-one works, which it will make available as long-term loans to U.S. museums as part of its art-sharing program, while Crystal Bridges acquired nine.”

 

DESIGN

Four New CTA Red Line Stations Have Opened

After years of renovations, new CTA Red Line stations at Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr have opened, reports WGN-TV. Each is equipped with escalators and elevators and have wider platforms and overhead canopies. “The construction was part of a $2.1 billion Red and Purple line modernization project. The Lawrence and Berwyn stops were closed for more than four years due to pandemic-related delays.”

Picturing The Damen Silos Demolition

Block Club Chicago is on site as the Damen Silos demolition begins to dust McKinley Park. “Crews started with the three non-silo buildings at the site and thought they wouldn’t be able to get to the silos until late July. But work is ahead of schedule, and crews started taking down the silos Friday morning.” David Witter surveyed the history of Chicago grain elevators for Newcity in 2010 here.

The Eames House Reopens Following Los Angeles Fires

“The Eames House in Los Angeles has reopened following ‘a meticulous process of restoration’ due to smoke damage from the city’s extensive wildfires earlier this year, coinciding with the announcement of a foundation to preserve the legacy of Charles and Ray Eames,” reports Dezeen. “Located in Los Angeles’ Pacific Palisades neighborhood, the Eames House, or Case Study House No. 8, once served as the primary residence for mid-century modern designers Charles and Ray Eames and has since become a cultural landmark.” Watch the duo’s iconic “Powers of Ten” video here, which uses a lakeside scene in Chicago to demonstrate the scale of the universe.

 

DINING & DRINKING

S.K.Y. 2.0 Makes Move From Pilsen To Lincoln Park

S.K.Y. has moved from Pilsen to the former Intro Chicago space in Lincoln Park in the Belden-Stratford, reports Eater Chicago. “Stephen Gillanders’ contemporary American restaurant with Asian influences… closed this past March after eight years in Pilsen to focus on the relocation. Gillanders is no stranger to the restaurant’s new home—he was a chef in residence and eventually the executive chef at Intro, the Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises spot that served as an incubator for young culinary talents. Gillanders parted ways with LEYE in 2017.”

Ballyhoo Plans A New English Pub For Glenview

Ballyhoo Hospitality plans to open a new English pub in Glenview later this month, “serving a menu of British pub classics with a Midwestern twist,” reports Chicago magazine. “While it’s very much inspired by the great pubs of the United Kingdom, it’s also a Midwestern restaurant… The menu is broken down into four sections—snacks, small, medium and large. Snacks include Devils on Horseback (cheddar-stuffed dates with bacon and maple) and hand-cut chips. Small plates include English peas and bacon with leek cream, spiced lamb samosas, and a Peekytoe crab toast with dill.”

Bodybuilders Create An Unexpected Windfall For Wisconsin Dairy Industry

“Ken Heiman is a certified Master Cheesemaker, one of four who ensure that the Cheddar, Gouda and other cheeses made at Nasonville Dairy in Marshfield, Wisconsin, taste great,” reports the New York Times (gift link). “But as proud as he is of his cheese, Mr. Heiman knows that his company’s profitability these days is thanks less to Colby than it is to whey, the liquid byproduct of cheese making that helps to satisfy America’s seemingly insatiable appetite for added protein. Nasonville Dairy produces around 150,000 pounds of cheese a day, but just breaks even on most of it, especially the forty-pound blocks of Cheddar that are a cheesemaker’s stock in trade. What increasingly keeps the lights on is whey.”

Arlo Chicago Announces Chef For About Last Knife

Oumar Diouf is the new chef de cuisine at Arlo Chicago’s restaurant, About Last Knife. A former professional soccer player turned chef and author, Diouf was born in Senegal, trained in South America and has cooked on three continents. His new cookbook and memoir, “The Universal Language of Flavors: A Chef’s Journey of Culture, Resilience and Fusion,” was released earlier this year. His menu of bold, elevated comfort food includes: herb-roasted chicken with jollof rice, a nod to his West African roots; Picadinho with potato duchesse, a Brazilian comfort dish; and a grain bowl with miso-tahini dressing.

 

FILM & TELEVISION

Congress Takes Back Federal PBS, NPR Funding

“The House gave final approval to President Trump’s request to claw back about $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid early Friday as Republicans intensified their efforts to target institutions and programs they view as bloated or out of step with their agenda,” reports AP. “The bill reclaims the entire $1.1 billion previously appropriated for the next two years for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The CPB distributes two-thirds of its funding to over 1,500 local public radio and TV stations, with most of the rest going to NPR and PBS to support national programming.”

The reasons behind the rare rescission: “Republicans falsely claimed that PBS had introduced drag shows into children’s programming and transformed themselves into propaganda machines. This served as an addition to Project 2025 co-author and FCC chairman Brendan Carr’s ongoing crusade, in which he baselessly accused PBS and NPR of ‘violating federal law by airing commercials,’ something public broadcasters are prohibited from doing. And that was all on top of Trump’s endeavors to fire three CPB board members who had been appointed by President Biden,” analyzes Slate. NPR looks at why they lost support with the rise of Trump.

CBS Cancels “Late Show” With Stephen Colbert On Same Day

On the same day, CBS announced that “The Late Show” with Stephen Colbert will be cancelled in ten months. Writes Vulture, “There is much speculation that shitcanning Colbert is a retaliatory move on Skydance and Paramount Global’s part after Colbert criticized the network’s handling of the [$16 million settlement in the] Trump lawsuit. That’s possible. But late night has been in serious jeopardy for a minute. From the farewell for ‘Late Night’’s band to ‘The Tonight Show’ losing one night… it’s been grim.” Colbert’s five-minute announcement segment is here and transcribed here. (“I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”) The Daily Northwestern looks at the career of alum Colbert here.

Earlier: “The pending Skydance-Paramount merger could spell trouble for two of Donald Trump’s most high-profile critics: Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart,” relays LateNighter from reporting by the invaluable Status newsletter. Larry Ellison, the world’s second-richest man, is behind his son’s purchase plans. “What better gift could [the Ellisons] give Trump than to get rid of Colbert and Stewart?” an insider told Status.

Grants From Lilly Wachowski’s Anarchists United Foundation

Lilly Wachowski’s Anarchists United Foundation, co-founded by “The Matrix” co-director “to address inequity in the entertainment industry across film and television, has named three filmmaker grants totaling $60,000, as well as the fellows for its partnership in the Circle M+P x Anarchists United Writers Discovery Fellowship program,” writes the Hollywood Reporter. The founders—Wachowski, Lawrence Mattis and Sarah Marie Flores—say they are working for “their core values of ‘artistry, diversity and equity’ as those morals are ‘currently under attack.’” The grant winners “include Stanley Kalu with the Anarchists United visionary filmmaker grant, Jennifer Reeder with the J.J. Ingram Chicago visionary filmmaker grant and Marco Bermudez with the Anarchists United feature film incubator grant.”

John Malkovich Cut From His First Marvel Pageant

Steppenwolf co-founder John Malkovich will not appear in “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” as Ivan Kragoff, aka the Red Ghost, “one of the earliest villains to battle the superhero quartet in comics,” reports Variety. Director Matt Shakman: “There was a lot of stuff to balance in this movie, and some things had to go. John is one of my favorite humans and one of my biggest inspirations. It was heartbreaking not to include him.”

 

LIT

Barnes & Noble Books Oak Park Location

“The former Marshall Field and Company building at 1144 Lake in Oak Park will likely be home to a chain bookstore again,” reports Wednesday Journal. “The historic building will soon feature a Barnes & Noble location, [turning] part of the building into a 25,000 square foot, two-level store with a café.” Recent plans for the space included a Dom’s Kitchen and Market, before the company went under following its merger with Foxtrot. “The building at the intersection of Lake Street and Harlem Avenue was formerly a Borders bookstore, prior to that nationwide chain going bust in 2011.” Barnes & Noble plans to open the store next summer.

Curtis Duffy Hosts A Book Launch Party At After

The year of restaurant memoirs continues: chef Curtis Duffy will host a launch party for his upcoming book, “Fireproof: Memoir of A Chef,” at Ever’s sister bar, After. The event will feature a live podcast recording with veteran television journalist Sylvia Perez, followed by a book signing and Q&A. August 4 at 5pm. Tickets are available via Tock here.

An Ode To Milwaukee’s Exceptional Airport Bookstore

“I Go to the Airport Just to Buy Books,” headlines Archer Parquette at Milwaukee magazine. “The airport has one of the best bookstores I’ve ever seen. That’s Renaissance Books. If you’ve been, I hope you know what I’m talking about. If not, trust me. Yes, this bookstore is lodged in the main terminal of the airport, just around the corner from the parking garage entrance, next to the shoe shine spot. And yes, despite the unexpected location, it is amazing.“

 

MEDIA

Rural America Will Lose Most From Billion Dollars Taken Back From Public Media

The biggest wallop from the government’s takeback in a billion dollars of funding for NPR and PBS “is going to be on smaller stations in rural areas,” reports Poynter, “because the vast majority of CPB funding goes to those stations.” Alaska “has two public radio stations that receive more than ninety percent of their funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting… While Republicans are complaining about a perceived liberal bias, the smaller stations most affected by the cuts aren’t doing the kind of national stories that conservatives are complaining about. They’re doing stories and covering topics about issues that affect their local communities.”

 

STAGE

“The Sweetest Season” Returns To Goodman

This August, the Goodman will host the fourth annual “The Sweetest Season” with events, workshops and panels that highlight and celebrate Indigenous culture and Indigenous artists, relays Broadway World. More here.

“Sunset 1919: A Ritual” Returns

Later this month, Lookingglass Theatre Company will present the fifth annual “Sunset 1919: A Ritual,” co-curated by ensemble members Kareem Bandealy and J. Nicole Brooks. “‘Sunset 1919′ is an annual community art ritual performed in honor of Eugene Williams, a Black teenager who was killed for crossing an imaginary racial line on the waves of Mishigami.” The event will be hosted at the Eugene Williams Memorial Marker, 125 Fort Dearborn Drive, on Sunday, July 27 at 7pm. More here.

Sarah Siddons Society Awards Twelve Professional Development Grants

“The Sarah Siddons Society will expand its mission of supporting the next generation of Chicago-area theater artists with the announcement of its 2025 Professional Development Grants,” lists Broadway World. “In its third year, the program will offer twelve $500 grants to early-career artists to support career-building expenses such as voice lessons, additional training, or professional headshots.” Apply by September 1 here.

Southern Wisconsin Gains Dance Company

Wisconsin Dance Theatre, based in Elkhorn between Milwaukee and Madison, has launched its first production, “a World War II story which artistic director Samuel Huberty believes is more resonant with today’s audience than are classic story ballets about royalty and the supernatural,” reports Wisconsin Public Radio. Says Huberty, “The world’s changing. Things are evolving. And a lot of the classic stories, while they’re fantastic… sometimes they’re difficult to relate to as an everyday person in a modern world. [We’re] trying to produce works that are more accessible to people and provide them with more context that they understand naturally, that fits in better with their day-to-day lives.”

 

ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.

NASCAR Won’t Return Next Summer, But Might In 2027

“NASCAR said Friday that it would not bring its Chicago Street Race back next year, but left open the possibility of reviving the race in 2027,” reports Block Club Chicago. “NASCAR Chicago Street Race organizers said in a social media post Friday afternoon that the race ‘will hit pause in 2026 to afford us the time necessary to work collaboratively with the City of Chicago to explore a new potential date and to develop a plan that further optimizes operational efficiencies’ and that it had a ‘goal’ to return to Chicago in 2027.”

How Chicago Area Arts Will Fare With Funding Slashes

“Over the past three years, some 192 organizations and institutions have received funding from the NEA across Illinois,” surveys the Trib (gift link), with a focus on the effect on Chicago Human Rhythm Project and Midnight Circus. “Shortly after Trump’s budget plan was released, NEA sent notifications to hundreds of grant recipients across the country terminating and withdrawing awards in progress.”

Republicans Push Further Slices From Trump’s Kennedy Center, NEA And NEH

The House Appropriations Interior Subcommittee, writes American Theatre, has “recommended thirty-five percent cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) budget, and a [just-over] seventeen percent reduction in the Kennedy Center’s budget… This would be the NEA’s lowest allocation since 2007… This comes after Trump’s previous threat to fully eliminate the organizations, and last May’s devastating revocation of NEA funding to countless arts organizations across the country—many of whom were informed their projects would not be supported after waiting for final confirmation… The Kennedy Center would receive $37.2 million, and the NEA and the NEH would each receive $135 million. Those amounts for the NEA and NEH are $72 million below their fiscal year 2025 levels.”

 

Send culture news and tips to [email protected]