Chicago Cultural Alliance

Palestinian Tatreez Demonstration
2024-04-24 11:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605, United States
Through needle, thread and color, the art of Tatreez tells a story about the maker and history of their family. Tatreez, or embroidery, is a rich artistic tradition that has been passed down across generations in Arab culture. It is typically used on garments with patterns and colors varying between birds, trees, flowers and geometric symbols. Tatreez patterns can even be as specific to the village, city or country a family is from.
Join us for a demonstration on Palestinian style Tatreez in the Grainger Science Hub and to learn about the importance of this art form. See Kaftans, Thobes and Abayas that feature traditional patterns and embroidery brought out from our collection up-close during this event.
There will be a limited number of Tatreez kits to giveaway* for visitors at this event to practice their skills at home.
*Tatreez Kit Giveaway will be on a first-come-first-serve basis until kits are no longer available.
Programming takes place on a Wednesday, which is free for Illinois residents. Visitors must show proof of residency. Learn more.

Loop as Lab: Reshaping Downtowns Exhibition Opening
2024-04-25 18:30 - 20:00 | Chicago Architecture Center, 111 E Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL, 60601, United States
The CAC is kicking off its newest exhibition which examines the Loop as a lab. Here we can explore the challenges downtowns face, reflect on our personal experiences and aspirations as city dwellers and propose design and policy solutions to make our cities more resilient and livable for everyone.
This exhibit focuses on 4 main themes, Reside, Reconnect, Rewild and Renew, as we look at the changing downtown and using Chicago’s loop as a model and laboratory for design. Tickets to the opening event include two drinks and light bites at the Center. Attendees will get an introduction to the exhibition from the designers and a panel discussion with subject experts and exhibition participants before joining the curators for walk and talks in the space.
$20 to attend, $15 for CAC Members

Finally Fridays: SAI Socials
2024-04-26 17:30 - 19:30 | South Asia Institute, 1925 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60616, United States
The South Asia Institute is excited to announce “Finally Fridays”, a social monthly event designed to help our patrons make new connections. We believe that art makes connections, with a touch of music, DJ performances, food and drinks have the power to build communities. So come join us for our first SAI Social event and immerse yourself in the beauty of art, storytelling, music, food, and good company.
Featuring:
Eyekhanic Eats
DJ Spincycle (Ammarras Records/Delhi/Madison)
DJ Warp (SAI Executive Director/Chicago)
Rupee Beer (the country’s leading South Asian beer that is reclaiming the Indian pale ale)

Loop as Lab: Reshaping Downtowns Exhibition Family Feature
2024-04-27 10:00 - 12:00 | Chicago Architecture Center, 111 E Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL, 60601, United States
Saturday, April 27: Exhibition family feature
Celebrate National Park Week AND the opening of the CAC’s new Loop As Lab: Reshaping Downtowns exhibition with this hands-on family day at the CAC. Drop in anytime between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m. for activities and free admission to exhibits. Meet a Park Ranger from Pullman National Historical Park in Chicago, and earn a badge. Learn about the importance of parks and green spaces, especially in the busy Chicago Loop, with an urban gardening activity while supplies last too. This program is designed for participants ages 6 to 12, but all are welcome.

Loop as Lab: Reshaping Downtowns Exhibition
2024-04-27 10:00 - 2024-12-31 17:00 | Chicago Architecture Center, 111 E Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL, 60601, United States
Chicago’s Loop is an inflection point, emerging from the pandemic on shaky footing but also with abundant opportunity to transition to something more vibrant, resilient, and livable. Loop as Lab: Reshaping Downtowns holds our central business district up to the light, exploring ways to keep our economic engine humming while diversifying uses and making the Loop more welcoming for everyone.
The exhibition frames Chicago’s Loop as a “lab” for examining the shared challenges American downtowns face today. It prompts visitors’ reflection on their own experiences and aspirations and ventures design and policy solutions for reshaping downtowns and our relationship to them. The show espouses the belief that Chicagoans can continue to meet our challenges with vision and resolve, while also drawing inspiration from more than a century of central area planning and a modern-day exchange of ideas with peer cities.
Loop as Lab: Reshaping Downtowns, presents a range of projects, initiatives, and provocative design ideas centered around four themes:

RESIDE: Where and why are people living downtown?
RENEW: Can we repurpose existing buildings for long-term public or private gain?
RECONNECT: Can city dwellers safely and comfortably traverse downtown, and access its amenities and services?
REWILD: How are we incorporating green spaces and accommodating nature?

Each theme is developed through a look at case study plans/projects by leading designers, architects, and developers. In addition, a corresponding set of “architectural follies-in-the-round” at the heart of the gallery offers interactive entrypoints for visitors, inviting engagement with the themes and ideas in unique ways. Further personalizing the content, vignettes of “downtown denizens” (e.g. residents, shop owners, cyclists, students) feature their individual experiences and hopes for the downtown area.
To further drive home the importance of participatory design and planning, the exhibit features various public engagement strategies and activities, including interactive elements like an entryway video produced by local podcasters, 77 Flavors of Chicago, and a “ballot box” where visitors can write and submit feedback on downtown design issues.
Photo of Marina Towers taken by Jason Peterson
LAB EXPLORER KITS FOR THE FAMILY
Did you know that the Chicago Loop can be used as a laboratory to learn new things about how we live and play? Stop by the CAC Box Office during the run of this exhibition, and pick up a Lab Explorer Kit! Contents are designed to engage youth ages 6 to 12.

FREE Guided Tours at the National Hellenic Museum
2024-04-27 11:00 - 15:00, 2024-05-04 11:00 - 15:00, 2024-05-11 11:00 - 15:00, 2024-05-18 11:00 - 15:00, 2024-05-25 11:00 - 15:00, 2024-06-01 11:00 - 15:00, 2024-06-08 11:00 - 15:00, 2024-06-15 11:00 - 15:00 | National Hellenic Museum, 333 S. Halsted St., Chicago, IL, 60661, United States
Join us for our FREE, limited-time offer guided tours every Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. These one-hour tours offer a comprehensive journey through the museum’s rich exhibitions and artifacts.

May Free Day
2024-05-03 10:00 - 17:00 | Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, 3001 central street, Evanston, IL, 60201, United States
Join us for a day of free admission at the Mitchell Museum. Thank you to our Sponsor Grace Lutheran Church.

For more information about this program, please contact: info@mitchellmuseum.org | (847) 475-1030

Free Museum Field Tour (All Ages Welcomed)
2024-05-05 13:30 - 14:30, 2024-05-19 13:30 - 14:30 | 3500 S Morgan Street, 3500 S Morgan St 3F, Chicago, IL, 60609, United States
Learn about Asian Art in the Heritage Museum of Asian Art with a guided hour-long tour around the gallery. Museum-trained interns and volunteers will give a talk on selected artworks. Each word is packed with fascinating insights, information, and stories.
During this participatory experience, you’ll connect with works from across the collection and get a close look at highlighting artworks. Visitors of all ages are welcome. All tours depart from the reception desk, and please be sure to arrive on time.
Please note that events may be canceled or postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.
“AAPI Heritage Month Cultural Festival 2024” is sponsored by Chicago Community Trust.

Dates:
Sunday, May 5, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM
Sunday, May 19, 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM

Additional Free Museum Tour Date:
3rd Friday Night Tour: 6:00-7:00 PM
Children’s Tour: 1:30 – 2:30 PM

Accessibility
The Heritage Museum of Asian Art’s Entrance is on West 35th Street. Take the elevator to the third floor and turn right to the Museum Reception Desk.
Accessible and standard toilets are located on the same floor. Free parking space is available next to the museum, accessed via West 35th Street

Email at info@heritageasianart.org
Phone at 312-842-8884

If the Sky Could Dream: Interactive Installation, Performance, & Workshop Series
2024-05-11 14:00 - 16:00 | Heritage Museum of Asian Art, 3500 S Morgan St, Chicago, IL, 60609, United States
Heritage Museum of Asian Art is collaborating with 2024 Resident Artist Irene Hsiao to create a new interactive installation, performance, and workshop series called If the Sky Could Dream. Coinciding with the Lunar Year of the Dragon, the museum will showcase dragon artworks from throughout Asia, as well as include an original, contemporary vision of the dragon from an Asian American perspective by Hsiao.
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If the Sky Could Dream combines drawing, painting, dance, found materials and found spaces at the museum to reveal and celebrate the dragons among us—structural, ancestral, architectural, internal, and environmental. Because the dragon is a water deity in Chinese culture, this work also features projections of the waters of Chicago: Lake Michigan, the Chicago River, and the lakes, ponds, and lagoons of Chicago Parks.
Dates:
Friday, Feb 9, 6:00 – 8:30 PM: Preview of the Dragon Exhibition
Saturday, Feb 10, 11:00AM-12:00PM: Dragon Exhibition Opening Ceremony
Friday, Feb 16, 6:00 – 8:00 PM: 3rd Friday with Irene Hsiao
Friday, Mar 15, 6:00 – 8:00 PM: 3rd Friday with Irene Hsiao
Saturday, Mar 16, 1:00 – 3:00PM: If the Sky Could Dream Workshop – Series One
Friday, Apr 19, 6:00 – 8:00 PM: 3rd Friday with Irene Hsiao
Saturday, May 11, 1:00 – 3:00PM: If the Sky Could Dream Workshop – Series Two
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If the Sky Could Dream is supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
Join the HMAA’s Artist in Residence Irene Hsiao for a performance with guest musician Menghua Guan, following with an insightful artist conversation about the process behind her project, IF THE SKY COULD DREAM. Attendees will explore the details of Hsiao’s project through the lens of the artist herself, learning about installation and performance art and how it relates to the HMAA’s current exhibition Year of the Dragon: Early China to LEGO.
IF THE SKY COULD DREAM focuses on the Chinese dragon as a powerful being that fosters harmony. This creature is emblematic of China as well as a mythological being for many Asian and Western cultures and thus evokes a sense of mysticism, and intrigue in many communities. Representing the Chinese Dragon as a water deity, the installation series will feature images and projections of the weather and local bodies of water in Chicago.
Please note that events may be canceled or postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.
“AAPI Heritage Month Cultural Festival 2024” is sponsored by Chicago Community Trust.
If The Sky Could Dream is supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
About Irene Hsiao
Irene Hsiao creates performances in conversation with visual art in museums, galleries, and public spaces, a practice that includes site-specific interaction with visual artworks and experimental engagement with artists, institutions, and the public. Find out more through our website.
P1-P2, Photo by Ricardo E. Adame. P3, Photo by William Frederking
About Menghua Guan
Menghua Guan, Master’s degree in music from Nanjing Normal University in China, founder of Menghua Guan Guzheng Studio, is a Guzheng performer and tutor with more than 30 years of Guzheng playing experience and more than 20 years of Guzheng teaching experience. She has been invited to offer numerous lectures and performances in universities and libraries such as Roosevelt University, University of Wisconsin, Chicago Public Library etc. Menghua Guan was also invited to perform in Jay Pritzker Pavilion in the Millennium Park for Guzheng Concerto by the Chicago Jazz Philharmonic in 2018. For more information, please visit http://www.menghuaguan.com/
Accessibility
The Heritage Museum of Asian Art’s Entrance is on West 35th Street. Take the elevator to the third floor and turn right to the Museum Reception Desk. Accessible and standard toilets are located on the same floor. Free parking space is available next to the museum via West 35th Street.
If you have any programming questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with info@heritageasianart.org or 312-842-8884

Free Museum Tour for Children
2024-05-12 13:30 - 14:30 | 3500 S Morgan Street, 3500 S Morgan St 3F, Chicago, IL, 60609, United States
The Children’s Field Tour Program is designed for children of all ages to have a journey through the rich and diverse cultures of Asia. The program runs Sunday May 12th from 1:30 to 2:30pm, and it is free for children.
Embark on an extraordinary journey with our Heritage Museum of Asian Art Children’s Tour! Designed exclusively for young explorers, this tour offers a captivating exploration through Asia’s rich cultures with accessible topics, like animals. Led by expert guides, children will dive into a world of vibrant pottery, intricate sculptures, and fascinating artifacts from across Asia, including China, Japan, and India.
Participants will learn about the art, traditions, and cross-cultural influences that shape Asia. Our tours make learning fun and interactive, using stories, treasure hunt, and activities to connect children with the cultures they’re exploring.
After the tour, we prepared a treasure-hunt map for all the participants to find out the highlights of the museum and enjoy the process of discovery!
Please note that events may be canceled or postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.
“AAPI Heritage Month Cultural Festival 2024” is sponsored by Chicago Community Trust.
Additional Free Museum Tour Date:
Sunday, May 5, 1:30 – 2:30 PM
3rd Friday Night Tour: 6:00 – 7:00 PM
Accessibility
The Heritage Museum of Asian Art’s Entrance is on West 35th Street. Take the elevator to the third floor and turn right to the Museum Reception Desk. Accessible and standard toilets are located on the same floor. Free parking space is available next to the museum via West 35th Street.
Email at info@heritageasianart.org
Phone at 312-842-8884

On-Site Commemoration: Echoes of Remembrance - The Holocaust in Thessaloniki
2024-05-16 18:30 - 21:30 | Illinois Holocaust Museum, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie, IL, 60077, United States
From the city’s ancient founding until the Second World War, Thessaloniki (Salonika), Greece was home to a large and thriving Jewish community. In 1943, from March to August, approximately 46,000 Jews were displaced from Thessaloniki by the Nazis and their collaborators and deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where 96% of them were murdered. A community that had settled in Thessaloniki before the Christian era was decimated during the Holocaust.
Join Leon Saltiel, Director of Diplomacy, UNESCO, Coordinator on Countering Antisemitism for the World Jewish Congress, and member of the Greek delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), as he explores through historical accounts, personal narratives, and archival footage, the challenges faced by the Greek Jewish population during the Holocaust, and their enduring strength in the face of adversity still today.

3rd Fridays Free Admission Museum Night
2024-05-17 17:00 - 20:00, 2024-06-21 17:00 - 20:00 | Heritage Museum of Asian Art, 3500 S Morgan St, Chicago, IL, 60609, United States
Free Admission Museum Nights take place every third Friday of each month from 5 pm to 8 pm! The tour will start at 6 PM on time. All tours depart from the reception desk, and please be sure to arrive on time. The event offers wine and appetizers.
This Friday at 7-7:40 PM, our Resident Artist 2024 – Irene Hsiao will perform at the Heritage Museum of Asian Art as part of the project If The Sky Could Dream.
About the Tour –
Learn about Asian Art in the Heritage Museum of Asian Art with a guided hour-long tour around the gallery. Museum-trained interns and volunteers will give a talk on selected artworks. Each word is packed with fascinating insights, information, and stories. During this participatory experience, you’ll connect with works from across the collection and get a close look at highlighting artworks. Visitors of all ages are welcome.
Please note tours may be canceled or postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.
About the project –
IF THE SKY COULD DREAM focuses on the Chinese dragon as a powerful being that fosters harmony. This creature is emblematic of China as well as a mythological being for many Asian and Western cultures and thus evokes a sense of mysticism, and intrigue in many communities. Representing the Chinese Dragon as a water deity, the installation series will feature images and projections of the weather and local bodies of water in Chicago.
If The Sky Could Dream is supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant
About Irene Hsiao
Irene Hsiao creates performances in conversation with visual art in museums, galleries, and public spaces, a practice that includes site-specific interaction with visual artworks and experimental engagement with artists, institutions, and the public. Find out more through our website.
Accessibility
The Heritage Museum of Asian Art’s Entrance is on West 35th Street. Take the elevator to the third floor and turn right to the Museum Reception Desk. Accessible and standard toilets are located on the same floor. Free parking space is available next to the museum via West 35th Street.
If you have any programming questions, don’t hesitate to get in touch with info@heritageasianart.org or 312-842-8884.

Midwest Bonsai Society 18th May Exhibit
2024-05-18 09:00 - 17:00, 2024-05-19 09:30 - 17:00 | Chicago Botanic Garden, 1000 Lake Cook Rd, Glencie, IL, 60022
Having started in 2004, our Spring show is smaller than our August Exhibition but is well worth the trip. We will have 7 tree vendors and 4 ceramic pottery vendors as well as a booth from the Cactus & Succulent Society. Vendors offer an amazing selection of trees, accent plants, pots, tools and literature. There will be workshops on Variegated Junipers, Texas Ebony’s and Itoigawa Junipers, as well as our popular Children’s Bonsai Styling Workshop. Midwest Bonsai will be selling memberships and gear, and raffling a styled Japanese Silverberry tree. The show theme is education, so trees-in-training are displayed and members bring trees in various stages of development with explanations. The Exhibit is held in Burnstein Hall in the Regenstein Center at Chicago Botanic Garden. The spectacular Garden bonsai trees will be displayed in both courtyards. See you there!

What is Seen and Unseen: Mapping South Asian American Art in Chicago
2024-05-18 11:00 - 18:00 | South Asia Institute, 1925 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60616, United States
What is Seen and Unseen: Mapping South Asian American Art in Chicago is a ground-breaking exhibition documenting this amorphous history of art production and presentation. This is the first comprehensive exhibition to map and disseminate this vital chapter of Chicago’s art history.
The survey comprises two parallel exhibitions: Shadows Dance Within the Archives, an archival exhibition of over 125 years of under-documented exhibition and cultural history, and Are Shadow Bodies Electric?, a thematic exhibition featuring 8 contemporary artists who are creating surreal and/or unclassified shadow bodies that exist outside of time, place and space.
The exhibition narrative begins with colonial-era perspectives, including those reflected in documentation from the Indian Pavilion at the World’s Columbian Exposition and the Indian delegation at the World’s Parliament of Religions, both held in conjunction in 1893, in Chicago. A notable highlight of What is Seen and Unseen is the documentation from Dr. Ananda K. Coomaraswamy’s earliest known solo exhibition in 1920, which has long been forgotten.
From this point, What is Seen and Unseen examines the growing interest in and acquisition of Asian antiquities in the United States in the 1920s-40s, how this relates to the bigger story of Orientalism and modern art, and why select permutations of this phenomenon were presented in Chicago’s cultural institutions.
The exhibition also acknowledges the influence of South Asian art, literature, film, performing arts, and spirituality on American counterculture movements from the early 1900s to the 1980s, including the Theosophical Society, Tagore Circle, Beat Generation, 1967s Summer of Love and its legacy, and underscores how these art forms continue to mark Chicago’s cultural landscape.
Lastly, What is Seen and Unseen maps a route through the contemporary era, from the 1990’s to today. Chicago has a 30+ year history of contemporary exhibitions and public programs that have featured South Asian American artists, and this section of the exhibition focuses on senior, mid-career, and emerging artists who have made Chicago home and are reshaping the art and life of the city.
While this exhibition endeavours to offer a comprehensive portrayal of the South Asian American art experience, critical silences, gaps, and fractures exist in the historical record. This project will hopefully encourage additional efforts at mapping and contextualizing these under-documented South Asian American art histories in Chicago and across the United States.
A series of public presentations and a symposium will be held to complement this exhibition.
The exhibition is part of the Terra Foundation’s Art Design Chicago 2024, a citywide collaboration that highlights Chicago’s artistic heritage and creative communities. This is the first comprehensive exhibition to map and disseminate this vital chapter of Chicago’s art history.

HAMOC Haitian Heritage Month Free Day
2024-05-18 12:00 - 18:00 | Haitian American Museum of Chicago, 4410 N Clark St, Chicago, 60640, United States
Saturday, May 18 | 12pm – 6pm
4410 N. Clark St.
Chicago, IL 60640
Free Admission

Exhibition Opening: Kindertransport - Rescuing Children on the Brink of War
2024-05-19 14:30 - 17:00 | Illinois Holocaust Museum, 9603 Woods Drive, Skokie, IL, 60077, United States
Kindertransport – Rescuing Children on the Brink of War is a poignant exhibition that outlines the remarkable rescue mission that brought thousands of unaccompanied children from Nazi Europe to the United Kingdom. The exhibition’s thoughtful and artistic design invites visitors to reflect on the heart-wrenching decisions parents made in sending their children away for a chance at a better future. Through personal artifacts, stories, and firsthand testimony, those who lived through the “Kindertransport” program share its story.
In honor of the exhibition’s opening, join Dr. Phyllis Lassner, Professor Emerita in The Crown Center for Jewish and Israel Studies at Northwestern University and Member of the Museum’s Exhibitions & Collections Committee, as she moderates a discussion with Ilona Moradof, Curator of Kindertransport: Rescuing Children on the Brink of War and Associate Director of Administration and Special Projects · Yeshiva University Museum, and Melissa Hacker, Director of documentary film My Knees Were Jumping: Remembering The Kindertransports, President of the Kindertransport Association, and second-generation descendant of “Kindertransport” Survivor Ruth Morley (neé Birnholz). HM Consul General Alan Gogbashian, British Consulate-General in Chicago, will also deliver remarks at the program.

"We Will Find Our Way" Exhibit by Cynthia Harding
2024-06-07 - 2024-08-16 | American Indian Center, 3401 West Ainslie Street, Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
We Will Find Our Way tells a story about a Lakota grandmother, Unci, and her two grandchildren, Cuwe, and Misun, written by Oglala Lakota author Cynthia Harding. Beautifully illustrated by the author on skateboards, which play a prominent role in the author’s own life story. She enjoys writing children’s stories and alongside her sister, is active in youth empowerment through skateboarding on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.

Adler and Adler, Works by Eli Greene
2024-06-08 - 2024-08-31 | South Side Community Art Center, 3831 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, 60653, United States
South Side Community Art Center X Independent Curators International Present Adler and Adler, Works by Eli Greene
JUNE 8-AUGUST 31 | Opening June 8, 2024
WORKS BY ELI GREENE
CURATED BY AMBER NAX
The South Side Community Art Center, in partnership with ICI, presents “Adler & Adler,” a poignant response by Chicago-based artist Eli Greene to the Adler & Adler Studio Collection. This Black-owned photography studio archive was once a monument in the Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit. Founded circa 1910 by Charles and Mamie L. Adler, the studio was one of Detroit’s earliest Black photographic businesses. Adler & Adler Studio was where people celebrated and immortalized the joys of everyday life: graduations, weddings, and the arrival of new family members. This site and Black photography studios across the country were beacons of empowerment, offering Black communities new agency in self-representation.
When the Adlers passed away in 1973, they left no heirs, and the studio, along with its collection of photographs, was left behind. Some of these photographs were later discovered and sold to The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, where they now reside as a testament to the studio’s enduring impact.
Alongside the Adler & Adler images are (10) contemporary photographs of the site, a drawing inspired by the studio backdrops in the original photos, and a sound/video work. The work is invested in themes of memory, trace, and ghosts.
Greene’s work reflects on the photography studio as a site of moments and memories enacted by those who ask for their picture to be made and those who make it. The interplay of these two research modalities provides us with new ways to think about how we engage with archives and memories and, ultimately, how to breathe new life into them.

June Free Day at Mitchell Museum
2024-06-14 10:00 - 17:00 | Mitchell Museum of the American Indian, 3001 central street, Evanston, IL, 60201, United States
Date: 2024-06-14
Location:
3001 Central Street
Evanston,IL
60201

Join us for a day of free admission at the Mitchell Museum on Friday, June 14th, 2024, from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Thank you to our Sponsor Grace Lutheran Church.
For more information about this program, please contact: info@mitchellmuseum.org | (847) 475-1030

"Creative Reflections": Chicago Native Community Pop-Up Art Exhibition
2024-06-21 - 2024-06-28 | American Indian Center, 3401 West Ainslie Street, Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
