Chicago Cultural Alliance

Fan Painting Workshop
2025-07-26 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Chicago) | 3500 S Morgan Street, 3500 S Morgan St 3F, Chicago, IL, 60609, United States
Time & Location

Jul 26, 2025, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Chicago, 3500 S Morgan St 3rd Fl, Chicago, IL 60609, USA

About the event

Only 28 spots available!!
Regular Tickets: $15
Members: $10

In this workshop, you will have the opportunity to learn and experience the art of creating fan paintings in traditional Chinese style. As a student, you’ll explore common subjects depicted in fan paintings: landscape, flowers, birds, and more, as well as learning their symbolic meanings in Chinese Culture.
The instructor will guide you through the techniques of Chinese brushwork as you will learn to manipulate each brush stroke to achieve various forms – from thin delicate lines to bold and dynamic strokes. It’s as if you brought life to paper.
The principles of composition will be another tactic you will explore as you learn to create balance and harmony by using the “three perfections”: Painting, Poetry, and Calligraphy. The instructor will provide insight about traditional Chinese aesthetics while guiding you in arranging your subjects on the fan.
Color also holds an essential part in fan painting. Using ink and color, you will create depth in your art. The instructor will demonstrate different techniques that will achieve effects, such as graduation and texture.
Once you have learned these techniques, you’ll have the opportunity to add calligraphy to your fan. You’ll learn basic Chinese calligraphy and create meaningful poems or write your name with traditional Chinese brush and ink.
By the end, you will have created a one-of-a-kind fan painting that reflects the beauty and spirit of traditional Chinese art. You will be taking home a stunning artwork you have created, along with the understanding of Chinese culture and artistic techniques that have gone through generation after generation.

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.

Author Talk: "The Invisible Spy" by Thomas Maier (ONLINE)
2025-07-29 18:00 - 19:00 | Virtual, Chicago, IL, United States
Author, television producer, and former Chicago Sun-Times journalist Thomas Maier visits the American Writers Museum to discuss his new book The Invisible Spy. It is the untold WWII story of Ernest Cuneo, a former NFL player turned White House insider who worked with Churchill’s undercover agents in New York City to conduct the biggest foreign spy operation ever within the US and how Cuneo later helped inspire Ian Fleming’s James Bond. The Invisible Spy has been praised by The Wall Street Journal and selected in April as an Amazon Editors’s Best Book in History.
As an award-winning author and journalist, Maier will also talk about how his previous books were translated into primetime television shows—Showtime’s Emmy-winning Masters of Sex and Paramount’s Mafia Spies, both praised by The New York Times.
This is the livestream of an in person program at the American Writers Museum. When you register for this event, you will receive access to the livestream link. If you would like to attend the program in person at the AWM, get your tickets here.
More about The Invisible Spy:
As a tough but smart Italian American kid, Ernest Cuneo played Ivy League football at Columbia University and was in the old Brooklyn Dodgers NFL franchise before becoming a city hall lawyer and “Brain Trust” aide to President Roosevelt. He was on the payroll of national radio columnist Walter Winchell and mingled with the famous and powerful. But his status as a spy remained a secret, hiding in plain sight.
During this time, Cuneo began a close friendship with British spy Ian Fleming and helped inspire Fleming’s James Bond novels. He also began a love affair with one of Churchill’s agents at Rockefeller Center—Margaret Watson, a beautiful Canadian woman with a photographic memory ideal for spycraft. In one nighttime attack, Watson was nearly smothered to death by a Nazi assassin inside her women’s dormitory near Rockefeller Center. Cuneo’s transformation from a gridiron athlete into a high-stakes intelligence go-between and political influencer is one of the great untold stories of American espionage. He has remained “invisible” in the public eye—until now, with this unveiled look into his life.
From the bestselling author and producer of two hit TV series, Mafia Spies and Masters of Sex, Thomas Maier delves into the little-known tales behind the Rockefeller Center spy operation and the origins of American intelligence. The Invisible Spy weaves Cuneo’s remarkable personal story with vivid insights about many top twentieth-century figures, including Churchill, FDR and later JFK. Full of action and fascinating characters, this untold history reveals how Cuneo, as America’s first WWII spy, helped the British launch a covert campaign against Nazi conspirators hidden in America, an espionage war unbeknownst to many.

Na'wa'hIs' Our Relations
2025-08-01, 2025-08-08, 2025-08-15, 2025-08-22 | Trickster Cultural Center, 190 S Roselle Rd, Schaumburg, IL, 60193, United States
An Art Exhibit by the Levi Family. Step into a visual journey of family, heritage, and the sacred bond between Native people and animals, told through the eyes of three Native artists. Visit this collection of ledger art, paintings, textile and photography.

Kino, Kaffee und Kuchen
2025-08-02 10:30, 2025-08-09 10:30, 2025-08-16 10:30, 2025-08-23 10:30 | DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
Date:
Start
Saturday, January 06, 2024
Time:
Location:
Location
DANK Haus Room 206, 2nd Floor

KINO, KAFFEE UND KUCHEN
Saturdays at the DANK Haus in Room 206
10:30 – 11:00 AM | Kaffee und Kuchen
11:00 – 12:00 PM | Vorfilm
12:00 PM | Feature Film Begins

Join us each Saturday at the DANK Haus in Fall, Winter, and Spring for Kaffee, Kuchen, und Kino. Each week guests will choose the film they want to watch
DANK Members: $5 | Non-Members: $7

Puerto Rican Arts Alliance: Studio Arts Program
2025-08-02 10:30 - 14:30, 2025-08-09 10:30 - 14:30, 2025-08-16 10:30 - 14:30, 2025-08-23 10:30 - 14:30 | IL
El Rinconcito is a free open art space for creative expression for people ages 12-25. You can meet people like you who are interested in arts, painting, drawing, printmaking, and others. El Riconcito provides a safe and welcoming studio for art making. An artist and a counselor in the studio can guide you in creative experiences, but you can opt to do your own artwork.
Join us! We provide the art supplies, and you bring your creativity.

Constructing Jathi Choreography with Harini Nilakantan
2025-08-02 13:15 - 14:15, 2025-08-09 13:15 - 14:15, 2025-08-16 13:15 - 14:15, 2025-08-23 13:15 - 14:15 | Kalapriya Studio, 2101 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, United States
Weekly Saturdays
1:15 – 2:15 PM
Harini Nilakantan is a student of Aacharya Choodamani Guru Smt. Roja
Kannan, and has over two decades of experience in this art form. In this 90-minute class, dancers will learn new choreography – both how to piece together combinations and increase retention with her for advanced
rhythmic patterns or Jathis.
Class focus: execution, technique, creativity, retention

Constructing Ecological Landscapes: Ukraine [Webinar]
2025-08-06 12:00 - 13:00 | Zoom
Join us for a virtual discussion for the closing of the exhibition Constructing Hope: Ukraine. This program is hosted in collaboration with the exhibition Constructing Hope: Ukraine which is currently on view at the CAC through September 1, 2025.
Free with Advanced Registration
This panel, the closing event of the public programming for the Constructing Hope: Ukraine exhibition, will feature speakers Asia Bazdyrieva and Darya Tsymbalyuk, whose research and creative practices engage with the environmental, cultural and political dimensions of war and recovery in Ukraine.
In dialogue with the exhibition, the conversation will explore how both natural and built landscapes are shaped by imperial histories, extractive infrastructures, and ongoing ecological violence. It will also reflect on the role of cultural knowledge, grassroots recovery and interdisciplinary research in shaping resistance and imagining more just and resilient futures.
The event will include presentations by the speakers, followed by a conversation with exhibition curators Betty Roytburd, Ashley Bigham, and Sasha Topolnytska, and conclude with an audience Q&A.

Get Lit: Drawn to Life
2025-08-12 17:30 - 19:30 | American Writers Museum, 180 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL, 60601, United States
Join us for a night of creativity, color, and animated magic at Get Lit: Drawn to Life. We’re diving into the vibrant world of animated movies and TV shows, spotlighting the storytellers who bring these beloved characters and worlds to life. This is your chance to geek out over your favorites, learn something new, and connect with fellow animation lovers.
GET TICKETS

Flex your cartoon cred in a animated trivia competition, with fun prizes for the top team.
Unleash your inner animator with hands-on art activities, from flipbook stations to sketching opportunities.
Enjoy beer, wine, and the night’s specialty cocktail, the Storyboard—an animated twist on a ranch water cocktail! Non-alcoholic options are also available.

Get ready to laugh, color, and cartoon your heart out—because at the American Writers Museum, we’re all about stories that move.
This is 21+ event. Attendees must show a valid photo ID at the door to enter.

Design News Roundtable: The Greater Midwest
2025-08-14 18:00 - 19:15 | DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
Join us for the third quarterly Design News Roundtable, a space for freewheeling conversation with architects, designers, preservationists and community leaders dissecting built environment news of note.
Our tapped-in panelists will scour the headlines and opine on recent design, development and planning news across the Midwest and their lessons for Chicago. Brush up on the past few months of built environment happenings and gain a deeper appreciation for the projects, the ideas and the individuals charting the future for our cities. This program takes place at the newly renovated Brauhaus Room at DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N. Western Avenue. Registration includes one draft beer or N/A beverage at the bar, and additional drinks are available for purchase. Light snacks will also be provided.

Neighborhood Nights
2025-08-14 19:00 - 23:00 | DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
Date:
Start
Thursday, January 11, 2024
Time:
Location:
Location
DANK Haus, 6th Floor Skyline Lounge

enjoy a beverage with a spectacular EXPERIENCE in our haus
A perfect place to meet your neighbors and socialize! All proceeds support the DANK Haus Museum
WHEN
Each 2nd & 4th Thursday of the month from 7-11 PM.
Location
Winter months – Brauhaus Room (2nd floor)
Summer/Fall months – Skyline Lounge/Terrace (6th floor)
Subject to change. Be sure to check elevator signs when arriving!

3rd Fridays Free Admission Museum Night
2025-08-15 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.

Vom Rhein Jailhaus Rock ft. Windy City Elvis
2025-08-15 19:30 - 23:30 | DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
Join us for our August Open Haus, Jailhaus Rock am Rhein, featuring acclaimed Elvis impersonator Windy City Elvis (Michael St. Angel). We’re turning up the dial on nostalgia and honoring the King’s ties to Germany, where he spent time living in Friedberg during his service in the U.S. Army.
Shake, rattle, and roll the night away with live music, vintage vibes, and panoramic views of the Chicago skyline from our 6th floor lounge.
Think you know the King? Test your knowledge in our Elvis trivia challenge — the winner will receive drink vouchers and bragging rights.
Drinks and food will be available for purchase.
Suggested donation: $10
Online RSVP is appreciated to help us plan, but walk-ins are always welcome.
Free parking is available after 6:00 PM in the 5/3 Bank lot at Western and Gunnison.

Stammtisch Open Haus, Every 3rd Friday
2025-08-15 19:30 - 2025-08-16 00:00 | DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
Feiern Sie mit uns! Our monthly Open Haus Stammtisch is a great way to meet new friends and enjoy a little Gemütlichkeit over some delicious German food and drink!
Theme TBD
Food and drink will be available for purchase.
Free parking at 5/3 Bank after 6:00 PM located at Western and Gunnison

Haitian Heritage Month Konpa Sware
2025-08-21 19:00 - 23:00 | IL
Join the Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC) at its monthly Konpa Sware! The museum is excited to continue this immersive event which includes an evening of Haitian dance and music. Join us at Room43. Food will be available for free and the FIRST 50 GUESTS will recieve 1 FREE DRINK!
FEATURING MUSIC BY: DJ Frantz!
This is a recurring event on the Third Thursday of each month. Keep an eye out for future event registration!
* TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR*

Caillebotte & Urban Chicago: Watercolor Workshop
2025-08-23 15:00 - 16:30 | Chicago Architecture Center, 111 E Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL, 60601, United States
In partnership with the Art Institute of Chicago’s exhibition Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World the CAC is hosting a hands-on watercolor workshop exploring Caillebotte’s unique artistic interpretation of modern life as well as Chicago’s history of urban development and architecture.
French Impressionist Gustave Caillebotte brilliantly captured a changing Paris and its modern culture at the end of the 19th century. Caillebotte’s individual exploration of urban life through his unique style has been especially highlighted compared to his Impressionism counterparts. In partnership with the Art Institute of Chicago’s exhibition, Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World, the CAC is hosting a hands-on watercolor workshop exploring Caillebotte’s unique artistic interpretation of modern life as well as Chicago’s history of urban development and architecture.
Participants will have an opportunity to create their own watercolor masterpiece to take home. All supplies for this workshop will be provided.
Participants will also receive a complimentary ticket (1) to the Gustave Caillebotte: Painting His World exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, which opens June 29, 2025, and closes on October 5, 2025.
The CAC firmly believes that everyone should have the opportunity to discover why design matters. Should the registration fee be a barrier to your participation in this program, we invite you to please contact us at CACLearning@architecture.org to apply for a partial or full scholarship.

Jazz Frühschoppen Brunch ft. Jim Holman Duo
2025-08-24 11:00 - 13:00 | DANK Haus German American Cultural Center, 4740 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL, 60625, United States
Savor the sounds of smooth jazz and the flavors of a traditional German brunch high above the city. Join us on the rooftop terrace of the DANK Haus for a relaxing Sunday morning featuring live jazz by the Jim Holman Duo and stunning views of the Chicago skyline.
Enjoy a curated buffet of classic German breakfast offerings, including fresh Brötchen (crusty rolls), assorted deli meats and cheeses, soft-boiled eggs, marmelade and butter, yogurt with muesli, Bavarian Weißwurst with sweet mustard, and more.
Your ticket includes a European buffet breakfast, coffee, tea, and orange juice. Beer, Radler, champagne, and mimosas will be available for purchase.
Whether you’re a jazz enthusiast, a brunch lover, or simply looking for a unique way to spend your Sunday, this rooftop experience offers the perfect blend of culture, cuisine, and community!

Neighborhood Nights
2025-08-28 19:00 - 23:00 | IL
