"Free, Free, Free!" is an e-newsletter and website that provides a monthly curated list of free programs, events and activities happening throughout the city in our libraries, museums, cultural centers and parks. We encourage you to express your culture through the arts and take advantage of the many opportunities the City of Chicago provides you to engage, create and participate!
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Rahm Emanuel
Mayor
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Mark Kelly
Commissioner
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Year of Creative Youth
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Presented by
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The Year of Creative Youth is a citywide initiative to celebrate Chicago's young artists and the mentors who inspire them! Check out the Year of Creative Youth website for more arts events and programs featuring and for young Chicagoans all year long:
cityofchicago.org/yocy
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YAS! Fest
Saturday, September 22, 11am-7:30pm
Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph St. and Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.
YAS Fest! - the youth arts showcase - will be the largest celebration of young artists in Chicago history, featuring the works of hundreds of creative youth showcased in dozens of events throughout the Millennium Park Campus.
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Born to Create: A Teen Art Exhibition Chicago Public Library
Exhibit open Monday, July 9 - Sunday, October 21
Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St.
Born to Create brings together 18 teen artists and 33 works of painting, photography, video art, fashion design, and musical composition. Selections from the Teen Winter Challenge were featured in the City of Chicago #BornCreative poster campaign, including Jailene, a work by youth artist Victoria Goite (pictured).
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Activate the Confluence Events
Wednesdays, August 29 & September 12, 3-7pm Chicago Riverwalk, Confluence between Franklin and Lake Streets
City Winery at the Riverwalk presents Confluence, a new pop-up series on the Riverwalk, where the three branches of the Chicago River meet, offering yet another way to enjoy the bustling Chicago Riverwalk.
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Art on theMart Launch
Saturday, September 29, 7:15pm Viewing on Wacker Dr. between Wells St. and Franklin St.
Art on theMART will be a first-of-its-kind, curated digital art installation across 2.5 acres (two football fields) of theMART's river façade, adding to Chicago's vibrant public art scene. The large-scale public launch event will reveal four contemporary, digital artworks using 34 projectors to illuminate the river façade of theMART.
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OUT OF SIGHT
June - November 2018, All day Maggie Daley Park, 337 E. Randolph St.
OUT OF SIGHT, an interactive public art installation, created by conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner and installed at Maggie Daley and Walsh Parks, seeks to provide an open invitation to engage with the diverse citizens and local organizations of Chicago. With intentional emphasis on Chicago's youth, OUT OF SIGHT will produce a series of local performances to build relationships and foster dialogue among community members and local organizations throughout the run of the exhibition, June-December 2018.
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Bronzeville Echoes: Faces and Places of Chicago's African American Music
April 28 - January 6 Chicago Cultural Center, Garland Gallery, 78 E. Washington St.
Explore Chicago's music legacy through ragtime, jazz and blues in an exhibition that highlights the contributions of important places and people that shaped the music scene. Seldom-seen original artifacts will be on display including sheet-music, rare 1920s records with quirky period graphics-and even the original 1932 telephone booth from the old Sunset/Grand Terrace Café from which the actual music can be heard.
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Chicago Jazz Festival Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
Friday, August 24-Sunday, September 2
Hours and Schedule vary Chicago Cultural Center, Millennium Park and Venues Across Chicago
The 40th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival showcases the greatest jazz artists from Chicago and around the world across the city during new, extended festival dates. Headliner performances in Millennium Park include Ramsey Lewis, Kurt Elling, Dianne Reeves, Maceo Parker and Orbert Davis' Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. The Chicago Jazz Festival is produced by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and programmed by the Jazz Institute of Chicago.
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Museum of Science and Industry
Free Admission for Illinois residents September 4-6, 10-13, 17-20, 24-27, 9:30am-4pm Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S. Lake Shore Dr.
Visit the largest science museum in the Western Hemisphere during one of the
Illinois Free Days (Museum Entry is free for all Illinois residents who show valid proof of residency!) Housed in the only remaining building from the 1893 World's Fair, Museum of Science and Industry is a Chicago must-see.
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John G. Shedd Aquarium
Illinois Resident Discount/Free General Admission Days Tuesday, September 4 - Sunday, September 30, 9am-6pm
Shedd Aquarium, 1200 S. Lake Shore Dr.
Illinois residents enjoy FREE admission to
Shedd Aquarium on select free days throughout the year!
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Adler Planetarium
Illinois Resident Discount Days
Sunday September 9-Sunday, September 16, 9:30am-4pm
Museum Campus, 1300 S. Lake Shore Dr.
on Illinois Resident Discount Days. A valid ID with an Illinois address is required for these special admission prices.
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Field Museum
Just for Illinois residents: Spend a day at the Museum-for free! Saturday, September 15, Friday, September 17 and Sunday, September 30 9am-5pm, with last admission at 4pm
Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr.
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Free Admission Days, Basic admission is free for Illinois residents with proof of residency.
Free Admission Days are the perfect opportunity to explore our general admission exhibitions with your family or a group of science-loving friends.
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Presented by Mayor Rahm Emanuel,
Night Out in the Parks brings over 1,000 cultural events to neighborhood parks each year. Chicagoans and visitors alike, enjoy the breadth of world-class events in every one of the city's 77 community areas. Here are a few programming highlights happening in September, but be sure to check out their
website (or
download the app!) for a full listing of events!
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Back-2-School Fest at Piotrowski
Saturday, September 1, 12-6pm
Piotrowski Park, 4247 W. 31st St.
Let's celebrate a new school year with a fun afternoon in the park! Spend the last weekend before school starts with us! We'll have music, dancing, games and more!
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Mariachi Tradición Juvenil at Dvorak Mariachi Arts and Culture Academy
Sunday, September 9, 7-8pm
Dvorak Park, 1119 W. Cullerton St.
Music of our Traditións. In an effort to cultivate and instill the art and culture of Mariachi in the future generations, the Mariachi Art and Culture Academy was established. MACA aims to provide opportunities for the youth to carry on the Art and Culture of Mexico's Folk Music by reaching out to different cultural and socioeconomic communities in the Chicago area.
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Movies in the Park at Hermitage Beauty And The Beast
Saturday, September 15, 8-10:09pm
Hermitage Park, 5839 S. Wood St.
After her father is held captive by a beast (Dan Stevens), a young woman (Emma Watson) trades places with him to win his freedom. As she gets to know her enchanted surroundings, she realizes the beast is not as he seems, and a relationship begins to form. Start time is approximate, all movies begin at dusk.
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Since first opening our doors in 1873,
Chicago Public Library has served all Chicagoans with free and open places to gather, learn, connect, read and be transformed. The libraries are that special third place-beyond home and work-where people come to improve their lives, nourish their intellect or savor entertainment. Their 80 locations host a variety of free events ranging from performances, arts and crafts, writing and poetry, continuing education and more.
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Cultural Appreciation: Cantonese Opera 文化欣赏: 粤曲演唱
Saturdays: September 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29, 10:15am-1pm
Chinatown, 2100 S. Wentworth Ave. (community room)
Come enjoy traditional
Cantonese Opera performed by Zhaoqiu Chines American ART Center at Chinatown. Cantonese Opera has been a popular form of drama and musical theatre in China, and has been reformed and continues to be performed today. The acting and singing techniques, as well as makeup conventions, owe much to southern China tradition.
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Aztec Masks: Myth & Mystery
Thursday, September 20, 4-5pm
Brighton Park, 4314 S. Archer Ave.
Explore the wonders of the pre-Columbian Aztec civilization as we look into their beautiful artistic minds, learn about their art and culture, and then make our own Aztec masks!
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Chicagoland Shorts 4: Short Films
Wednesday, September 26, 6:30-7:45pm
Bezazian, 1226 W. Ainslie St.
Chicagoland Shorts, Vol. 4 celebrates the new wave of independent cinema in Chicago through work by underrepresented filmmakers and combines experimental genres into one seamless anthology. Full Spectrum Features has curated film work of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community into Chicagoland Shorts, Vol. 4, a traveling anthology and tribute to our city that will screen across Cook County and nationally from Seattle to New York.
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