"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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Experimental Reflections: Exploring Identity Through the Arts Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA)
Open through Saturday, January 12, Tuesdays, 11am-8pm and Wednesdays-Saturdays, 11am-6pm
Loyola University Museum of Art, 820 N. Michigan Ave.
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Pocket Con 2018
Saturday, December 15, 12-6pm
Chicago Cultural Center, Sidney R. Yates Gallery, 78 E. Washington St.
Pocket Con is Chicago's only comic book convention for youth featuring the work of creators of color, women and LGBTQ creators. Pocket Con aims to empower young writers and artists by introducing them to the collaborative process that is comic creation, and encourage them to produce and submit work of their own for contests at the con.
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University of Chicago First Friday Lecture Series
Fridays: December 7 & January 4, 12:15pm Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor North, 78 E. Washington St.
Hosted by the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults.
Lectures are offered at 12:15pm on the first Friday of every month, in the Claudia Cassidy Theater of the Chicago Cultural Center.
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African American Designers in Chicago
Through Sunday, March 3
Monday-Friday 10am-7pm and Saturday-Sunday, 10am-5pm Chicago Cultural Center, Exhibit Hall, 4th Floor North, 78 E. Washington St.
Featuring work from a wide range of practices including cartooning, sign painting, architectural signage, illustration, graphic design, exhibit design and product design, this exhibition is the first to demonstrate how African American designers remade the image of the black consumer and the work of the black artist in this major hub of American advertising/consumer culture.
African American Designers in Chicago: Art, Commerce and the Politics of Race is funded in part by the Terra Foundation for American Art and The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, as part of Art Design Chicago, an exploration of Chicago's art and design legacy.
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Millennium Park Campus Holiday Programming
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Skating Theme Nights at the McCormick Tribune Ice Rink
Thursday, November 29-Thursday March 7, Most 6-8pm
Millennium Park, McCormick Tribune Ice Rink, 201 E. Randolph St.
Skating with a twist (and a twirl) at ice skating parties hosted by local Chicago DJs. Costumes encouraged!
- November 29: Charlie Brown Classics (jazz music)
- December 6: Ugly Sweater Soul-mas (soul and R&B music-and wear your ugliest Christmas sweater)
- December 20: Christmas Classics (all holiday music)
- December 27: Homecoming (house music)
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Caroling at Cloud Gate
Fridays, November 30, December 7 & 14 and Wednesday, December 12, 7pm Millennium Park, Cloud Gate, 201 E. Randolph St.
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Dance-Along Nutcracker®
Sunday, December 2, Dance Lessons at 11am & 2pm; Performances at noon & 3pm
Chicago Cultural Center, Preston Bradley Hall, 78 E. Washington St.
Sugar plum fairies and mouse kings of
all ages and abilities are invited to point their toes to the familiar music of Tchaikovsky's holiday classic.
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Maggie Daley Park Skating Ribbon
Friday, November 18 - March
- Monday - Thursday: noon-8pm
- Friday: noon -10pm
- Saturday: 10am-10pm
- Sunday: 10am-8pm
In the heart of downtown Chicago, with the City's skyline as a backdrop, a
ribbon of ice winds through a rolling landscape providing an ice skating experience unlike any other. The skating ribbon is dramatically different from typical civic ice rinks, creating a multisensory activity that is integrated into the landscape. Skaters can experience "alpine in the city" as they lace up their ice skates and follow a path twice the length of a lap around a traditional skating rink. Complementing the ribbon are places to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate and rent skates. FREE Admission; Skate rental is $13 Mon-Thu and $15 Fri-Sun/Holidays
$40 Fast Passes are available
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Live Music Now! Young People's Concert with Millar Brass
Thursday, December 20, 10:30am & 12pm
Chicago Cultural Center, Preston Bradley Hall, 78 E. Washington St.
Enjoy the festive sounds of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa with the
Millar Brass ensemble and learn about the brass family of instruments in the splendid acoustics of Preston Bradley Hall.
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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 December, but be sure to check out their
website (or
download the app!) for a full listing of events!
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Chicago Symphony Orchestra: All-Access Chamber Music
Sunday, December 2, 3pm
Columbus Park Refectory, 5701 W. Jackson Blvd.
In the 2018/19 All-Access season, experience unparalleled artistry and exceptional, personally curated chamber music performed by members of the CSO. Tickets are FREE but required.
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Art Show at Revere
Saturday, December 8, 12-3pm
Revere Park, 2509 W. Irving Park Rd.
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House Music with Santa at West Pullman
Thursday, December 20, 6-8pm
West Pullman Park, 401 W. 123rd St.
This event features arts & crafts, fun & games, music and a picture with Santa.
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Clarke House Museum Tours
Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 1pm and 2:30pm Clarke House Museum, 1827 S. Indiana St.
The
Clarke House Museum is Chicago's oldest home. Tours of this 1836 Greek Revival-style house reveal what life was like for a middle class family in Chicago, when the city was in its formative years before the Civil War. Hour-long guided tours of Clarke House Museum are now free.
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Film Screening: Black Panther (2018)
Saturday, December 1, 2-4:15pm South Chicago, 9055 S. Houston Ave.
A superhero known as
Black Panther defends Wakanda, a technologically advanced country in Africa that has hidden itself away from the rest of the world. Now, he must face a dissident who wants to sell the country's natural resources to fund an uprising.
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Holiday Concerts: Robert Morris University
Wednesday, December 12, 12:15-1pm
Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St.
Sounds of the season ring out with local schools, colleges and universities, and community groups in our annual series of "
Holiday Concerts." Today's guests are the Robert Morris University Concert Choir with Choir Director Diane Marelli.
(image courtesy of Arts and Music)
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Photo Walk
Thursday, December 20, 3:30-4:30pm Chinatown, 2100 S. Wentworth Ave.
Meet in
YOUmedia and take a walk around Chinatown to hone your photography skills. Bring your own camera/phone or use one of ours. Pick up a field trip form and get it signed by a parent/guardian before the event.
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