"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!
 |
 |
|
Rahm Emanuel
Mayor
|
Mark Kelly
Commissioner
|
|
Year of Chicago Theatre
2019
Citywide
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) Commissioner Mark Kelly, League of Chicago Theatres Executive Director Deb Clapp, and many other civic, arts and theatre leaders announced plans to designate 2019 as the '
Year of Chicago Theatre.' This citywide, year-long focus on theatre is the first of its kind in the U.S. The initiative will include theatre performances - including improv, dance, opera, puppetry and more - and special events for the public at hundreds of cultural venues, theaters, parks and neighborhood locations throughout the city.
|
Exhibit Closing: African American Designers in Chicago: Art, Commerce and the Politics of Race
Open through Sunday, March 3, 7pm
March 1, 6-7:30pm Lecture by Jacqueline Goldsby, Yale University: "Common Things Surprise Us: Black Chicago's Artists and Models Balls and the Politics of Middlebrow(n) Taste"
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.
|
University of Chicago: Works of the Mind Lecture Series
Sunday, March 10, 1-2pm
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater, 2nd Floor North, 78 E. Washington St.
What did the Declaration of Independence mean to its first readers? Why have individuals and groups attached such different meanings to the document? And how should we interpret the document today? This talk explores changing understandings of the Declaration over time as well as conflicting interpretations at key moments in American history, from the divisions in the age of the American Revolution to our own divided time.
Presented by Eric Slauter, Associate Professor, Department of English, and Director, The Karla Scherer Center for the Study of American Culture
|
Jazz City Concert at Garfield Conservatory
Friday, March 8, 7-9pm
Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave.
JazzCity is a free concert series initiated in 1997 by the Jazz Institute of Chicago in collaboration with the Chicago Park District to bring people together from across the city to listen to Chicago's top jazz musicians. Pianists Alexis Lombre and Bethany Pickens explore the impact and influence of three of Chicago's most prominent women pianists: Lil Hardin Armstrong, Dorothy Donegan, and Earma Thompson.
Kaliq Woods on clarinet, Junius Paul on bass, Pharez Whitted on trumpet and Charles Heath on drums
|
Cabaret on the Lake at Berger
Friday, March 8, 7:30-9pm
Berger (Albert) Park, 6205 N. Sheridan Rd.
3 Cat Productions presents a rotating bill of performers sharing stories, songs, and so much more! Experienced performers split the bill with artists learning their craft or trying new material for the first time; so chances are good Cabaret on the Lake will show you something or someone you've never seen before. Hosted by Rob Dorn - singer, storyteller, national Broadway musical theater tour veteran, and Green Mill regular.
|
CSO All-Access Chamber Music at South Shore
Tuesday, March 19, 7-8:30pm
South Shore Cultural Center/Fieldhouse, 7059 South Shore Dr.
Presented as part of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's 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. Reserve your tickets.
The Wabash Avenue Music Collective will perform: Mozart Variations on "Ah vous dirai-je, Maman," Mozart Quartet in D for Flute and Strings, K. 285, Raimi Havenu Sholem Alchichem: Variations and Theme, Mendelssohn Piano Quartet No. 3 in B minor, Opus 3.
|
Model Railroad and Miniature World Making
Friday, March 1, 2-4pm
Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St.
Come to
YOUmedia to build, sculpt, carve, 3D print, and paint miniature models to add to our amazing model railroad scene, or think of your own unique way to contribute. You can also run and troubleshoot the electronic trainset, learning some real computer science and engineering in the process!
Open to teens in high school.
|
Steppenwolf: We are proud to present a Presentation about the Herero of Namibia
Wednesday, March 20, 4:30-7:45pm
South Chicago, 9055 S. Houston Ave.
When a group of actors gathers together to give a presentation about a long-forgotten-or possibly never remembered-genocide, they realize that summaries based on history books aren't nearly enough to capture the complexity of human extermination-or human interaction.
We Are Proud to Present a Presentation... tells the story of what happens when, in an effort to dig deeper, the nobly intentioned ensemble crashes into their own simmering fears and unconscious prejudices, coming face to face with the potential for brutality in all of us.
|
Shadowrun 101: Sci-Fi Roleplaying Game
Thursday, March 21, 3-5pm West Loop Library Center, 122 N. Aberdeen St.
The year is 2080. Megacorporations control the lives of humans. They have their own private armies and run the legal system. Magic and genetics are sending technological advancements into warp speed making some humans part android. Many people find no way to exist except by selling their lives to the megacorps, but there are some outsiders surviving and working in the shadows.
The most skilled of those are called shadowrunners, and they have a knack of getting the job done.
Join us as we introduce the future cyber-punk world of
Shadowrun: Fifth Edition through this immersive role playing game experience. You'll have a character waiting to go and be walked through the basics of role playing. You'll be navigating futuristic and technologically demanding heists with your group in no time.
|
Museum of Contemporary Art
Free Admission for Illinois Residents on Tuesdays, 10am-9pm
220 E. Chicago Ave.
The
MCA's mission is to bring artists and audiences together, presenting contemporary art and culture in ways that illuminate what it means to be a citizen of both Chicago and the world.
We believe that the diversity of ideas and the multiplicity of voices that these community members bring to our conversation are key to the museum's and the city's vitality.
|
National Museum of Mexican Art
Free Admission Daily, 10am-5pm
1852 W. 19th St.
Immerse yourself in the richness of Mexican art and culture right here in Chicago. Showcasing 3,000 years of creativity from both sides of the border, the
National Museum of Mexican Art stands out as one of the most prominent first-voice institutions for Mexican art and culture in the United States.
|
Museum of Contemporary Photography
Free Admission Daily, 10am-5pm 600 S. Michigan Ave.
The
MoCP is the world's premier college art museum dedicated to photography. As an international hub, their mission is to cultivate a deeper understanding of the artistic, cultural and political roles of photography in the world today. Founded in 1976 by Columbia College Chicago as the successor to the Chicago Center for Contemporary Photography, the Museum of Contemporary Photography began collecting in the early 1980s and has since grown its collection to include more than 15,000 objects by over 1,500 artists.
|
|
