New Website SpotOnChicago.com Helps Arts & Cultural Institutions Attract Online Audiences

The newly launched website SpotOnChicago.com is helping arts and cultural institutions and people across the Chicago region adapt to the reality of COVID-19 and the related stay-at-home order. As artists and institutions begin offering virtual events online, SpotOnChicago has developed a user-friendly central hub where people can find these events. Upon its launch, the website has information and links to more than 50 virtual events, with more being added each day as cultural institutions ramp-up their streaming capabilities.

Virtual events on SpotOnChicago include live performances as well as recorded ones for on-demand viewing. They represent the full range of arts and culture across Chicago and the suburbs: music, dance, plays, art house movies, comedy, lectures, and much more. The listings and links all lead directly to the venues producing the events. SpotonChicago takes none of the ticket/streaming revenue.

SpotOnChicago.com was originally being designed to promote live, in-person events, but when institutions started pivoting to virtual events, it decided to pivot as well. The website was quickly reconfigured to include the full array of virtual events streaming online. "We have one goal," says SpotOnChicago founder Jeff Chapman, of Clarendon Hills, "to help artists and institutions hang on during these tough times." The stakes are high, as well, for the overall economy. A study found arts organizations and their audiences contribute at least $3.2 billion annually to the Chicago economy.

"Chicago is blessed with an inspiring, enlightening array of arts and cultural experiences," Chapman says. "If we don't support them now a lot of them, from downtown Chicago to suburban main streets, will soon be gone."