Rahm Emanuel News

Chicago Theatre Week (#CTW19), an annual celebration of the rich tradition of theatre-going in Chicago during which visitors and residents can access value-priced tickets, will take place February 7-17, 2019. From joy to heartache and every feeling in between, Chicago theatre tells stories that evoke big emotions. Stories that take risks, inspire awe, ask tough questions - and dare audiences to do the same. From musicals to plays to comedy, theatre is for everyone in Chicago. Chicago Theatre Week is a celebration of the stories we share and will kick off 2019 as the Year of Chicago Theatre, a first-of-its-kind initiative designated by Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Presented by Collaboraction, Chicago's social issue-driven contemporary theater, PEACEBOOK is a free, city-wide festival of theater, dance, music, visual art and spoken word that travels to three Chicago Parks over three consecutive weekends in September, all focused on cultivating peace in Chicago.

Joffrey Board Chair Zachary Lazar and President & CEO Greg Cameron are thrilled to welcome former Joffrey dancer John Mark Giragosian to the Joffrey Board of Directors. Giragosian becomes the first former Company-turned-Board member in Joffrey history. Board members serve as the governing body of the Joffrey, providing leadership, overseeing policy and direction, and are responsible for the fiscal accountability of the organization. Mayor Rahm Emanuel serves as the Honorary Chair of the Joffrey's Board.  

Chicago Dancemakers Forum celebrates its 15th Anniversary year with Elevate Chicago Dance 2018, a full-day of performances, installations, workshops and discussions by 45 Chicago dancemakers on Sunday, October 21 at the Chicago Cultural Center, in partnership with the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).

Hologram USA Inc. has announced the Chief Keef and Icons of American Music Tour. The 90-minute hologram experience, hosted by hip hop renegade Chief Keef's billionaire label boss, Alki David, launches at London's famous Hammersmith Eventim Apollo theater on August 31st and September 1st before heading to Chicago to start a nationwide tour of the U.S. Chief Keef will beam in live to the shows to deliver his message of peace and anti-violence, despite having been banned from entering the UK. and the city of Chicago.

The Joffrey Ballet has received a $5 million endowment gift from the Paul Galvin Memorial Foundation Trust in honor of Mary B. Galvin, a long-time supporter and Board Director of the Joffrey, to establish The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director position. The gift will be distributed in two installments of $2.5 million over the next two years. Effective immediately, Ashley Wheater will assume the title of The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director. The Galvin Foundation gift is the largest single endowment gift in Joffrey history, and the first to name a position at the Joffrey.

Chicago Shakespeare Theater celebrated GALA 2018 on Friday, June 8, 2018, raising $1.6 million for the Chicago Shakespeare in Classrooms and Communities initiatives-which include the Tony Award-winning Theater's nationally recognized education programs and free citywide Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks tour.

The  Chicago Human Rhythm Project's  (CHRP) city-wide STOMPING GROUNDS festival will culminate on June 7th, 2018, with a Grand Finale at Millennium Park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion,  also kicking off a year-long celebration of CHRP's 30th Anniversary.  STOMPING GROUNDS, already in its fourth year, embodies the core mission of CHRP to present performance, education and community development programs that foster artistic excellence and social reconciliation through authentic percussive dance and diverse rhythmic expression.

The Summer Theater Festival will return to its lakefront home on June 19

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST), the City of Chicago, Chicago Park District, and Boeing partner to present the annual citywide summer tradition, Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks. Made possible by production sponsor BMO Harris Bank, 25 performances of Shakespeare's timeless classic A Midsummer Night's Dream, adapted and directed by the Theater's founder and artistic director Barbara Gaines, will tour free for all to 18 neighborhood parks across the City, July 25-August 26, 2018.

Casting was announced today for THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA - Midsommer Flight's seventh summer of free Shakespeare performances as an Arts Partner in Chicago Park District parks. The company's Founding Artistic Director Beth Wolf, who will direct Shakespeare's comedy, made the announcement today. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA will play two weekends each in four different Chicago parks.

HAMILTON: THE EXHIBITION – a 360-degree, immersive exhibit that will travel to select U.S. cities -- will premiere in Chicago in the fall of 2018 for a limited engagement, it has been announced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the musical HAMILTON, and Jeffrey Seller, the musical's producer. HAMILTON: THE EXHIBITION – on display in a specially-constructed free-standing, all-weather structure the size of a football field -- opens November 17, 2018 for a limited engagement on Northerly Island in Chicago, where HAMILTON has played a sold-out run since 2016.

The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) is pleased to announce the 40th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival will be hosted from August 24–September 2 in Millennium Park, the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St.) and at venues throughout the city. Among many featured headline guests, on September 1 Chicago native Ramsey Lewis will perform his last live performance in Chicago before his retirement. For the complete lineup of performers in Millennium Park and the Chicago Cultural Center, visit chicagojazzfestival.us.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) are pleased to announce the dates for Millennium Park's 2018 summer season which runs from May through September. Millennium Park will offer traditional favorites like the Chicago House Music Festival, Chicago Gospel Music Festival, Chicago Blues Festival, Summer Music Series, Summer Film Series and SummerDance Celebration, in addition to dozens of free concerts, events, family activities, nature programs, work outs, public art and more.

Pegasus Theatre Chicago, in association with ShPIeL Performing Identity, announce the Chicago premiere of The Green Book, inspired by Victor Green's historical, "The Negro Motorist Green Book," March 1 - April 1 at Pegasus's resident home Chicago Dramatists, 765 N. Aberdeen. The Green Book is written by Calvin A. Ramsey, and directed by Producing Artistic Director Ilesa Duncan. The performance schedule is Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. with added Sunday 6 p.m. performances. Tickets are $18 - $30 and are available at PegasusTheatreChicago.org. Discounts available for groups of ten or more at Group Theater Tix, 312-423-6612.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago Film Office at the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) today announced that local film and media production have yet again reached record levels in 2017. Last year, 580 individual film and media projects recorded an all-time high combined total of 2,404 production days, resulting in an estimated $423 million in job creation and expenditures. The Film Office issued a total of 2,127 permits in support of these projects, a 10 percent increase from 2016. Chicago has seen steady year over year increases in media production since 2011.

Today, the Chicago Park District announced the first ever series of events and dates for arts and cultural programming in the winter at the newly renovated Theater on the Lake (TOTL) event space, located at 2401 N. Lake Shore Drive.

After several exciting and successful shows in the fall of 2017 (Only You, A Queer Cabaret; Love: A How (Not) To Guide; and No Way To Say Goodbye by artists Donnie and Rebecca Cianciotto, Jen Anaya and Deepali Gupta) The Tank (Meghan Finn and Rosalind Grush, Artistic Directors) is launching a full season of monthly cabaret events for 2018! Tank-aret: A Taste of Something Different, a new cabaret series featuring underrepresented artists, will kick off on Saturday, January 20 at 10:30pm, in the 99-seat theater space at The Tank (312 West 36th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues). Tickets ($14, with a 1 drink minimun) are available for advance purchase at www.thetanknyc.org.

Chicago's Grant Park Music Festival Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Carlos Kalmar today announced a rich array of programming for the Festival's 2018 season, including a large-scale world premiere commission for orchestra and chorus by the Latvian composer, ?riks E envalds. Kalmar will lead the Grant Park Orchestra, along with Chorus Director Christopher Bell and the Grant Park Chorus, in a ten-week season, taking place from June 13 August 18 at Millennium Park's Jay Pritzker Pavilion and other venues throughout the city.

Midsommer Flight, a professional not-for-profit theatre company that was one of five Finalists for this year's League of Chicago Theatres Emerging Theatre Award, is staging Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for the third consecutive holiday season, complete with its acclaimed musical score. The comedy is being performed in the Show House room at the Lincoln Park Conservatory, 2391 N. Stockton Drive, for three weekends - from November 30 December 17, 2017. The production is part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's Night Out in the Parks initiative that provides world-class performances in Chicago's neighborhood parks throughout the year.