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#BORNCREATIVE CAMPAIGN ENCOURAGES YOUNG ARTISTS TO SHARE THEIR ARTWORK ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR A CHANCE TO BE FEATURED AT THE CREATIVE YOUTH FESTIVAL IN MILLENNIUM PARK ON SEPTEMBER 22
Year of Creative Youth Features the Work and Talent of Young Artists at Exhibitions, Events and Festivals Throughout the Year
“Through the Year of Creative Youth, we are shining a light on the immense artistic talent of Chicago’s young people while offering opportunities at some of our marquee events this summer,” said Mark Kelly, Commissioner, Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. “We want to offer a platform to showcase our creative youth and to inspire other young people to take a creative path.”
Teens and young adults are invited to share their art, music and performances on social media with hashtag #BornCreative to be featured online and possibly at the Creative Youth Festival on September 22 in Millennium Park. Follow the Year of Creative Youth and DCASE on Facebook (Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events), Twitter and Instagram (@ChicagoDCASE) and Snapchat (ChicagoDCASE) #2018isYOCY #ChiCreativeYouth #BornCreative. To learn more, visit cityofchicago.org/YOCY.
Year of Creative Youth programming will be featured at the following City of Chicago festivals, events and exhibitions. Admission is FREE:
Creative Youth Festival
September 22
As part of the “Year of Creative Youth,” Chicago's new Creative Youth Festival will showcase young artists in dance, theatre, music, spoken word, the visual arts and more. Through performances and activities, all ages will discover and celebrate the creativity and talent of emerging local artists – and those helping to inspire and unlock their creative potential.
Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph St.) and Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St.)
Year of Creative Youth Exhibition
September 8, 2018 – January 6, 2019
Four Chicago youth organizations will present visual art exhibitions in the Chicago Cultural Center. The Peacemakers and Community Connections Project, Changing Worlds is collaborating with youth ages 11-13 from Pilsen, Back of the Yards, and the Near West Side creating visual images and creative prose/poetry focused on current challenges and envisioning positive change for their communities.” Family program participants and teen interns from Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance will produce thousands of fern fronds, mosses and cycads to create an immersive, multi-sensory interpretation of the Conservatory’s iconic Fern Room. Teens of the Puerto Rican Arts Alliance's Studio Arts Program are working on large-scale paintings installation highlighting moments in Puerto Rican art history as well as current cultural and sociopolitical turmoil that engulfs Puerto Rico today. Teens from Chicago Arts Partnerships in Education will present Odes and Tattoos, an exhibition of student artworks that examines localized commemoration of self, place, and community. Artwork will be multidisciplinary photography, video, drawing and poetry. The Michigan Avenue Gallery program is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Chicago Cultural Center, Michigan Avenue Galleries (78 E. Washington St.)
Keith Haring: The Chicago Mural
Through September 23
Having rocketed to worldwide fame in the 1980s, artist Keith Haring worked with 500 Chicago Public School students to paint a monumental mural in Chicago's Grant Park in 1989. This exhibition includes a large selection of the mural reflecting the artist’s incisive draftmanship and unsettling cast of symbolic characters (radiant baby, barking dog). Haring died tragically of AIDS-related complications in 1990.
Chicago Cultural Center, Sidney R. Yates Gallery (78 E. Washington St.)
20th Annual Chicago Kids and Kites Festival
Presented by COUNTRY Financial
Saturday, May 5
Kids of all ages will get swept up by this timeless spring tradition with free kite kits provided (while supplies last) to get creative as they build, decorate and fly their own kites. Other family activities include professional kite flying demonstrations, face painting, balloon artists and much more.
Cricket Hill in Lincoln Park (Lake Shore Dr. and Montrose Dr.)
Chicago City Markets
May-October
High school students are invited to submit bag designs with the theme “You’ve got a lot of growing for you” for the Chicago City Markets and COUNTRY Financial Reusable Bag Design Contest at countryfinancial.com. The winning design, announced at the opening day of the City Market at Daley Plaza on Thursday, May 10, will receive a scholarship prize and appear on thousands of reusable canvas bags distributed at Chicago City Market locations. Additionally, all submitted designs will be displayed in the lobby of the Daley Center beginning April 30 through May 11. Chicago City Markets will also present cooking demonstrations by student-chefs from Washburne Culinary & Hospitality Institute at City Market locations and dates to be announced, and performances by youth arts groups will be featured at the City Market at Maxwell Street Market on select Sundays throughout the year.
City Market at Daley Plaza (50 W. Washington St.)
City Market at Maxwell Street Market (800 S. Desplaines Ave.)
33rd Chicago Gospel Music Festival
June 1–2
Celebrating the great influence of the music genre born in this city 80 years ago, the Chicago Gospel Music Festival will feature local and national artists. The next generation of young artists and youth choirs will celebrate Chicago’s music legacy at the Inspiration Youth Stage on Saturday, June 2, in Millennium Park. The festival will also offer family activities, arts and crafts for kids, face painting and more.
Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph St.) and Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St.)
35th Annual Chicago Blues Festival
June 8–10
With a diverse lineup celebrating the Chicago Blues’ past, present and future, the Chicago Blues Festival features four stages of live music including young artists. Produced by Donda’s House, the youth-oriented Bridges to the Blues preview event on Monday, June 4, 5–9 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center will highlight the genre’s contributions to a new generation of artists. Multigenerational artists will create original music – inspired by the Blues – for a chance to perform at the Chicago Blues Festival on Saturday, June 9, at the Front Porch Stage with Kenny “Beedy Eyes” Smith. For details, visit dondashouseinc.org.
Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph St.) and Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St.)
38th Annual Taste of Chicago
July 11–15
Taste of Chicago is the nation’s premier free outdoor food festival showcasing the diversity of Chicago’s dining scene along with music, dance, cooking demonstrations, art activations, family activities and more. This year, Taste will feature cooking demonstrations by young chefs, youth music and dance performances and other activities celebrating Chicago’s creative youth.
Grant Park (Jackson St. and Columbus Dr.)
40th Annual Chicago Jazz Festival
August 29–September 2
A favorite Labor Day weekend tradition, the world class Chicago Jazz Festival showcases four stages of live performances by Chicago’s vast jazz talent alongside national and international jazz legends and artists. In keeping with the festival’s tradition of nurturing new artists, the Roof Top Stage on the Harris Theater Rooftop Terrace is dedicated to the genre’s young artists. The Roof Top Jazz: Young Jazz Lions, on Saturday, September 1, will feature select jazz groups from various Chicago high schools and colleges. On Sunday, September 2, the Roof Top Jazz: NextGenJazz will focus on emerging Chicago musicians. The festival is produced by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and programmed by the Jazz Institute of Chicago.
Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph St.) and Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St.)
Year of Creative Youth - Call for Community Highlights
Accepted for programs occurring in 2018
In addition to the City of Chicago events and programs, the Year of Creative Youth website highlights resources and event from across Chicago's youth arts community. Youth arts organizations are invited to submit youth performances, events or opportunities occurring in Chicago for the website and other promotions. To see the current list of offerings or to submit content for consideration, visit cityofchicago.org/yocy.
Performance and Program Highlights at the Millennium Park Campus
Chicago Public Schools All- City High School Exhibition
March 22–April 12
The annual juried art exhibition highlights the diverse talent and work of Chicago Public School students in the professional platform of a gallery setting.
Expo 72 (72 E. Randolph St.)
Paint the Town Red with Chicago Children’s Choir
Thursday, May 24
More than 4,800 Chicago Children’s Choir singers from our In-School, Neighborhood, DiMension and Voice of Chicago choirs present our annual Paint the Town Red concert at Jay Pritzker Pavilion. This event is free and open to the public.
Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph St.)
Grant Park Music Festival Young Artists Showcase
June 13—August 18
Every Friday at 5:30 p.m. before the Grant Park Orchestra takes the stage, audiences are treated to concerts by students from local music schools and summer music programs at the front of the Great Lawn at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.
Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph St.)
After School Matters Summer Program
Mondays through Fridays, June 25–August 10
After School Matters will showcase Chicago teens discovering their potential all summer long— including programs in furniture painting, hat design, mural creation and more (under the tent at Chase Promenade North)—and After School Matters Jazz Band rehearsals and performances (Wrigley Square). After School Matters provides 13,000 opportunities throughout the city for Chicago teens to develop their talents in the arts, communication and leadership, sports and STEM, while gaining critical skills for college, careers and beyond. For details, visit afterschoolmatters.org.
Millennium Park (201 E. Randolph St.)
DCASE is collaborating with the Chicago Park District Teens in the Park program and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Night Out in the Parks, for which the “Year of Creative Youth” will be a featured theme for 2018. Night Out in the Parks is an initiative featuring more than 2,000 cultural activities annually in Chicago Park District locations citywide in support of the City of Chicago’s Cultural Plan.
The Year of Creative Youth is presented by Allstate Insurance Company and aligned with “Art Design Chicago,” a citywide initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art—featuring over 25 exhibitions and hundreds of public programs in 2018. Arts education and youth engagement will be important components of the overall program, including art making workshops and field trips.
For more information about the Year of Creative Youth, visit cityofchicago.org/yocy—and join the conversation on Facebook (Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events), Twitter @ChicagoDCASE and Instagram @ChicagoDCASE #2018isYOCY #ChiCreativeYouth #BornCreative.
Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events
The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is dedicated to enriching Chicago’s artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy. This includes fostering the development of Chicago’s non-profit arts sector, independent working artists and for-profit arts businesses; providing a framework to guide the City’s future cultural and economic growth, via the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan; marketing the City’s cultural assets to a worldwide audience; and presenting high-quality, free and affordable cultural programs for residents and visitors.
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