Displaying items by tag: Smart Museum of Art

Wednesday, 14 October 2026 13:44

Court Theatre announces America@250 - Now is the Time: Artists Go to Work

Under the leadership of Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director Avery Willis Hoffman and Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre, Court Theatre proudly presents America@250 – Now is the Time: Artists Go to Work, a curated set of events programmed in partnership with The Toni Morrison Foundation, Illinois Humanities, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Smart Museum of Art, and UChicago Arts. Programming also includes events presented by the University of Chicago Division of Arts & Humanities, Arts + Public Life, Institute of Politics, UChicago Presents, and the Graham School. Events in the series will run from October through December at venues throughout Chicago.

Spanning theatre, visual art, music, public conversations, workshops, and community gatherings, America@250 – Now is the Time: Artists Go to Work brings together artists, cultural leaders, scholars, and audiences to explore the meaning of America's 250th anniversary through the lens of art and civic life. Taking place at cultural institutions and venues across Chicago, the series examines the nation's history, the complexities of its founding ideals, and the ongoing pursuit of freedom, identity, and belonging. Through exhibitions, performances, artist-led discussions, and opportunities for public participation, the program highlights the role of artists in challenging established narratives, fostering dialogue, and imagining what America's next 250 years might look like.

On July 4, 2026, America turned 250 years old. To reckon with the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence is to reckon with freedom declared in words long before it was lived in practice, and grapple with a history that has constantly faced erasure.

Toni Morrison taught that the measure of a nation is not in its monuments, but in the stories it has the courage to face. In the face of all the forces daunting the spirit, she famously wrote: "This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair."

A collective of institutions and organizations from across the University of Chicago—along with Illinois Humanities, in partnership with The Toni Morrison Foundation—have partnered to curate a suite of events that respond to Morrison's charge and amplify the deeply inspirational and vital creative work produced by Chicago-based artists working at the intersection of art and civic life.

In convening artists, thinkers, and communities, we invite you to collectively reflect on and illuminate the unfinished work this anniversary makes so strikingly apparent. All events are open to the public.

Attendees are encouraged to curate their experience from a menu of offerings:

Ongoing: Illinois Voices 250 (Illinois Humanities)
Ongoing: Nina Chanel Abney: Between Us (Smart Museum of Art)
Ongoing: Charles White Across Media: A Visual Archive (Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts)
October 17: Family Day: Proud to Be Me (Smart Museum of Art)
October 28: "The Pursuit": A People's Salon (Illinois Humanities)
October 29: Unfixed: Identity, Expression & Creative Freedom, a Workshop with Jenn Freeman | Po'Chop (UChicago Arts)
November 4: Threshold: Conversations on the Stoop, featuring Candace Hunter and Cathy Coen (Arts+Public Life)
November 5: Court Convening 1: America@250 (Court Theatre)
November 6: Arts and America at 250: We Stand at the Intersection of Creativity and Politics (Keynote Conversation) (Court Theatre and the Institute of Politics)
November 6: Artists Go to Work (Keynote Conversation)
November 6: Artists Go to Work (Breakout Sessions)
November 6: Exhibition Opening of Charles White Across Media: A Visual Archive (Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts)
November 6: Craig Taborn Trio (UChicago Presents)
November 7: University of Chicago Arts & Humanities Day (University of Chicago Division of Arts & Humanities)
November 10: Rear View Mirror Session with Duane Powell (Arts+Public Life)
November 11: Could AI Put Our Democracy at Risk? (University of Chicago Graham School)
November 18: Reflecting through Objects A Logan CenterWorkshop Led by Emily Hooper Lansana and William Estrada (Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts)
December 10-20: Tituba, by Winsome Pinnock (Court Theatre)
December 14: Tituba: Artist Talk Featuring esperanza spalding and Josephine Lee in Conversation with Avery Willis Hoffman (Court Theatre)

All events are open to the public. Tickets can be obtained from the respective venues presenting each program, or via the links on courttheatre.org.

ABOUT THE EVENTS

Illinois Voices 250

A statewide time capsule of conversations with people in all 102 Illinois counties, this project celebrates and preserves the voices of everyday Illinoisans: who we are, what we care about, and what we think is important about this moment in our country's history.

Dates: Ongoing

Presented by: Illinois Humanities

Nina Chanel Abney: Between Us

Experience Abney's large-scale mural that takes the most familiar images of American life—drawn from children's diagrams, advertising, sports, cartoons, and the news—and turns them against themselves.

Dates: Ongoing through July 2027

Presented by: Smart Museum of Art (Threshold Series)

Charles White Across Media: A Visual Archive

Bringing together album covers, book jackets, magazines, film stills, photographs, prints, and other ephemera featuring the work of Charles White (1918-1979), this exhibition examines the expansive cultural life of his imagery.

Date: November 6, 2026 - January 31, 2027

Presented by: Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts

Family Day: Proud to Be Me

Create a colorful self-portrait collage with guidance from exhibiting artist Nina Chanel Abney. Free participation; registration is requested.

Date: Saturday, October 17, 2026

Time: 10:00am - 1:00pm

Location: Smart Museum of Art (5550 S Greenwood Ave, Chicago, IL 60637)

Presented by: Smart Museum of Art

"The Pursuit": A People's Salon

Featuring commissioned work from Lisa Beasley, INSÉKTA, Mark Turcotte, avery r. young, and Ariel Zetina.

Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Time: 6:00pm - 9:00pm

Location: Ramova Theatre (3520 S Halsted St, Chicago, IL 60609)

Presented by: Illinois Humanities

Unfixed: Identity, Expression & Creative Freedom, a Workshop with Jenn Freeman | Po'Chop

Through movement, reflection, improvisation, and collaborative exercises, participants will consider how identity shapes and informs how we express ourselves, how we are seen by others, and what we believe is possible. Participants should wear comfortable clothing they can move in and bring materials to write with.

Date: Thursday, October 29, 2026

Time: 4:00pm - 6:00pm

Location: Harris Studio, Green Line Performing Arts Center (329 E Garfield Blvd, Chicago, IL 60637)

Presented by: UChicago Arts

Threshold: Conversations on the Stoop, featuring Candace Hunter and Cathy Coen

Threshold: Conversations on the Stoop is a series of public talks that take place on the front porch within the Intentionality, 1960: Whose Dreams? exhibition. Candace will be in conversation with a host of scholars, artists, archivists and neighbors around questions of race, residential space, displacement, memory, and belonging.

Date: Wednesday, November 4, 2026

Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Location: Arts Incubator Gallery (301 E Garfield Blvd, Chicago, IL 60637)

Presented by: Arts+Public Life

Court Convening 1: America@250>

Join this dynamic Town Hall conversation that directly explores the age-old question, "What is a Classic? And why now?" and offers an inside look at Court Theatre's 2026/27 season.

Date: Thursday, November 5, 2026

Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm

Location: Breasted Hall, University of Chicago's Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (1155 E 58th St, Chicago, IL 60637)

Presented by: Court Theatre

Arts and America at 250: We Stand at the Intersection of Creativity and Politics
Keynote Conversation
Artists, curators, and journalists explore America@250 through the cultural, political, and aesthetic lens of now.