So, you’ve read the Chicago Cultural Plan, right? You know, the one ordered up by Mayor Harold Washington in the 1980s? Which made Chicago an enduring icon for arts advocates and city planners nationwide and beyond? Our very own Magna Carta of urban arts?
Last week, after trekking through the dismal abandoned coffee shop that’s been greeting visitors on the Randolph Street side of the Cultural Center since the end of last year, I sat in on a “cultural mapping” presentation by professor Daniel Silver of the University of Toronto.
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According to one urban legend, there was an effort by the Daley administration to round up any loose copies and destroy them, lest the public read up and see how many of its democratically dispersed goals for cultural enrichment had been ignored.
As for the city’s preparation: after floating the idea of three new neighborhood arts hubs (likely Pilsen, Bronzeville, and Uptown), they’ve hired a Toronto-based consulting firm, Lord Cultural Resources, to guide them through this process, which will include a total of 30 public meetings. Meanwhile, we have in our midst (and apparently untapped) the world’s best expert on this particular subject: Michael Dorf, Chicago attorney, SAIC adjunct professor, and director of the original Chicago Cultural Plan.
As for implementation: it wasn’t all it would have been if Washington had lived. “But the big pieces—understanding the economic engine that the arts and culture are in the city, and strengthening the Department of Cultural Affairs as a player, as important as, say, Streets and San—those have survived,” Dorf says.
Columbia College: Wed 2/15, 6-8 PM, 618 S. Michigan, second floor
Nicholas Senn High School auditorium: Thu 2/16, 6-8 PM, 5900 N. Glenwood
DuSable Museum: Sat 2/18, 10 AM-noon, 740 E. 56th
National Museum of Mexican Art: Tues 2/21, 6-8 PM, 1852 W. 19th
