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Chicago / Culture
Culture & Shop
Storefront theater, neighborhood shopping rows with a point of view, and the institutions and people making Chicago art interesting beyond downtown.
Curtain call
Choose a Show
Chicago DNA
Neo-Futurists Lifeline Raven Black Ensemble Second City Mercury Theater
Definition Theatre, Teatro Vista, and Silk Road Cultural Center don't always perform at their administrative address — check the actual production venue for the specific date you're booking, not just the company name.
More intel
An announced season and a show actually playing on your night are two different facts. One of them matters for your plans; only one of them is a press release.
Wear the city
Shop With a Point of View
Andersonville
Women & Children First, Cowboys and Astronauts, Dearborn Denim, Foursided, Andersonville Galleria.
Logan Square
Wolfbait & B-girls, Lost Girls, Fleur.
Wicker Park / West Town
Quimby's, Myopic, Reckless, Lost Girls, Swaby.
North Center
Production Mode.
Pilsen
Mestiza, Semillas.
Chinatown
Vital Chinatown.
Hyde Park
Silver Room, Seminary Co-op, 57th Street Books.
Downtown designers
Maria Pinto, Azeeza.
Correction: Quimby's is at 1854 W. North Ave., not Chicago Avenue.
Art + design
See Art Beyond Downtown
Institutions and people carrying Chicago's art scene into neighborhoods, not just museum campuses.
Institutions
Art Institute MCA National Museum of Mexican Art South Side Community Art Center DuSable Black History Museum Bridgeport Art Center Stony Island Arts Bank Hyde Park Art Center Chicago Industrial Arts & Design Center Intuit Art Museum Obama Presidential CenterPeople making the city interesting
Artist / Social Practice
Theaster Gates
Stony Island Arts Bank and a body of work that treats neighborhood infrastructure as material.
Writer / Performer
avery r. young
A Bronzeville-rooted voice across page and stage.
Chefs
Genie Kwon & Tim Flores
Part of the diaspora-dining wave redefining what "destination restaurant" means outside downtown.
Chef
Erick Williams
Virtue's chef-owner, a Hyde Park/Woodlawn anchor.
Chef
Christian Hunter
Part of the current wave of chefs grounding Chicago dining in specific neighborhoods.
Chefs
David & Anna Posey
Elske, among the city's enduring essentials.
Retail / Vintage
Shernett Swaby
Part of the Wicker Park/West Town shopping identity.
Design
Jamie Hayes
Contributing to Chicago's independent design scene.
Designers
Azeeza Khan & Maria Pinto
Downtown Chicago's own fashion-design identity, not imported labels.
Chicago artwork by Kevin Halstead · Surreal editorial interpretations of the city.
Choose a show. Make a night of it.
Jekyll & Hyde through November 8; Waitress October 13–18; Dead Girl’s Quinceañera through November 1.
All theater dates & ticket linksMORE LIKE THIS
Keep following the thread in another city.
Detroit · Architecture in Detroit Houston · Architecture in Houston Los Angeles · Look at the work. Then look at the building.
Tell me what I missed.
A correction, a neighborhood story or a place worth a closer look. I’d like to hear it.