The Newberry is pleased to announce a three-week summer 2018 institute for college and university faculty that will explore the role of the arts in the civic life of Chicago. Through lectures, discussion, and site visits, "Art and Public Culture in Chicago" will look closely at the arts, their reception, and their civic import in Chicago from the 1893 World's Fair through the present moment. We are particularly interested in artistic communities, small-scale venues, and vernacular expressions that developed against or alongside Chicago's mainstream cultural institutions. The institute will seek to understand how audiences are created out of cultural activity, and what kinds of civic participation the arts call into being.
The institute will be led by experts in art history, literature, American studies, African American studies, and creative arts, including guest faculty Davarian Baldwin (Trinity College), Adam Green (University of Chicago), and Nicole Marroquin (SAIC). Participants will also engage with a rich array of primary sources in the Newberry's collection.
For more information, visit https://artandpubliccultureinchicago.wordpress.com/.