The 21st century task for many American communities is to reinvent and reconstitute themselves, in a phoenix-like effort to cast off the decaying chrysalis of 19th-20th century heavy industrialization — with its attendant razing and polluting of the landscape -- to emerge into a more collaborative future with one another and, especially with Nature, to move closer to an ideal goal of rational, compassionate, human progress. Members of the Southeast Chicago Coalition of Artists, working with kindred groups of artists in Northwest Indiana, is performing yeoman service in moving that effort forward. This page will highlight those efforts of which we are aware.
THEATER:
While Northwest Indiana has an established theater presence, live theater in Southeast Chicago has been scarce in recent years. Within the Southeast Chicago community, there have been four non-academic productions that we are aware of, since 2003 ("Unfriendly Fire"). In 2010, an excellent production of "Zooman and the Sign," performed by the Harlem Theatre Company of Chicago (HTC), was presented at Olive Harvey College and, in 2014, members of the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce collaborated in a process that resulted in two original dinner theatre murder mystery plays being created and performed as fundraising activities for the Chamber of Commerce in 2015 ("Hot Time at the Speakeasy") and 2016 ("Murder at the Wartime Book Club Cafe"). Given the long time lapses between live theatre performances in Southeast Chicago, it was hoped that those two productions would stimulate other theatrical work in Southeast Chicago. While no such activity has happened to date (August, 2018), there is a great deal of artistic ferment in the community, and the likelihood of additional theatrical work is greater than it has been in years.
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VISUAL ARTS
Artists abound in the Calumet Region. We have listed four galleries/training centers with which we are currently familiar, but know that there are more. We hope that we will learn about those others, and be able to highlight their identities here.
Artists abound in the Calumet Region. We have listed four galleries/training centers with which we are currently familiar, but know that there are more. We hope that we will learn about those others, and be able to highlight their identities here.
UNDER THE BRIDGE STUDIO
10052 S. Ewing Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
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(Leo ODell, Sep 2017)
Paul Henry Gallery, 416 Sibley St., Hammond, Indiana
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SkyArt Studio, 3026 East 91st Street, Chicago, Illinois
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Cornerstone Art Center & Gallery
1500 119th Street
Whiting, Indiana
WRITING
Regional authors are currently featured in our "Authors from the Community" page.