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CGN Staff via PR
When the pandemic hit nearly a year ago, arts organizations of all sizes and types, from galleries and museums to theaters and dance studios, were impacted. Nearly all had to work very quickly to shift to full-time online programming while the public was required to stay at home. What began as a temporary, survival-response has since become more sophisticated and far reaching. The programming and business impacts of such a shift also may be here for the long term.
We recently learned that the Chicago-based Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation—an organization that offers unrestricted grants to 175 small arts organizations in Chicago with budgets under $1 million—recently surveyed 61 of its arts grantees to garner insights on 2020 virtual programming. An overwhelming number of arts leaders cited that the main benefit to producing events virtually was the ability to engage new, broader audiences well outside their usual geographic reach, thanks to the accessibility of the virtual format at a time when people across Chicago and the nation are seeking at-home entertainment options.
Other significant findings include:
· 100% of the arts organizations surveyed presented virtual programming in 2020, ranging from socially distanced concerts and artist talks to livestreamed performances
· 70% of arts organizations said their virtual programming received far more engagement than anticipated
· 46% of arts organizations saw a boost in their social media and website traffic as a result of virtual programming
Leaders from theatre, music, dance and visual arts organizations provided a wealth of insight regarding the specific programs that proved to be successful in a virtual format and shared how these successes have informed their plans for 2021.
2nd Story, an organization that elevates storytellers to deliver literary-theatrical experiences, has also found the virtual shift to be a constructive alternative to their usual in-person performances, and over the course of the pandemic 2nd Story reached audiences in 110 Illinois zip codes, 36 states, and seven countries, with each virtual show exceeding revenue goals and setting revenue records that surpass their previous in-person programming. 2nd Story’s upcoming virtual events are listed online at www.2ndstory.com/upcoming.
“One of the things that has made these virtual events successful is that we are not trying to mask the medium, we are embracing Zoom for its reach and functionality,” said Lauren Sivak, Managing Director of 2nd Story. “We cannot ignore the fact that virtual programming provides a certain level of accessibility that our in-person programming will never offer, especially now that we are in colder months. We will still see a demand for virtual programming even when things open back up.”
Water People Theater (WPT), an organization dedicated to expanding the boundaries of Latin-theater, engaged a global audience of more than 7,000 people who virtually attended WPT productions in 2020. The virtual model has enhanced WPT’s artistic collaborations as well, as the organization featured 156 global theatre professionals on its virtual stage this past year. WPT’s International Festival of Latino Theater begins March 19, 2021. More information can be foundwww.waterpeople.org.
“We have done several productions where all artists involved are in a different country and time zone!” said Rebeca Alemán, Founder and Executive Director of WPT. “We have featured artists from Los Angeles to Argentina, performing on the same ‘stage’ at the same time. It is humbling to see the Latino theater community’s commitment to take on challenges to continue transforming people through art and, by doing so, keeping live theater active.”
In the summer of 2020, while several dance companies were rebroadcasting past works, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre, a multicultural dance collective, was quickly creating new productions including Wilfredo Rivera’s Identity City, focused on themes of isolation and metamorphosis, and Rivera’s Mood Swing, a series of duets between musicians and dancers that responded to the pandemic and social justice movement. Due to popular demand, Cerqua’s 2021 season will include both virtual and in-person performances, including an evolved version of Mood Swing. Cerqua will announce its upcoming season in the next month via their website at www.cerquarivera.org.
The Neo-Futurists—a non-illusory theater company whose work is a combination of sport, poetry and living newspaper—moved their flagship late-night show to a digital platform the week after the pandemic started and have been presentingThe Infinite Wrench Goes Viral every week since. Welcoming digital subscribers on a Patreon platform, the company was making 100% of the show’s weekly pre-pandemic revenue as of the end of 2020, with hundreds of subscribers across the country and beyond. This support has enabled the company to broaden its overall offerings, from entirely original music albums to feature-length films to videogames. They will continue the show’s virtual format in 2021, and upcoming performances can be found at www.neofuturists.org/2020-2021-digital-season.
Fifth House Ensemble, known to reach beyond the perceived limits of classical music, reimagined its annual “Fresh Inc. Festival” in 2020. The event was their farthest-reaching festival to-date, welcoming a global audience of over 5,300 participants, nearly five times the usual number. In 2021, Fifth House will continue their Deep Listening sessions every weekday at 10 a.m. via Facebook Live. Deep Listening is a creativity and mindfulness technique that teaches one how to listen in every dimension, and Fifth House’s daily virtual sessions have created a space for participants to deeply reflect on current events, reconnect to the playfulness of childhood, and remember loved ones who have passed. More information can be found at www.fifth-house.com/deep-listening.
“I have been really impressed by how meaningful Deep Listening has been,” said Melissa Ngan, Founder and CEO of Fifth House Ensemble. “The opportunity to build individual mindfulness and well-being via people’s computer screens, has really exceeded all of our expectations. It’s nice to see how something that we thought of as primarily an educational process is now infused throughout our educational, social, and performance work.”
Silk Road Rising’s artistic output has included digital media, particularly video plays, for over ten years. This experience proved invaluable when the organization moved entirely to virtual programming over the last nine months and launched their newest project, Black Teen Lives Matter, in response to the pandemic and this era of racial awakening. The first of four acts debuted in November 2020 and the series will resume February 27, 2021. More information about the series can be found at www.silkroadrising.org.
Video Game Art (VGA) Gallery—an organization that seeks to increase cultural appreciation, education of video games and new media—released a new monthly digital publication in 2020, VGA Zine, comprised of interviews with staff, artists and community members, as well as discussions around media from the video games in VGA’s collection. After VGA Zine readership skyrocketed upon the creation of the publication, seeing 7,877 page views with the first five issues, the organization will launch VGA Fireside, an artist-speaker series beginning on January 27, 2021, with hopes that it can be a hybrid program, both in-person and virtual. VGA Zine can be accessed at www.videogameartgallery.com/vga-zine-home.
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Given the focus on digital entertainment, several organizations also made concerted efforts to develop strategies surrounding their social media pages and websites, resulting in an extreme increase in traffic.
Experimental Sound Studio, an international hub for sonic experimentation, will be using data from their extensive 2020 engagement analysis to inform marketing decisions in 2021. In a year over year comparison between 2019 and 2020, ESS's YouTube channel saw a 668% increase in engagement, their website a 270% increase in traffic, and their Instagram a 135% increase in followers. Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art compared 2020 website stats versus the year prior, and saw a 110% increase in searches, a 247% increase in social media referrals and a 380% increase in referrals from other sites. The week of their Candlelight Carols in December 2020, St. Charles Singers’ Facebook page saw a 1,035% increase in reach and 401% increase in engagement as compared to the week prior.
In addition to revamping social channels, webpages, and online publications, multiple organizations explored the podcast world in 2020. Artemisia Theatre launched a female-driven podcast in 2020 entitled We Women that challenges audiences to see women in a new light. Thanks to the podcast’s rising listenership since its launch in May, Artemisia’s 2021 season will offer eight audio performances of classic and all-new feminist plays, streamed through We Women, featuring discussions with creative teams, intriguing social justice interviews with community leaders, and more. Information about We Women can be found at artemisiatheatre.org/podcast.
The full list of the 61 organizations surveyed can be found at gddf.org/2020-virtual-success.
Emergency Funding During COVID-19 Pandemic
Acknowledging the cataclysmic financial situation which hundreds of beloved regional small arts faced in response to COVID-19 related shutdowns, the Board of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation met in March 2020 and unanimously voted to immediately put in place a series of funding mechanisms, including expediting a total of $2 million in general operating funds to its roster of 175 arts grantees in the Chicago region and 40 in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.
In addition to expediting individual grants to existing Foundation grantees, the Foundation contributed $200,000 to the Arts for Illinois Relief Fund providing unrestricted grants from $6,000 to $30,000 for groups to be administered by the Arts Work Fund; created an initial $100,000 Lowcountry Arts Emergency Fund to be administered by the Foundation; and seeded a $200,000 relief fund for small collecting organizations in both regions, providing public access to regionally-focused collections. And looking ahead to grantees’ future financial needs, the Foundation will continue its ongoing Cash Reserve Challenge offering arts organizations in both regions the opportunity to receive up to $25,000 in matching funds to assist with maintaining a cash reserve.
About Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation supports land conservation, artistic vitality, and regional collections for the people of the Chicago region and the Lowcountry of South Carolina. GDDF awards $1.7 million annually to 175 creatively accomplished small arts organizations in the Chicago metro area. For more information visit www.gddf.org.
The Foundation supports its grantees with multi-year general operating grants ranging from $2,500 to $13,500 annually, plus an array of additional organizational development opportunities including one-on-one feedback from staff and consultants, reimbursements for trainings tailored to grantee needs, and a cash reserve program.
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![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1792084737/qrikvx76nvvt5agq24rq.jpg\")
By CGN STAFF
Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center will reopen its Skokie location on November 11, 2026, following a renovation that expands visitor spaces, updates its core Holocaust exhibition and adds a new reflection gallery. The reopening is timed to coincide with Veterans Day. Active military personnel, veterans and their families will receive free admission that day.
The project includes a redesigned Lillian & Larry Goodman Auditorium and Gallery, an enlarged lobby in the Shapiro Family Foundation Welcome Center, and a refreshed Resilience Hall with an expanded stage for presentations and public programs.
Updates to the Zev & Shifra Karkomi Holocaust Exhibition include additional material on the roots of antisemitism, the story of Chicago resident Leo Edelman, and the experiences of other groups targeted by the Nazis. A new reflection gallery, accessible from the exhibition, offers visitors a quiet space during and after their visit.
“Every visitor’s experience now begins differently and runs deeper,” said Kelley Szany, the Museum’s senior vice president of education and exhibitions. “The new welcome center sets the tone from the moment people arrive, the enhanced core Holocaust exhibition brings the history and the voices of survivors into sharper focus, and our new auditorium gives us a place to gather, listen, and talk about what it means for our communities today.”
Existing attractions, including the virtual reality theater, the interactive Survivor Stories Experience holographic theater, the Take A Stand Center and the Voices of Genocide Exhibition, will remain part of the Museum’s offerings.
Following the reopening, Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare will open November 15 in the special exhibition gallery. Created by and on loan from Jewish Museum Milwaukee, the exhibition examines the intersections of politics, antisemitism, freedom of speech and national security during the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s. It will remain on view through March 2027.
The Museum’s satellite location in Chicago’s River North neighborhood, Experience360, will remain open through December 31, 2026. The downtown space opened during the Skokie renovation to provide continued access to the Museum’s immersive exhibitions.
For information and ticket reservations, visit ilholocaustmuseum.org.
Image: Museum exterior. Photo by David Seide/Definedspace.com
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By GINNY VAN ALYEA
SOFA Chicago, the longtime fair devoted to sculpture, objects, functional art and collectible design, will return to the city October 28–31, 2027, as part of Chicago Art Fair at THE MART, which opened its inaugural edition last night.
Founded in Chicago in 1994, SOFA became a popular fixture on the city’s fall arts calendar. For much of its history, collectors and visitors gathered at Navy Pier to discover works in glass, ceramics, wood, metal and fiber, alongside sculpture and design. Its focus on materials and craftsmanship gave the fair a distinct identity and cultivated a devoted audience.
The announcement comes as the inaugural Chicago Art Fair gets underway at THE MART. The new fair opened with a preview on October 7 and continues through October 10, presenting modern and contemporary art. Tim von Gal, CEO and producer of SOFA Chicago and CEO of Intersect Art and Design, was in Chicago this week for the occasion.
Organizers describe the 2027 collaboration as two distinct but complementary presentations under one roof, with SOFA’s focus on three-dimensional art and design alongside Chicago Art Fair’s broader offerings.
“Chicago has always been an extraordinary home for SOFA and a city with a deep appreciation for art, craft, architecture and design,” said von Gal in the announcement. “Joining the Chicago Art Fair at THE MART gives us the opportunity to build upon that legacy while creating an exciting new experience for collectors and exhibitors alike.”
Eric Smith, owner of Chicago Art Fair and CEO of Redwood Art Group, said the addition would broaden the fair’s scope while preserving SOFA’s identity.
“SOFA has a remarkable legacy and a distinct identity, and its return adds an important new dimension to the fair while reinforcing Chicago’s position as a destination for collectors, galleries and art lovers from around the world,” Smith said.
For those who remember SOFA as an annual opportunity to encounter ambitious work in craft and design, the return will be welcome news. The participating galleries and programming, still to be announced, will provide a fuller picture of how that legacy will take shape in its new setting.
SOFA Chicago is produced by Intersect Art and Design, which also organizes annual art and design fairs in Aspen and Palm Springs.
Additional details about exhibitors, partnerships and tickets are expected in the coming months.
Visit chicagoartfair.com for updates.
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The artist Richard Hunt
By CGN Staff
Pigment International has dedicated Black Fine Art Month 2026 to Chicago sculptor Richard Hunt (1935–2023), recognizing his contributions to American art and his lifelong connection to the city.
As part of the month’s programming, the organization will host Pigmented: Chicago to the World — A Black Fine Art Convening on October 23 at the University of Chicago’s Logan Center for the Arts. Partners include the Richard Hunt Legacy Foundation, Adler University, CAI Designs, Chicago Public Art Group, Chicago Sculpture Exhibit and Diasporal Rhythms.
Born and raised on Chicago’s South Side, Hunt developed an internationally recognized practice while continuing to live and work in his hometown. His welded metal sculptures brought together abstract forms, references to the natural world and an enduring interest in freedom and social justice.
Hunt identified attending Emmett Till’s funeral in 1955 as a turning point in his artistic life. Till had lived just two blocks from Hunt’s home. Decades later, Hunt’s public commissions would honor figures including Martin Luther King Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, Jesse Owens and Ida B. Wells, while also addressing the Middle Passage and the Great Migration.
In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Hunt to the National Council on the Arts, where he became its first African American member. In 1971, at age 35, he became the first African American sculptor to receive a retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. His career encompassed more than 150 solo exhibitions and more than 160 public art installations.
![](\"https://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1791479104/lltcodkx39gd8sbhtus1.png\")
Richard Hunt with artist Chris Devins, who recently completed a mural honoring the sculptor in Hyde Park. Photo courtesy of Chris Devins.
Recent projects in Chicago offer new ways to encounter Hunt’s work and history. This fall, the Logan Center opened the Hunt, a café honoring the artist. Created and designed by Little Black Pearl founder and executive director Monica Haslip, the space incorporates two Hunt sculptures, African art, archival materials and photographs by Sandro Miller.
In Hyde Park, artist Chris Devins and historian Michelle Duster have brought a mural of Hunt to 1515–19 E. 54th Street. The portrait is based on photographs Devins took in Hunt’s studio before the sculptor’s death.
“Richard Hunt was a giant in the arts world and people need to see what he looked like and be inspired by his legacy,” Devins said.
Pigment International’s dedication also reflects its own relationship with Hunt. The organization featured him in its magazine in 2020, and he welcomed its Black Fine Art Month programming into his studio in October 2021.
#
Two events take place this month:
Pigment International at SPECTRUM Chicago Art Fair
October 7–10, 2026.
Chicago Merchandise Mart, seventh floor, booth #3091.
Wednesday, October 7, 5–8 pm, with a champagne toast in the booth and an artist meet-and-greet.
Thursday, October 8, 6-8pm with Diasporal Rhythms
Featured artists: Jesse Howard, Howard Simmons, Edo, Candace Hunter, Sura DuPart and Max Sansing.
Additional events are taking place during the fair
Chicago to the World: A Black Fine Art Month Convening
Presented by Pigment International as part of Black Fine Art Month, which the organization has dedicated this year to Richard Hunt.
Friday, October 23, 2026, 11:30 am–5 pm.
Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago.
Details at pigmentintl.com