Green Line Performing Arts Center
The University of Chicago
CHICAGO (November 2, 2018)—The
University of Chicago
announced today the opening of the Green Line Performing Arts Center,
providing a vital new theater venue and rehearsal space to support the
arts in the Washington Park neighborhood and across
Chicago’s South Side.
The
Center establishes a new professional theater space on the South Side,
providing support to performing artists and theater ensembles, along
with programming to train residents with interests
in theater design and production. Building on the rich history of
performing arts organizations on the South Side, the Center will be the
first new theater to open in the Hyde Park / Washington Park / Woodlawn
communities in more than a generation, providing
a much-needed collaborative space for the performing arts.
Designed
by Morris Architects Planners in collaboration with Theaster Gates, a
UChicago faculty member, artist, and founder and former director of
Arts + Public Life, the Center continues the growth of the Arts Block,
a vibrant collection of cultural and commercial spaces on historic Garfield Boulevard
across from the Green Line’s Garfield stop in Washington Park.
The Center is part of UChicago’s ambitious
Arts + Public Life
initiative, which is creating a distinct approach for how
colleges and
universities can work with local artists and neighboring communities.
Arts + Public Life has established and strengthened mutually beneficial
connections between the cultural landscape of the South Side
and UChicago’s network of resident and visiting artists and academics.
The success and continued growth of the Arts Block demonstrates how
educational institutions and individuals with creative vision can forge
ongoing collaborations.
“The
Green Line Performing Arts Center is an important University of Chicago
initiative, done in partnership with the South Side community that will
create a wide range of artistic opportunities
on the South Side for small and community-based theater companies. It
is an investment that reflects both the need for such arts-related
opportunities and the important role that the arts can play in enhancing
communities and their development. We are grateful
to our philanthropic partners for joining the University in our strong
commitment to supporting Chicago’s rich cultural community,” said Robert
J. Zimmer, president of the University of Chicago.
The Green Line Performing Arts Center will host a free, public
Opening Celebration on Saturday, November 10 from 2-6 p.m. The
event will include performances by local artists, including Bomba con
Buya, avery r. young and de deacon board, and Honey Pot Performance. For
a schedule of Center events and programs, visit
arts.uchicago.edu/glpac.
Housed
in four renovated storefront buildings, the Center’s location at
various points in history has been home to jazz and entertainment
venues, including a restaurant with
a live orchestra, a series of music clubs, and most famously
Rhumboogie, a nightclub owned by boxing great Joe Louis. The
6,600-square-foot Center includes the E&A Theatre, a black box venue
with seating for more than 80 people; the Harris Studio, a separate
rehearsal and performance space; and a lobby and outdoor courtyard for
public programs and exhibitions including outdoor film screenings.
The
Center is supported by the Efroymson Family Fund, Irving Harris
Foundation, and UChicago. In recognition of the Efroymson Family Fund
and Irving Harris Foundation’s generous
contributions to the renovation and adaptive reuse of the Green Line
Performing Arts Center, the E&A Theatre and Harris Studio have been
named in their honor.
“The
Green Line Performing Arts Center is a welcome addition to Garfield
Boulevard and all of Washington Park, bringing additional vitality to
the areas around the Green
Line ‘L’ station and demonstrating a reinvestment in the rich South
Side performing arts tradition,” said 3rd Ward Alderman Pat Dowell. “The
renovation of these storefronts and the $25 million investment in the
CTA’s Garfield Gateway Project prove there is
a vibrant future for reawakening this historic boulevard.”
The
Arts Block’s first project, the Arts Incubator envisioned by Gates,
celebrated its fifth anniversary in March. Since launching, Arts +
Public Life has welcomed to the Arts Block over 62,000
attendees and engaged more than 730 area teens from 74 schools, with
the vast majority of students attending neighboring South Side public
high schools.
“The
Green Line Performing Arts Center expands our existing partnerships
with South Side artists and arts organizations,” said Lori A. Berko,
deputy director of Arts + Public Life. “This space
allows us to build upon existing relationships, incubate new ones, and
grow our artist residency programs to include theater companies,
ensembles and collectives.”
The
Center will offer professional training and employment opportunities,
providing pathways for residents of Washington Park and the greater
South Side through stipend-based training in technical
theater, including sound, lighting, and scenic design, and
front-of-house and back-of-house management.
“As
a director and actor, I am thrilled to be able to partner with Arts +
Public Life and the Green Line Performing Arts Center to develop
education programs for youth and young adults that will
focus on technical theater and design,” said Ron O.J. Parson, Court
Theatre resident artist who is advising and developing programming for
the Center. “These programs will advance efforts to diversify the design
and technical theater fields in the professional
theater community.”
In
its inaugural season of programming, the Green Line Performing Arts
Center will host the GreenLight Series, illuminating the varied
performing arts disciplines and inviting
audiences to experience a rotating sample of storytelling, music
performances, comedy, theater, and dance works presented by artists. The
GreenLight series will showcase Grown Folks Stories on Thu. Nov. 15,
7-9 p.m.; South Side Story Time on Sat. Jan. 19,
10-11 a.m.; and In The Spirit on Sun, Feb. 17, 10-11 a.m. Other
programs will include APL’s First Monday Jazz Series with Junius Paul
Quartet on Mon, Dec. 3, 7-9 p.m. and Vends + Vibes: An Arts Marketplace,
Dec 8-9, 12 noon to 5 p.m.
About Arts + Public Life
Arts
+ Public Life (APL), an initiative of UChicago Arts, provides platforms
for artists and access to the arts through residencies, education,
cultural entrepreneurship,
and arts-led programs and events. APL advances and promotes a robust,
collaborative, and evolving relationship between the University of
Chicago and the South Side’s vibrant civic, cultural, and artistic
communities. APL creates cultural amenities and preserves
affordability and authenticity through arts and culture-led
neighborhood development. APL continues to share this work by
participating in local and national conversations around effective,
creative alternatives to conventional financial and development
strategies,
promoting mindful city-building and equitable neighborhood
transformation.
About the Arts Block
The
Green Line Performing Arts Center is part of the Arts Block, a vibrant
collection of cultural and commercial spaces on historic Garfield
Boulevard. The Arts Block combines
University-led initiatives, programming produced by cultural
organizations, and both philanthropic and private investments.
Additional spaces on the Arts Block include the Arts Incubator, Rain
Garden, and historic CTA station, currently being renovated to
support cultural entrepreneurship, all projects of Arts and Public
Life, as well as, Peach’s at Currency Exchange Café and BING, projects
of the Rebuild Foundation.
About UChicago Arts
UChicago Arts encompasses the University’s robust cultural scene where scholars, students, artists and audiences converge, explore, and create. UChicago Arts maintains an ambitious suite of initiatives and programs to enhance the cultural landscape at the University of Chicago and on Chicago’s South Side, including Arts + Public Life and its flagship project the Arts Incubator, the Arts, Science & Culture Initiative, the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. Joining academic departments and programs in the Division of the Humanities and the College, as well as professional organizations including the Court Theatre, Oriental Institute Museum, Smart Museum of Art, Renaissance Society, and University of Chicago Presents, and more than 60 student arts organizations, UChicago Arts is forging an integrative model for practice, presentation, and scholarship.
UChicago Arts encompasses the University’s robust cultural scene where scholars, students, artists and audiences converge, explore, and create. UChicago Arts maintains an ambitious suite of initiatives and programs to enhance the cultural landscape at the University of Chicago and on Chicago’s South Side, including Arts + Public Life and its flagship project the Arts Incubator, the Arts, Science & Culture Initiative, the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry, and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. Joining academic departments and programs in the Division of the Humanities and the College, as well as professional organizations including the Court Theatre, Oriental Institute Museum, Smart Museum of Art, Renaissance Society, and University of Chicago Presents, and more than 60 student arts organizations, UChicago Arts is forging an integrative model for practice, presentation, and scholarship.
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Image credit: Green Line Performing Arts Center, photo by Jean Lachat/University of Chicago.
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