Bramble Arts Loft/Rendering: Lothan Van Hook DeStefano Architecture
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ART
White Cube New York Slates Major Exhibition of Richard Hunt Works
White Cube New York will present a solo exhibition of works by Richard Hunt. “One of the preeminent American sculptors of the twentieth century,” writes the gallery, “Hunt’s hybrid creations are characterized by an exploration of dualities—the natural and the industrial, the surreal and the abstract, the geometric and the organic.” Opening March 13, “‘Early Masterworks’ is the gallery’s first exhibition by the artist, and the second-largest gathering of his works in the city for over fifty years, bringing together over twenty-five important examples from the early part of his oeuvre.”
DESIGN
Why Is Bulls Owner Jerry Reinsdorf Spending Millions On Parking Lots Around United Center?
“As the White Sox and Bulls owner seeks $1 billion in state funding for a new South Loop ballpark, he’s spending big to gobble up lots around the Bulls’ home, records show,” investigates the Sun-Times. “Over the past nineteen months, a Reinsdorf-connected company has spent $44.7 million buying vacant lots from two politically connected families that have long offered discounted parking deals to fans of the Bulls and Blackhawks… A third family has refused to sell its parking lots.”
“More than half of that money has been paid to family-owned companies connected to longtime Bridgeport businessman Joseph Feldman Sr., whose late sister headed the political campaign fund for former Mayor Richard M. Daley… Four of Chicago’s professional sports teams—the Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls and White Sox—are working on plans to redevelop or move their stadium sites.”
Inside CTA (Commuters Take Action)
“Commuters Take Action cofounder Fabio Göttlicher wants you to know that Chicago’s public transit system is in trouble,” reports Chicago magazine. Software engineer Göttlicher “is calling for CTA president Dorval Carter Jr. to be fired, for Mayor Brandon Johnson to get directly involved, and for city residents to treat public transportation as a utility—before it’s too late.”
Metra Buying Battery-Powered Trains
Metra is buying its “first battery-powered trains to help jolt efforts to provide more frequent all-day service,” reports the Sun-Times. The zero-emission trains “could hit the rails as early as 2027 on the Rock Island line… One expert praised the purchase as a ‘major move’ to address changing ridership habits.” Metra’s press release: “A trainset is a group of permanently or semi-permanently coupled railcars powered by a propulsion system without a separate locomotive, with operator controls at either end so they can quickly change directions. The contract with Stadler U.S., of Salt Lake City, includes a $154 million base order for eight two-car, battery-powered trainsets, including engineering, training, and spare parts, with options costing up to an additional $181.4 million for eight more trainsets and up to thirty-two trailer cars.”
Ventra Apologizes For February Ticketing Crash
“A big apology to Metra riders following this month’s Ventra meltdown,”reports WBBM-TV. “Reps from Ventra app-maker Cubic told Metra officials they tested the app for months before it crashed on its debut. The Ventra app crashed the same day Metra rolled out new fare prices… Cubic said they have since made changes and stabilized the app.”
Walgreens To Sell A Third Of HQ For Residential Development
“One-third of the Walgreens Boots Alliance headquarters in Deerfield is under contract to be sold for about eighteen acres of single-family home development,” reports the Tribune. To allow residential development, “the village must approve a rezoning petition to change it from an industrial to general residential district. Pulte Group, Inc., a residential home construction company based in Atlanta, proposed demolishing the existing structures in the northern third of the corporate campus to develop the site with forty-two single-family homes—calling the development ‘Leclair Estates.’”
DINING & DRINKING
Paul Virant Returns To French Roots
Chef Paul Virant, “the venerable hospitality veteran who in January won Chef of the Year at the local Jean Banchet Awards,” is opening a new place, reports Eater Chicago. “Around five months after he closed pioneering suburban restaurant Vie in Western Springs, Virant is deep into preparations for a new spot… Petite Vie, a French cafe and brasserie, which he aims to open by late spring… just around the corner from Vie’s former home. Virant doesn’t dwell on sentimentality about Vie’s closing, which after nineteen years ‘just didn’t feel right anymore.’” Virant won’t have landlord issues as in the past, as Virant purchased the new building. Petite Vie will be “slightly smaller than Vie and will seat around sixty-five.”
FILM & TELEVISION
Tyler Perry Claims His $800 Million Studio Is On Hold Because Of AI
Actor, filmmaker and studio owner Tyler Perry “is raising the alarm about the impact of AI tech, saying, ‘I feel like everybody in the industry is running a hundred miles an hour to try and catch up, to try and put in guardrails,’” relays the Hollywood Reporter. “Over the past four years, he had been planning an $800 million expansion of his studio in Atlanta, which would have added twelve soundstages to the 330-acre property.”
Rather than other market forces, said Perry, “It makes me worry so much about all of the people in the business. Because as I was looking at it, I immediately started thinking of everyone in the industry who would be affected by this, including actors and grip and electric and transportation and sound and editors, and looking at this, I’m thinking this will touch every corner of our industry… I just used AI in two films… that kept me out of makeup for hours. In post and on set, I was able to use this AI technology to avoid ever having to sit through hours of aging makeup.”
MEDIA
Vice Killed
Managerial incompetence and profit-raking by executives is blamed by Vice workers for the mass firing of staff at the end of last week. “While managers got away with millions, it’s unclear if laid-off staffers will even get severance,” reports New York City journalist-run site Hell Gate. “The leadership at Vice, the mortally-wounded-by-its-own-managerial-incompetence news outlet, announced on Thursday that it would be laying off hundreds of employees and ending publication on its flagship (and sole remaining website) Vice.com. In a memo sent to staff at 5pm… Vice CEO Bruce Dixon wrote that the layoffs were the ‘best path forward for Vice as we position the company for long-term creative and financial success.’”
“Last May, Vice’s news division laid off dozens of staffers and the larger company filed for bankruptcy. It was revealed weeks later that executives at the company took lavish bonuses right before declaring bankruptcy, even as staffers were denied severance. In June, Vice was bought by Fortress Investment Group, a private equity firm, for $350 million. Dixon also wrote that Vice would no longer publish its own content, and instead would license content (produced by whom, one might ask) to more ‘established media companies’ (ignoring the fact that Vice is itself very much an established media company).”
Journalist Megan Greenwell, who is writing a book on how private equity affects communities and workers, tweets: “The exact same private equity executives responsible for destroying hundreds of jobs at Vice—Fortress Investment Group—are also responsible for destroying thousands of jobs at Gannett newspapers.” In These Times labor writer Hamilton Nolan tweets: “In the entire history of online media I have never seen a company that couldn’t have been run better by the journalists who worked there than by the executives.”
But… Vice Site Content Salvaged
“About Vice’s content: a full site archive, including saving outbound links, was performed by the volunteer Archive Team last year and it took ~six months to capture all the Vice content across all the languages they publish in. They’ve published a lot!,” tweets privacy engineer Aram Zucker-Scharff. “Archive Team is an independent volunteer group but they push their website archives into the Internet Archive which saves the archive files, hosts them, and makes them available via the standard Internet Archive interface.”
City Bureau Names Editorial Director
City Bureau has announced Ariel Cheung as its editorial director. “Ariel was the Chicago Tribune’s food and travel editor before joining City Bureau; a neighborhood reporter for DNAinfo Chicago; and has reported on everything from Chicago’s real estate industry and dining scene to court proceedings in Midwest cities. She is bringing her passion for community-based journalism and extensive knowledge of Chicago to manage City Bureau’s editorial team, ensuring work by Civic Reporting Fellows, Documenters and our Newswire newsletter succeed in sharing the stories that need to be told.”
DCist Shut Down By WAMU, DC NPR, Fifteen Staffers Fired
Washington-area NPR affiliate WAMU “shut down local news site DCist on Friday morning, immediately following an all-staff meeting where employees were informed that layoffs are imminent,” reports the Washington Post. The station general manager “made the announcement during a roughly ten-minute meeting, during which no questions were taken. She told staffers that the shift was part of a new strategy to focus more on audio products rather than the written journalism that WAMU had hoped to bolster when it acquired DCist six years ago.”
Fifteen staff members lost their jobs, adds Axios. “‘We feel like this is the best way for us to engage and build loyalty,’ said… WAMU’s newly hired chief content officer.” Journalist James Fallows tweets: “This is terrible news. DCist has brought indispensable local coverage.”
BuzzFeed Sells Complex For $108.6 Million; Keeps Hot Wings
BuzzFeed is selling Complex, “a media start-up known for its coverage of streetwear and pop culture,” to Ntwrk, “an e-commerce company backed by LiveNation Entertainment and Main Street Advisors, which is paying $108.6 million for the company,” reports the New York Times. “BuzzFeed said it was laying off sixteen percent of its remaining work force, a move it expects will save the company $23 million annually. BuzzFeed is not selling First We Feast, the internet brand associated with Complex behind the popular ‘Hot Ones’ interview series about hot wings.”
Google Search Removing News Tab In Test
Nice timing in the middle of a presidential campaign: “The News filter disappearing from Google search results for some users last week won’t help publishers sleep any easier,” reports NiemanLab. “Google confirmed some users were not seeing the News filter as part of ongoing testing. ‘We’re testing different ways to show filters on Search and as a result, a small subset of users were temporarily unable to access some of them,’ a Google spokesperson confirmed.”
MUSIC
Cedille Records Sets Second Emerging Artist Competition
Chicago-based classical music label Cedille Records has set its second Zell Family Foundation-sponsored Emerging Artist Competition, “designed to augment its mission of supporting Chicago’s finest classical music artists.” The competition is open to individual musicians (instrumental and vocal) and ensembles of up to six people that reside in or are originally from the Chicago metro area. The winner will get to record their featured debut album on Cedille Records. There is an application fee; details here.
Scottish National Orchestra Losing Local Funding
More zeroing-out of U.K. arts organizations: “Scotland’s national orchestra has warned it will have to scale back its work in its home city of Glasgow,” reports the Scotsman. “The Royal Scottish National Orchestra says the ‘critical role’ it plays in Glasgow’s cultural life will be ‘diminished’ after being told it will lose all of its local authority support over the next three years.”
STAGE
Bramble Theatre Opens Multi-Use Arts Center For Andersonville
The Bramble Arts Loft in Andersonville will be home to Bramble Theatre Company, “as well as a creative home to itinerant theater companies, artists of all genres and a beautiful space for community events,” the company relays. “The Bramble Arts Loft will house three performance spaces: The Beatrice (101-seat thrust theater), The Berry (forty-eight-seat modular black box) and The Cabaret Stage (intimate space next to the bar). The Loft will also include George’s Bar within the open and airy lobby area.” The space, designed by Design Principal Avram Lothan of Lothan Van Hook DeStefano Architecture, will host opening events throughout April. More here.
Metropolitan Opera Cuts Performances Back To 1980 Level
“The financially struggling Metropolitan Opera will present eighteen productions in 2024-25, matching the current season and pandemic-curtailed 2019-20 for the fewest since fourteen in strike-shortened 1980-81,” reports AP. “Met general manager Peter Gelb kept up his pivot to contemporary works, starting the season with Jeanine Tesori’s ‘Grounded’ on September 23, then presenting Osvaldo Golijov’s ‘Ainadamar’ opening October 15 and John Adams’ ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ beginning May 12, 2025. ‘Aida’ is the sole totally new production plus five new-to-the-Met stagings. There will be 194 performances under the schedule announced Wednesday, matching the current season and down from 215 in 2022-23.”
ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.
Howard Brown Health Names Interim President-CEO
“Dr. Robin Gay, who most recently served as the health care provider’s chief dental officer, takes over the role formerly held by David Munar” at the largest LGBTQ+ health center in the Midwest, reports the Sun-Times. “Howard Brown has been a pillar of care for Chicago’s LGBTQ+ community for nearly fifty years,” Gay said. “As we continue to define sustainability, access to affirming, high-quality care, and our institutional culture, I will work closely with the executive leadership team to focus on providing outstanding service for the patients that have entrusted us with their care.”
West Fest, Do Division And Dancing In The Streets Will Return
“Do Division, West Fest Chicago and Dancing in the Streets are coming back to a main commercial corridor this summer,” reports Block Club. “Each festival doubles as a fundraiser for the neighborhood… This year’s beneficiaries include Talcott Fine Arts Academy, A.N. Pritzker Public School, LaSalle II Magnet School and Arts of Life.”
NU Grad Workers Reach Tentative Contract
“Negotiators for the Northwestern University Graduate Workers union reached a tentative contract agreement with the University,” reports the Daily Northwestern. “The agreement comes after about nine months of negotiations, which reached a climax in January when more than 2,000 union members threatened to strike… Members of the union will vote to ratify the contract from March 11–13… The three-year contract would raise the minimum stipend for graduate workers from $36,960 per academic year to $45,000 starting in September.”
Discover Fires 108 Chicago-Area Workers
Discover, “the financial firm that employs 5,000 people in Riverwoods, says the layoffs are unrelated to Capital One’s proposed $35 billion acquisition,” reports the Sun-Times. “Discover was launched in 1985 by Phil Purcell, a graduate of University of Chicago Booth School of Business and former chief executive of Morgan Stanley.”
Trump Affiliates Unveil “Christian Nationalist” Intentions For Nation
“An influential think tank close to Donald Trump is developing plans to infuse Christian nationalist ideas in his administration should the former president return to power,” according to documents obtained by Politico. “Christian nationalists in America believe that the country was founded as a Christian nation and that Christian values should be prioritized throughout government and public life. As the country has become less religious and more diverse, [the initiative’s leader] has embraced the idea that Christians are under assault and has spoken of policies he might pursue in response. One document… includes a list of top priorities.. in a second Trump term. ‘Christian nationalism’ is one of the bullet points. Others include invoking the Insurrection Act on Day One to quash protests.”
The New York Times (free link) looks at the Conservative Partnership Institute, which “has become a breeding ground for the next generation of Trump loyalists and an incubator for policies he might pursue. Its fast growth is raising questions.” One of the groups “it has staffed and funded, the American Accountability Foundation, says in its mission statement that it seeks to ‘advance conservative messaging’ by aggressively attacking appointees for the Biden administration. Another offspring, the Center for Renewing America, aims to take on what it calls a leftist ‘cultural revolution’ as well as a ‘taxpayer-funded woke federal bureaucracy.’”
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