NOVEMBER 2013 
As families gather
during the holiday season, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
and Special Events (DCASE) is pleased to offer many free activities and
events to enjoy throughout November.
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The 100th Anniversary of Chicago's Christmas Tree will be celebrated with a spectacular lighting ceremony on Tuesday, November 26 at Daley Plaza (Washington and Dearborn). The FREE event begins with live performances headlined by Darlene Love at 5pm, and the official Tree Lighting at 6pm, followed by fireworks. The annual  tradition was started 100 years ago when
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Chicago's first municipal Christmas tree lighting ceremony was held on December 24, 1913 in Grant Park.
Darlene Love is best known for
her work with Phil Spector in the 1960s and for the holiday favorite,
"(Christmas) Baby Please Come Home," a song she has sung every year on
the Late Show With David Letterman for nearly 30 years.
The hour-long program will feature The Trainees from the Joffrey Academy of Dance, official school of The Joffrey Ballet, performing an excerpt from the holiday classic The Nutcracker. Other performances include songs from Broadway in Chicago's Elf the Musical and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical™.
The program and ceremony will be emceed by father-and-son journalists Lester Holt, host of Dateline NBC and weekend anchor for Today and NBC Nightly News, and Stefan Holt, Anchor, Mornings, NBC 5 Chicago.
Since 2009, the
City of Chicago's Christmas tree has been donated by a Chicagoland
family. This year's tree will be announced the week of November 4 and
the family will join Mayor Emanuel on stage at the ceremony to light the
tree. Chicago's Christmas tree will be on display at Daley Plaza
through January 9, 2014.
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| Santa Claus sets up shop on Daley Plaza beginning Tuesday, November 26 |
Santa Claus will once again open his midwest headquarters on Daley Plaza. The UL Santa House
is part of UL's ongoing partnership with the Department of Cultural
Affairs and Special Events. The UL Santa House is a replica of Santa's
workshop, allowing children and families to experience the wonder of the
North Pole and have their picture taken with Santa Claus throughout the
holiday season. The UL Santa House will offer interactive activities
with important safety tips for children to enjoy while waiting to tell Santa their holiday wishes.
Visits with Santa Claus begin on Tuesday, November 26 at 6:30pm until 8pm, with special hours on Wednesday, November 27 from 11am-8pm and Thanksgiving Day
from 11am-4pm. Santa's regular visiting hours and house tours will
begin on Friday, November 29 and continue every Friday, Saturday and
Sunday through December 20 from 11am-8pm. During Christmas week,
December 21-23: the house will be open each day from 11am-8pm, with
special hours on Christmas Eve from 11am-4pm. Santa will be available
for photos, so don't forget to bring your camera.
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| Ice skating is back at Millennium Park |
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The McCormick Tribune Ice Rink will once again be FREE and open to the public beginning on Friday, November 15 at noon (weather permitting.) You can rent skates for only $10 or bring your own.
New this year,
Millennium Park will offer Winter Workouts, skating lessons every
Friday-Sunday, one hour before the rink opens. Every Thursday DCASE will
feature Ice Sports skills and drills.
The rink is open every day through March 9, 2014. Visit millenniumpark.org for times.
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Getting into the holiday spirit should be a lot easier when Caroling at Cloud Gate fills every Friday from November 29 to December 20.
Various choirs and choral groups will lead crowds in songs of the
season beginning at 6pm. It's perfect way to end your shopping day or
start your evening.
For more information, click here.
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Each weekday beginning December 2 through 20,
young voices will fill the City Hall lobby with holiday sounds. Get
into the holiday spirit while listening to the classics sung by
children's choirs from throughout the city from noon to 1pm.
For more information, click here. |
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 The Dance-Along Nutcracker® returns to the Chicago Cultural Center on Sunday, December 1. One hour before each performance at 11am and 2pm, little ones learn basic ballet from the ARCC Ballet. Then at noon and 3pm,
performers of all ages and abilities are invited to dance along to the
familiar tunes of Tchaikovsky's holiday favorite with professional
dancers from Ballet Chicago. Music for the Dance-Along Nutcracker® is provided by the Lakeside Pride Symphonic Band.
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The Dead Prince
is a rambunctious, "fairly family-friendly fairy tale muzikal" scripted
by Jeff Award-winning playwright Emily Schwartz and directed by Paul
Holmquist. This world premiere follows the story of a young princess who
is told at an early age that her true love has died and that the two of
them are destined never to meet, for he is dead and she... alive. Soon
she discovers it is possible to sneak across the void and steal him
back. But does pulling someone from the brink do more damage than you
think? Performance dates and times are listed below.
- Previews: November 17, 18, 20, 21
- November 22-December 22
- Thursday-Saturday, 7:30pm; Sunday, 2pm; No performance on Thanksgiving
- Storefront Theater 66 E. Randolph St.
For more information, click here. |
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ICE - International Contemporary Ensemble and DCASE present OpenICE: Hushed Tones on Sunday, November 10 at 3pm in Preston Bradley Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center.
The Loops and Variations concert will feature ICE's strings: Erik
Carlson, violin; Kyle Armbrust, viola; and Kivie Cahn-Lipman, cello as
they explore the broadest range of sounds, characters and styles
of their instruments, presenting intricate structures, meditative states
and seething emotions in works by J.S. Bach, Eva-Maria Houben, Tom
Johnson, Anton Webern and others.
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Randolph Square will be jumpin' during the noon-hour on November 1 as Lady D
marries the classic house tracks of Chicago's past with the choicest
four-to-the-floor stomps of today. Known widely as Chicago's Queen of
House Music, Darlene Jackson aka Lady D has been
rocking dance floors nationally and internationally since 1995.
Recognized for her production and remixing talents as owner of
D'lectable Music, Lady D is respected industry-wide for releasing some
of the hottest records in House music over the past three years.
Cornelius Ferguson aka Traxman
is from the West Side of Chicago and one of the longest-serving
producers in juke/footwork. Traxman has releases stretching back to the
glory days of ghetto-house on Dance Mania records in the 1990s. His
discography includes releases on Dancemania and Litcity Trax, with hits
like "Get Down Lil Momma", "Funky Block", "We Are The Best" and his
already legendary "Pacman Juke" track. His unique brand of
footwork is strongly rooted in Chicago's history of soul, funk, house
and ghetto trax and will be on full display on November 15.
At the forefront of providing DJs and music lovers with dance and house music since 1969 is Gramaphone Records, the famous North Side record store where vinyl still rules. On December 6, The Bell Boys
(aka Garrett David and Adam Rowe) bring their house music grooves to
Wired Fridays. David and Rowe are both members of the famous Gramaphone
Records family and the two often collaborate to create what they
describe as "machine made disco vibes."
Wired Fridays take place the first and third Friday of each month
at noon in Randolph Square on the first floor of the Chicago Cultural
Center.
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Japanese drummers from the Tsukasa Taiko
program of Asian Improv Arts Midwest will share their cultural legacy
with an exciting percussion performance steeped in tradition.The taiko
art form of drumming will be on full display to the delight of all in
attendance.
Friday, November 8, 11am - Chicago Cultural Center, Preston Bradley Hall
As part of the Umbrella Music Festival, the Eric Boeren 5tet
is the original 4tet with the addition of vibraphone player Jason
Adasiewicz bringing a collective vision to further develop a unique
musical form.The result is improvised jazz at its best.
Saturday, November 9, 11am - Garfield Park Conservatory, Horticulture Hall
Musician Anton Hatwich and photographer Kate Joyce
come together for a multi-media collaboration exploring dance and song
in everyday movement. Jazz meets visual arts for a concert that will
feature new compositions accompanied by projected imagery.
Friday, November 22, 11am - Chicago Cultural Center, Preston Bradley Hall
Saturday, November 23, 11am - Garfield Park Conservatory, Jensen Room
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Remember that Maxwell Street Market is open every Sunday year-round from 7am-3pm. Enjoy an eclectic mix of food and merchandise, and one of Chicago's longest standing traditions.
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The
Chicago Cultural Center is an art mecca this month with six free
exhibitions happening simultaneously. The first floor Garland Gallery
displays the work of noted Chicago music photographer Paul Natkin in Shutter to Think: the Rock and Roll Lens of Paul Natkin, while right across the corridor, the Michigan Avenue Galleries feature three very distinct artists and their works.
One floor up in the Chicago Rooms is the work of Luftwerk. SHIFT examines the relationship between light and form, immersing viewers in a heightened experience of sight, color and sound.
And finally, the fourth floor Exhibit Hall hosts Paint Paste Sticker: Chicago Street Art,
an exhibition of more than two dozen artists from Chicago's street art
community.The exhibition features both existing and new works from this
intense and vibrant art world.
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 Chicago-based visual artist Regina Mamou
combines photography with research in her latest exhibit capturing
utopian communities including one that existed in New Harmony, Indiana
in the 1800s. Her photos clearly demonstrate the combination of
perfection and incompletion that plagued these communities. Open now
through January 19, 2014.
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The City of Chicago commemorates Veterans Day on November 11 with an 11am program at Soldier Field, just inside Gate 0.Veterans
Day honors those who served both in wartime and peacetime. It also
commemorates the Armistice signed to end World War I, signed on the
"eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month." The ceremony
is open to the public. Parking is free and available at the 18th Street
exit from Lake Shore Drive.
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In The Works
is the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events'
residency program and gives emerging and established performing artists
the opportunity to test-drive new work in a public setting. Each
residency is tailored to the needs of the artist or company and their
project and takes place in the most suitable DCASE space. Each showing
is a unique opportunity for audiences to get a behind-the-scenes look at
new work by Chicago artists. Applications for next year are due November 15, 2013.
Click here for more information and the application.
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SpinOff
Don't Miss: Nejla Yasemin Yatkin Dance (NY2Dance) performance through Sunday!
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