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ART

James Rondeau Returns To Helm Art Institute

James Rondeau, the director of the Art Institute of Chicago, “will be returning to his role at the museum on [Monday] following the results of an investigation subsequent to a recent plane incident involving Rondeau that led him to ‘voluntarily taking some time away from the office,’” reports the Sun-Times. In a statement, “the museum noted that its board leadership ‘has conducted an independent investigation of this incident and is confident in James Rondeau’s leadership and ability to continue as the president and director of the museum.’”

Says Rondeau in a statement, “I deeply regret this incident and the impact it has had on the museum and on my colleagues. I have dedicated the past twenty-seven years of my professional career to the Art Institute and I am grateful to have the opportunity to continue furthering its mission.”

Kerry James Marshall Solo Exhibition Coming To Royal Academy Of Arts

In September, “the Royal Academy of Arts will present the largest survey of celebrated American artist and Honorary Royal Academician Kerry James Marshall ever to be shown in Europe,” reports FAD. “Marking the artist’s seventieth birthday, this major solo exhibition will explore Marshall’s expansive career to date. ‘Kerry James Marshall: The Histories’ will feature over seventy works, bringing together paintings, as well as examples of the artist’s prints, drawings and sculpture, from museums and private collections across North America and Europe. The exhibition will be the first institutional presentation of the artist’s work in the U.K. since 2006 and will include a dramatic new series of paintings made especially for the show.”

Opening Intuit

“Where most museums would open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the Intuit Art Museum, following a landmark $10 million renovation, reopened to the public with a ribbon-tying,” observes the Tribune (gift link). “After receiving a transformative grant from the city’s Department of Planning and Development to refurbish its space, Intuit took its facelift as an opportunity to rebrand [as] Intuit Art Museum… That streamlining extends to the gallery space itself. Intuit president and CEO Debra Kerr said the curatorial team has tried to use language that came directly from the artists or their families. When that wasn’t possible, the team tried to convey information as directly as it could, with no frills. ‘We’re working really hard to eliminate some of that curator speak… I don’t want this to be a traditional art museum.’” Read Alison Cuddy’s Newcity feature on the museum’s transformation here.

57th Street Art Fair Returns Next Weekend

The seventy-eighth Annual 57th Street Art Fair arrives in Hyde Park next weekend. “The event kicks off Chicago’s summer festival with a vibrant celebration of art, music and community” with more than 165 juried artists from across the country, showcasing original works in ceramics, painting, jewelry, sculpture and photography. More here.

Milwaukee Art Museum Presents The Bradley Collection of Modern Art

The Milwaukee Art Museum announces “The Bradley Collection of Modern Art: A Bold Vision for Milwaukee,” “a landmark exhibition honoring the extraordinary gift that shaped the institution’s collection and the city’s cultural landscape. The exhibition marks the fiftieth anniversary of Mrs. Harry Lynde ‘Peg’ Bradley’s gift, which brought to Milwaukee nearly 400 twentieth-century masterpieces by icons of modernism including Barbara Hepworth, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Andy Warhol.” The exhibition opens to the public on September 26.

Ruth Arts Announces Artist Choice Awards

Ruth Arts has announced its fourth Artist Choice awardees from the Foundation’s flagship program, guided by an artist-driven nomination process. There are $1.16 million in unrestricted grants to twenty-nine organizations across the country, nominated by a group of twenty-one established artists including choreographers, visual artists, performers, writers and musicians. The list of awardees “shows a range of organizations, from those who have been driving creative change in the field for multiple decades to the burgeoning spaces that are nurturing new and experimental creative practices.”

This year’s list includes three Chicago-based organizations: A Long Walk Home, Hyde Park Art Center, and Latitude Chicago. Diane Simpson, also hailing from Chicago, was one of the nominating artists this year. More here.

Cincinnati Art Museum Appoints Head Conservator

Julie Ribits will oversee collection care, departmental operations, and conservation policy at the Cincinnati Art Museum. “Ribits previously served as paintings conservator of Indiana University’s Eskenazi Museum of Art, and is a cofounder of Materia: Journal of Technical Art History,” relays ARTNews.

Old Oil Paintings Suffer Chemical “Acne”

“When an oil painting is dried and finished, it is supposed to stay that way. Yet when Ida Bronken, an art conservator, began to prepare Jean-Paul Riopelle’s ‘Composition 1952’ for display in 2006, she noticed drops of wet paint were trickling down the canvas from deep within the masterpiece’s layers,” reports the Economist. “Equally odd were the tiny, hard, white lumps poking through the painting’s surface, as if it had a case of adolescent acne… She soon found out that such behaviour is unexpectedly common in oil-based paintings. There are pockmarks in the red roofs of Vermeer’s ‘View of Delft’… The true culprits… are positively charged metal ions, such as zinc and lead, present in paint pigments. Over time these react with negatively charged components of oil called fatty acids, which have been severed from the rest of the oil molecules by light, heat and humidity. This process, known as saponification, produces a kind of soap called metal soap, with potentially disastrous consequences.”

DESIGN

City Awards $20 Million In Grants, Including Towards Third Music Box Screen

“Projects getting funding through city community grants include the South Side Birth Center, Maplewood Brewing and the Music Box Theatre. The grants will help with buildouts, renovations and more,” reports Block Club. “The twenty-eight projects receiving funding were selected from over 250 applicants representing local businesses and development proposals.”

Among the recipients: “The Workshop Arts Collaborative, Albany Park, $1.2 million to renovate a hundred-year-old building as a $2.4 million multi-purpose space for community arts organizations, musicians and emerging young artists; Chicago Architecture Center: 111 East Wacker, $1.75 million for $5.8 million in renovations to the center’s first-floor education, gallery, retail and office spaces; Maplewood Brewing and Distillery, Logan Square, $1.5 million for the $3 million purchase and renovation of storage and production facilities; Music Box Theatre, $1.2 million for the $2.5 million conversion of two commercial storefronts into a 115-seat movie theater.”

Looking Up To The St. Regis

“The Tallest Building Ever Designed by a Woman Is Also One of Chicago’s Best Hotels,” headlines travel site AFAR. “Towering above Chicago’s skyline, the St. Regis Chicago undulates like the waves of adjacent Lake Michigan. This nearly $1 billion tower, the world’s tallest building designed by a woman, Jeanne Gang, brings new vigor to a residential nook of downtown Chicago, making this at once a place to see and be seen and a cocoon of wellness in which to retreat.”

DINING & DRINKING

Friends Of Friends Opens With Former Danny’s Schlitz Sign

Friends of Friends, the new cocktail bar at Grand and Damen, comes from Chicago bar industry veterans Matt Eisler and Kevin Heisner of Heisler Hospitality, who “partnered with Abe Vucekovich of Meadowlark in Logan Square and Terry Alexander with One Off Hospitality,” reports Block Club. “Above the front door is the ‘Schlitz On Tap’ neon beer sign that for decades hung outside the now-closed Danny’s Tavern at 1951 West Dickens, which Alexander previously [co-owned]… The Schlitz theme extends throughout the bar, which features a restored and repainted large Schlitz globe on the exterior street-facing wall and other branded decorations.”

Moody Tongue’s New Tasting Menu

Moody Tongue has introduced a new eight-course tasting menu with beer pairings. As an homage to the restaurant’s beginning, chef James Bingham is releasing the new menu at The Dining Room’s 2019 opening pricing of $155 per guest, which features courses such as a side-by-side of Maine lobster with chawanmushi, ponzu and masago arare and drunken prawn with basil, saison and yuzu, paired with a Yuzu Lager; Razor Clam, a playful chowder served with potato, celery, guanciale and “beertarga,” paired with a spring seasonal Kolsch; and Australian White Lamb, served with English peas, pistachio and French white asparagus, paired with the brewery’s Cassis, a lambic-style ale brewed with black currant reminiscent of Bordeaux wines. More here.

Diego Team Plans Latin-Inspired Steakhouse

Soon-to-open Trino in West Loop is from the chef Stephen Sandoval and Oscar Sotelo of Diego, charts Eater Chicago. “Trino draws inspiration from Sandoval’s family connections to Northern Mexico and Spain’s Galicia, as well as his time in 2014 spent cooking in Argentina with chef Francis Mallman, a live-fire cooking aficionado.” The restaurant will replace “Japanese restaurant Komo along Randolph Restaurant Row. A new basement bar, a cozy speakeasy-style spot called Laberinto, will complement the restaurant… Trino will debut before Sueños, Sandoval’s much-anticipated West Town restaurant.”

Blue Island’s T & G Gyros Sold To Employee’s Family

T & G Gyros of Blue Island “was sold to new owners a year after the death of owner Chris Mallios,” reports the Tribune. The restaurant had been in the Mallios family for forty-three years. “Santiago Ambrosio Sr., who worked at the shop for thirty-two years, purchased the business in May along with his sons… The family poured their savings into the purchase with the goal of preserving the restaurant’s family-driven legacy and time-honored recipes, while adding a few fresh touches of their own.”

Culver’s Ordering Booth Going For $375 In Milwaukee

On Facebook Marketplace, there’s “an old Culver’s ordering booth available somewhere in or around Oconomowoc,” posts Milwaukee Record. “Hot damn! Just look at this beauty… It’s an absolute steal at $375 (or less, as the owner is open to negotiating a lower price). However, there is the matter of removing it and transporting it to wherever you want it to go.”

“The Neighborhood Bar Is Exactly Where I Want to Be”

“As cocktail culture took a decisive turn toward the high-concept, high-tech, foam-topped science projects that dominate best-of lists across the globe, ‘neighborhood bar’ has taken on new meaning,” newsletters Punch. For the writer, “the neighborhood bar is exactly where I want to be. It’s the type of space where the menu rarely changes, if there’s a menu at all. A place where cocktails are the backdrop to conversation, not the subject of it. Where simplicity—not to be mistaken for a lack of ambition—is the reigning philosophy.”

FILM & TELEVISION

Roeper Rejoins Ebert

Former longtime Sun-Times reporter Richard Roeper has joined the Roger Ebert website as a regular contributor, with his first piece running this week. “I am thrilled to have Richard join us and I know that Roger would have been overjoyed,” the site’s Chaz Ebert says in a statement. “I think this is a great fit for both of us.” Says Roeper, “I feel like I’ve found a new home with an old friend. It’s a privilege to see my byline under the Roger Ebert banner, and to join such a gifted team of writers. This is such a ‘full circle’ moment because it was Chaz who was the one who first suggested to Roger that he give me a tryout as his co-host all those years ago.”

Roeper accepted a buyout from the Sun-Times in March 2025 after thirty-seven years. “Roeper first met Roger Ebert at the Sun-Times in the 1980s, and the two developed a friendship that led to their on-air partnership in 2000, when Roeper became the permanent co-host of the newly titled ‘Ebert & Roeper,’ following the passing of Gene Siskel.”

Kartemquin Names Five To Board

Kartemquin has added five board members: Paty Calderon, Keecia James, Rosa Carillo, Guillermo Duarte and Jamie Novogrod. “Collectively these committed professionals bring board leadership, finance, public relations, communications, industry expertise and a deep commitment to arts and culture to Kartemquin.” More on the board here.

LIT

J.K. Rowling Pledges Galleons To Fund Anti-Trans Organization

J.K. Rowling is using a portion “of her wealth attained from the Harry Potter series to create an organization dedicated to removing transgender people’s rights ‘in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces,’” reports the Advocate. “The billionaire author announced on X that she would found the J.K. Rowling Women’s Fund, using her personal fortune.” Posted Rowling, “I looked into all options and a private fund is the most efficient, streamlined way for me to do this. Lots of people are offering to contribute, which I truly appreciate, but there are many other women’s rights orgs that could do with the money, so donate away, just not to me!” The website for the crusade says that it “offers legal funding support to individuals and organisations fighting to retain women’s sex-based rights in the workplace, in public life, and in protected female spaces.”

MEDIA

Last Voice Of America Employees Could Be Fired This Week

“All remaining staff at Voice of America are expected to receive reduction-in-force notices this week, likely closing the book on the network founded eighty-plus years ago to combat Nazi disinformation during World War II,” reports Politico. “Cuts are expected to target all or most of the 800 remaining staffers at the government-funded broadcaster,” adds the Washington Post. Journalist Steve Herman posts about his exit after decades on the mic.

MUSIC

A Defense Of Deborah Rutter’s Time At CSO And Kennedy Center

“When Deborah Rutter became president of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 2003, she inherited an institution with debt from a massive renovation project and that was suffering a serious drop in attendance and thus box office revenue,” writes the Tribune editorial board (gift link). “By the time she left in 2014 to assume the presidency of the Kennedy Center in Washington, the CSO was on its most solid financial footing in years, with one of the world’s most renowned conductors, Riccardo Muti, serving as its music director.

“After a decade in her new job, she was effectively fired by a president of the United States, bound and determined to move the arts center in a direction in line with the priorities of his administration.” Trump accused her of “bad management.” But “In Chicago, when she was a distinguished steward of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, one of our most precious civic assets. We were sad to lose her in 2014 and regret that her important work in our nation’s capital had so unpleasant an ending.”

Local DJs Return To The 95th-Dan Ryan Terminal

The interactive art installation, “An Extended Song of Our People,” returns for another season with music programming through October 31, the CTA posts. Programming begins today, with real-time programming provided three days a week by multiple local DJs.

STAGE

Chicago Porchlight Benefit Raises $169,000

Porchlight Music Theatre raised $169,000 at “Chicago Sings Thirty Years of Porchlight,” its fundraising concert celebrating Porchlight’s thirtieth anniversary. The concert “included live performances by Chicago music theater’s best loved artists highlighting three decades of Porchlight productions, the presentation of the 2025 Guy Adkins Award for Excellence in the Advancement of Music Theatre in Chicago to Heidi Kettenring and more.” More Porchlight here.

“Diversity And Its Discontents”: Not About the Money

“The business case for a more diverse American theater is a distraction from our core human and artistic values, which is the ground we must stand on in the fight for DEI,” assays American Theatre. “It’s a scary day in America when 501c3 organizations are questioning whether fighting for humanity is a line item in their budgets.”

ARTS & CULTURE & ETC.

How Funding Cuts Are Hitting Chicago Libraries And Museums

“Although the courts put a restraining order on the administration’s efforts to dismantle the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services, local institutions are still feeling the impact of the termination of grants,” reports Block Club. Public Library commissioner Chris Brown wrote in a statement that “efforts to eliminate the Institute of Museum and Library Services are not just cutting a budget, but ‘dismantling the future of public libraries.’”

Is Political Activity Endangered At SAIC?

“The school seems to be cracking down on political activity, including banning SAIC lecturer and union organizer Kelly Xi from campus,” cover-stories Kerry Cardoza at the Reader. “Xi was part of a group of faculty supporting the student protesters in the lead-up to the demonstration and during the negotiations with the school during the encampment, so her political activities were visible to SAIC’s administration by at least the start of May. What Xi didn’t know was that, even before the encampment, the school had already begun surveilling what she was printing on campus.”

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