Filling Empty Buildings with Art: Good Idea

posted by chicago pop

Not a bad idea at all.

From the Hyde Park Alliance for Art and Culture's news blog:

Coming to 53rd Street … Art Here Art Now

September 4, 2010

Most of us have a fairly romantic view of the life of artists. The picture that comes to mind is often bohemian, carefree and set apart from society. But the actual life of artists is vastly different. Like anyone else whose job it is to produce – artists need space.

Enter Art Here Art Now…

… which represents the confluence of desires to see artists at work in the community. The result is a shared work space featuring three artists in the throws of their creative process. Beginning on October 1, Melissa Weber, Cydney Lewis, and Marty Burns will occupy the corner storefront in the building at 53^rd Street and Harper Avenue in Hyde Park on Chicago’s Culture Coast. The studio will be open for visiting and interacting with all three artists as you watch their creativity in action every Saturday, in October, from 1 to 5pm.

The idea is not to present a finished product; it’s more for people to see how things change and to see what gets created.

In addition, Art Here Art Now will feature art installations from local artists Andre Callot, Danielle Paz, Jillian Soto and Peter Zeigler available for viewing any time in the windows along 53^rd Street.

Art Here Art Now is a project initiated by local artist and Hyde Park Art Center board member Melissa Weber and is presented by HyPa and the University of Chicago.

Melissa said she is really excited for Hyde Park because this project is a great example of what needs to be done with space in the neighborhood and what art can bring to the neighborhood – making art accessible and part of people’s lives.

Give a New Name to the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club: Take the Survey

For over a century The Hyde Park Neighborhood Club has provided much needed programming, service and training to our community. As we enter our second century we are taking a look at what we do and how we can continue to serve the youth of the Hyde Park Neighborhood.

As the needs of our community change we want to make sure our name reflects that of our renewed mission and clearly communicates our continuing dedication to your children. Hyde Park Neighborhood Club has evolved, grown and changed names before.

Please help us make an informed decision and let us know what you think of the current name, suggestions for potential replacements or just give us your thoughts about our organization.

Take the survey here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HPNC_Survey

Thoughts From East Hyde Park

posted by richard gill

Two community relations officers of the 21st Police District attended the September 15 meeting of the East Hyde Park Committee. The 21st regularly sends officers to these meetings, to answer questions and discuss various issues.

This valuable service may no longer be available, because the district's community relations staff is being reduced from six officers to two. The reason for this is understandable—the officers are being reassigned to patrol duties as part of an effort to have more police presence on the street. But it short-changes community relations work, which is critically important in a big city.

This move illustrates just how tightly stretched the Chicago police are at this point. The root problem, of course, is money, and the city has none. There are places to look for money to hire more police. A good start would be reducing the number of political wards from 50 to 20, which would save the pay of 30 aldermen and perhaps 100 ward staffers. Then, take away, or at least reduce and restrict, aldermanic "menu" money, some of which is put to good use, but much of which is frittered away on stuff that just helps aldermen get reelected. (Can you spell "Free Parking and Positive Loitering?")