We're Back and Better Than Ever! Bronzeville Art District voted #2 Best Art District's

"Art is Business" https://10best.usatoday.com/awards/best-arts-district/.

Readers' Choice Awards 2025 - View the Results

10 best arts districts in the US for a creative escape

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What makes an arts district inspiring? They might be revitalized and renewed urban spaces in once-derelict neighborhoods, filled with big-name museums that feature architecture as impressive as their art. Alternatively, they could have streets lined with small galleries and studios, interspersed with trendy cafes. 

You'll find that and more in these 10 winning arts districts, nominated by an expert panel and voted on by readers as the best in the U.S. These districts feature vibrant and diverse arts scenes that culturally enrich their cities and visitors.

No. 2: Best Arts District

2025

Art

No. 2: Best Arts District     

Photo courtesy of Raymond Thomas Studios

Just 10 minutes from downtown on Chicago's South Side is the historic Bronzeville Art District, once known as the city's "Black Metropolis." This art district has a rich cultural legacy — the source of Muddy Waters' blues and Gwendolyn Brooks' poetry. Art galleries are housed in restored Graystones, and new murals tell stories alongside historic bronze markers. Third Fridays bring extra energy to the area, as galleries stay open late. Trolley tours of the district are a great way to get to know the area better.

Bronzeville Art District Trolley Tour 2024!

"Art is Business"

Welcome to the **Bronzeville Art District Trolley Tour 2024!** Join us on **Fri Jun 21, 2024, and every 3rd Friday through September** at **Gallery Guichard and other participating venues** for a fun and exciting evening exploring the vibrant art scene of Bronzeville. Hop on the double-decker businesses and visit the art galleries, studios, and art spaces showcasing the work of talented local, national, and international artists. Immerse yourself in the creativity and culture of this historic neighborhood. Take advantage of this opportunity to discover new artists and support the arts community in Bronzeville. See you there!

Blanc Gallery Chicago

Bronzeville Artist Lofts

Faie Afrikan Art Gallery

Gallery Guichard and Event Space

South Side Community Art Center

Ride the Double-Decker bus that will take you to the 5 participating art galleries and art institutions in Bronzeville. Featuring some of the best fine art and entertainment in the city of Chicago. Free and Fun for the entire family! Please share with your art friends and family.

SOUNDSCAPE TAPESTRY EXPERIMENTAL FILM SERIES

"Art is Business" 

JOIN US ON FRIDAY, JULY 21, 2023, FOR AN EVENING OF EXPERIMENTAL FILM DURING THE BRONZEVILLE ART DISTRICT TROLLEY TOUR. FEATURING TACTICAL URBANISM IN THE HORIZONTAL LANDSCAPE-- SOUNDSCAPE TAPESTRY.

Alpha Bruton, lead artist, and the Phantom Gallery Chicago is my curatorial practice. I'm collaborating with composer and musician Reggie Nicholson. This project is designed as an intensive experience.

We are creating a work with an interdisciplinary approach and will present the final product during community programming. This project occurs in and around the Bronzeville community, collecting sounds from the horizontal landscape to produce the Soundscape Tapestry.

CEFF 

Featured Speaker: Ife Olatunji

Topic: Collective Voices Ethnographic Film Festival Preview

Olatunji is a visual anthropologist, documentary filmmaker, and film critic. Born into a family of artists and activists, she graduated from Syracuse University with a BA in Anthropology ('06) and a minor in photography and African American History. Ife completed her MA in Visual Anthropology from the University of Manchester, UK ('10) after creating a short documentary on daily life for girls in Rajasthan, India. She has since lived in Chicago, teaching documentary and film production to youth as young as 6 to adults at community centers and The Art Institute of Wisconsin. She has been a media educator with Facets Multimedia for the past four years, teaching media literacy, narrative editing, and documentary filmmaking. As a Diverse Voices in Documentary fellow with Kartemquin, Ife developed her own short observational film and worked with others to produce and edit their projects. Ife has continued to work with The Community Film Workshop, Reel Black Filmmakers, and Collected Voices: Chicago's Ethnographic Film Festival. An advocate for diversity and inclusion, Ife believes race and gender should not be categories of film festivals but rather the very topics film seeks to explore: www.collectedvoicesfilmfest.com.

Raymond A. Thomas, Studio/Film 12 MINUTES | 2001

CINEMA

N'spire Entertainment Inc. is the film and video production subsidiary of Raymond A. Thomas Studios.

In 2000, Raymond A. Thomas wrote, directed, and produced his first film project, 12 MINUTES. The 30-minute film short was an official selection to over 20 film festivals worldwide, winning numerous awards and honors. The film, which deals with the issues of mass incarceration and the death penalty, continues to be used in community arts engagement efforts with screenings in correctional facilities nationwide. Thomas has written over a half dozen feature screenplays, several of which have been optioned by major motion picture studios. In 2013, Thomas won an EMMY for serving as an associate producer on the documentary COLORBLIND: Rethinking Race, which aired on television station WYCC in Chicago.

Lavon N. Pettis, project manager for the 2023 Phantom Gallery Chicago Tactical Urbanism Film Series.

A Published ethnographer/researcher with program development, piloting, pre and post-evaluation, and background for hire. Civic and community engagement project manager. Best practices, technical savvy, and additional perks include negotiation. Skills include but are not limited to infrastructure setup, operations, lead planning, special events, capacity building, arts, and entertainment. Career experience includes public/social policy strategist, state director, sponsorship procurement, and fundraising.

Bronzeville Art District Trolley Tour 2023

"Art is Business" www.bronzevilleartdistrict.com    Bronzeville Art District Trolley Tour 2023 

 

CULTURAL STAKEHOLDERS IN THE BRONZEVILLE COMMUNITY COLLABORATE TO PRESENT FREE SUMMER PROGRAMMING 

CHICAGO  – Bronzeville is again a focal point for Chicago's vibrant African American culture. Like Harlem in New York, Bronzeville is a community where Chicago's African American music, Literature, Fine Art, and Theater historically thrive. The Bronzeville Art District (BAD) currently consists of five established visual art spaces working together to focus and drive cultural activities in the community so that a distinctive cultural identity can be crystallized and communicated. 

About this event

Please join us on the 3rd Friday of the month for the Bronzeville Art District (BAD) Trolley Tour 2022! Bronzeville Art District Celebrating 17 years, Every 3rd Friday between June and September, ride the Double-Decker Bus for fine art and entertainment in Bronzeville!

Ride the Double-Decker bus that will take you to the 5 participating art galleries and art institutions in Bronzeville. Featuring some of the best fine art and entertainment in the city of Chicago. Free and Fun for the entire family! Please share with your art friends and family.

2023 Summer Tour Schedule and Participating Bronzeville Locations:

June 16, July 21, August 18, September 15, 6 pm to 9pm

You can visit galleries, art institutions, or studios and experience unique art and entertainment.

Blanc Gallery

Bronzeville Artist Lofts

Gallery Guichard

Faie Afrikan Art

South Side Community Art Center

We look forward to seeing you for the 2023 Art Tour Season!
Sponsored by
The University of Illinois Cancer Center
Gift of Hope
Blue Cross Blue Shield
CIBC Bank
Building Community Foundation
Bronzeville Art District

THE JAZZ INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO DEVOTES 2022 TO HONOR THE GREAT LOUIS ARMSTRONG.

"Art is Business"

THE JAZZ INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO DEVOTES 2022 

TO HONOR THE GREAT LOUIS ARMSTRONG.

He arrived in Chicago in 1922 from New Orleans to play as a sideman for King Oliver. He left Chicago an international superstar. Throughout 2022 join us for concerts, exhibits, discussions, and more as we celebrate and tell the story of this master musician's life and legacy. A founding father of jazz, the first pop star, and a cultural ambassador of the United States, he is the incredible Louis Armstrong.

For Immediate Release... Press Contact: Scott Anderson 

April 19, 2022, Scott@JazzInChicago.org 

 847-337-2111 mobile phone 

 

JAZZ INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO HONORS LOUIS ARMSTRONG 

Events are planned all year to celebrate 100 years since Louis Armstrong arrived in Chicago. 

CHICAGO, IL -- The Jazz Institute of Chicago is proud to bring together jazz luminaries from Chicago 

and beyond for a range of concerts and events to honor the man who arrived in Chicago 100 years ago 

and changed the course of America's original art.

 

In 1922 Louis Armstrong made a small splash playing riverboats and clubs in and around New Orleans. Then, that summer, he was summoned by King Oliver to come to Chicago and join his Creole Jazz Band  on the second cornet. He soon dazzled Chicago audiences with new and exciting playing and the astonishing duets he shared with Oliver. His first recorded solo was on the song "Chimes Blues" with King  Oliver on April 5, 1923. 

It was also in Chicago where Louis met his future wife, Lil Hardin Armstrong, a gifted pianist and composer who had a profound effect on Armstrong's playing as well as his personal style. Louis and Lil married and bought a home on East 44th on Chicago's Southside. Over the next several years, Lil helped guide Louis from a top-notch local player with country bumpkin charm to an international superstar and America's first cultural ambassador to the world. In Chicago, Louis continued to record 

songs that would alter the course of jazz forever. As Dizzy Gillespie said, "No Louis, no me." 

The current line-up of Jazz Institute of Chicago events is as follows: 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20 

CHICAGO LOVES POPS: A CELEBRATION OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG 

Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E 60th Street 

Trumpet greats Orbert Davis, Corey Wilkes, and Maurice Brown pay homage to the great Louis. 

Armstrong arrived in Chicago 100 years ago and changed jazz forever. 

Ticket info at www.jazzinchicago.org

FRIDAY & SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4 & 5 at 7PM 

LOUIS ARMSTRONG ART EXHIBITION and CONCERT 

Fulton Street Collective, 1821 W. Hubbard Street

Two evenings of artwork inspired by Louis and Lil Hardin Armstrong with special concerts with Marques Carroll on November 4 and Chris Neal on November 5.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2 at 7PM 

JAZZ CITY: TRIBUTE TO ELLA AND LOUIS 

South Shore Cultural Center 7059 S South Shore Dr 

Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald recorded some of the most known and enduring songs in 

jazz history. Bruce Henry and Alysha Monique pay tribute to this exceptional pair. Expect a few 

holiday tunes too!

Palm Sunday Concert Series 2022 Final Installment REGGIE NICHOLSON CONCEPTS

"Art is Business"  https://www.reggienicholson.com/.

Andre, Frances Guichard of Gallery Guichard, and Joseph Harrington of THE MOJO Group, LTD will host a series of outdoor concerts under Palm Sunday as a tribute to and in memory of Gerri Oliver and the Palm Tavern. 

 This year Gallery Guichard will be launching the Palm Sunday, an outdoor concert series that happens in the Empty Lot 47th and Vincennes adjunct to the Great Migration Sculpture Garden and activated the alleyway next to 436 E. 47th Street as a social distance safe zone for art tour attendees, and the surrounding neighborhood—in addition, presenting live music, and other activities to Chicago neighborhoods so that all can enjoy themselves without regard to economic status or where a person lives. 

Our outdoor stage is a mobile venue that moves all over the city and becomes a movable, portable stage. Culture Coach makes a mobile stage more useful as it fills a gap left by community disinvestment. Susan Fox

 Join us next Sunday, September 18, 2022, from 2 pm to 5 pm for a Jazz Explosion to end the summer season!  

Palm Sunday in tribute to the historic Palm Tavern that was once located at the same place as the Great Migration Sculpture Garden!

Enjoy the amazing Jazz of Reggie Nicholson, Isiah Collier, Cory Wilkes, and Donovan Mixon and the rich history of the Bronzeville community.

The brunch package offers delicious food and relaxation in the garden.  

Tactical Urbanism in the Horizontial Landscape 2022

"Art is Business" https://www.bronzevilleartdistrict.com/palm-sunday-s

The Beauty of Blackness Fine Art Show - Congratulations

"Art is Business" https://www.thebeautyofblacknessfineartshow.com/showreel.

Renewal Revival & Remembrance 2022 AAAM Conference

"Art is Business"  I'm attending the 2022 AAAM Conference representing Sojourner Truth African Heritage Museum; very excited about the opportunity to attend this year.

MISSION

The Association of African American Museums (AAAM) is a non-profit member organization established to support African and African American-focused museums nationally and internationally, as well as the professionals who protect, preserve and interpret African and African American art, history, and culture.

Established as the single representative and principal voice of the African American museum movement, the Association seeks to strengthen and advocate for the interests of institutions and individuals committed to preserving African-derived cultures.

The services provided by AAAM enhance the ability of those museums to serve the needs and interests of persons of African ancestry and those who wish to know more about the art, history, and culture of African-derived cultures.

HISTORY

AAAM was established to provide professional development and networking opportunities to broadly serve its membership base and African American and diaspora audiences. As a result, the Association has a longstanding success rate of convening leaders, from national and international institutions, around issues of professional development and capacity building, boasting a membership of over 800 individual and institutional members rallying around this worthy cause.

Membership comprises museums, museum professionals, institutions, and individuals who share an interest in African American art, culture, and history. Through training opportunities and member services, AAAM supports the goals of African American museums and museum professionals. The Association includes cultural organizations, historical societies, and museums that collect, preserve, and exhibit objects valuable to art, history, and science, as well as educational institutions, research agencies, and cultural centers.

AAAM works as an advocate for the interests of institutions and individuals committed to the support of African and African-derived cultures. It defines a relationship between the body of such institutions within the national museum community. It seeks to strengthen such institutions through improved communication, shared resources, training, annual conferences, technical assistance, and fundraising guidance. The Association also provides services supportive of the professional needs of its membership.

AAAM shares a common core of knowledge and a sense of purpose with our member institutions to advance the professional and scholarly attainments of our members by supporting opportunities for sound professional preparation, observing high ethical standards, and providing outlets for research and collaboration that foster the improvement of the museum profession.

AAAM FOUNDERS

In the late 1960s, Dr. Margaret Burroughs, founder of the DuSable Museum in Chicago, and Dr. Charles H. Wright, of the Museum of African American History in Detroit initiated a series of conferences for Black museums. In 1978, a consortium of six Black museums, with funding from the National Museum Act (administered by the Smithsonian Institution), presented a series of conferences at participating institutions. The conferences allowed an ad hoc committee to lay the groundwork for yet another organization.

Under the chairmanship of E. Barry Gaither, the committee, prepared by-laws ratified in Detroit in February of 1978. The new organization adopted the name" "African American Museums Association" (AAMA) and elected its first governing council AAMA's’sAAMA's's council AAMA's first office was at the Museum of the National Center for Afro-American Artists in Boston, Massachusetts.

During the General Session of the 1997 AAMA Annual Conference in Baltimore, Maryland, the members present voted to change the name t" "Association of African American Museum,"" dissolving the former name of AAMA. Reorganized as the Association of African American Museums (AAAM) in 1998, the organization continued servicing constituents with annual conferences and fellowship opportunities.

Under the leadership of a dedicated volunteer executive director, Willia" "Bi" l" Billingsley, AAAM relocated to the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Ohio and expanded its operations to serve the burgeoning number of new institutions focused on African American content. During this period, the organization set out to provide improved communication (including a website and newsletter), shared resources, professional training, and technical assistance.

In the 2000s and beyond, the Association has focused on identifying the composition and needs of its constituents and the larger African American museum community, aided by the support from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Including a number of projects surveying the Black Museum field and supporting strategic planning for the Association. Continuing its core work and collaborating with the new National Museum of African American History and Culture, AAAM looks forward to future success in furthering and implementing the critical work of institutions and professionals dedicated to preserving and promoting the art, history, and culture of African and African American communities globally.

Guest speaker Omar Casimire of the Katrina National Memorial Archives, u...

 Guest speaker, Omar Casimire of the Katrina National Memorial Archives, gives us a preview of an upcoming exhibit and an update on the Museum. 

Phantom Gallery Chicago, Alpha Bruton, and Phantom Galleries LA Liza Simone have created a network of support for artists, curators, and arts organizers who are engaged in temporary public art installations, storefronts, and projects that engage community response.

"We envision the project as a portal for shared knowledge, a resource of best practices, ongoing professional development, and a place for moral support to enhance our collective impact."

 NEW POP UP Research Station Cafe 

Grab your lunch and join in each Tuesday 

11am PST/ 1:00pm CST/ 2pm EST

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81366367712?pwd=emlDZW50TFRBN3lJMzNGTC9iN1lvQT09

Meeting ID: 813 6636 7712

Passcode: popup

Popup Research Station- CAFÉ, a weekly professional development training 2 -hour session, will help build the capacity for that stewardship through training, infrastructure improvements, and external partnerships. Each session will be a working group, with breakrooms designed to have open conversations with collaborators on the team. We envision the project as a portal for shared knowledge, a resource of best practices, ongoing professional development, and a place for moral support to enhance our collective impact.

Artists Design the Future Creatives Develop SPACES!

"Art is Business"

You are Invited!

I am hosting an Info Session with artists to discuss how artists + creatives might design, own, and manage art space. The Bloomingdale Arts Building is an example of condo ownership, and we will open a discussion about various models.

Laura Weathered