Chicago Cultural Center Welcome Center and Neighborhood Cultural Spotlight
Open Daily 10am-5pm, Free Admission
Chicago Cultural Center, 1st Floor North
DCASE Homepage > Chicago Cultural Center > Plan Your Visit > Welcome Center > Learning Lab
Visit the Welcome Center off the Randolph Street (North) lobby for a cultural orientation featuring Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events programming in Millennium Park, the Chicago Cultural Center and beyond in the Millennium Park Campus and around the city of Chicago.
Check out the current Neighborhood Cultural Spotlights (FKA CULTURE SNAPS) in the Welcome Center and then nominate your favorite neighborhood cultural asset!
Neighborhood Cultural Spotlight features people, places and things nominated by Chicagoans for their cultural contribution to their neighborhood’s vitality.
Neighborhood Cultural Spotlight celebrates cultural assets in Chicago’s varied and vibrant 77 community areas. Check out the features in this space and then visit them in person or online!
Know a person, place or thing in your neighborhood that deserves a spotlight?
Current 2023 Neighborhood Cultural Spotlights
FOURTUNEHOUSE Art Center
September 1, 2, 15 & 16, 2023
Bronzeville
Fourtunehouse creative company and art center is based in Bronzeville with a mission centered around empowering artists and change makers by generating access to creative entrepreneurial resources.
In June 2022, Fourtunehouse Art Center opened at 4410 South Cottage Grove as a home to events, exhibitions, initiatives, and programs, and for engaging the Bronzeville community. The space is home to a range of curated experiences such as audio production and engineering workshops, environmental justice based programming, and open mics; and it welcomes creatives and entrepreneurs to connect and host their own exhibitions, listening parties, panels, pop-ups, and other events in the space.
Visit Fortunehouse to experience activations and exhibitions such as their Season Two Gallery (July 2023) which will explore the concept of home and invite artists to express their interpretations through multidisciplinary and visual art forms.
Son Monarcas
October 6, 7, 20 & 21, 2023
Garfield Park, Pilsen and Little Village
Son Monarcas is a Latin Folk Fusion ensemble led by Mercedes Inez and Irekani Ferreyra and comprised of musicians well-versed in the Afro-Mestizo genres of folk music from Latin America that blend the traditional with the contemporary by creating original arrangements of "son" while retaining the foundation of the traditional style. Like the Monarch Butterfly, they take you on a musical migration from the USA to Latin America by fusing indie soul with traditional son & cumbia.
Son Monarcas is committed to providing quality arts programming for students of all ages and backgrounds that focuses on cultural education through the arts, thus inspiring the next generation of arts audiences & practitioners. Teaching bilingual dynamic programs in a multitude of schools, Son Monarcas & Nahui Ollin are mindful of the State of Illinois Education Goals for Music, Dance, Visual Art, and Theatre.
Traditional and authentic Mexican music and dance presentations and education in community settings create a more meaningful connection to the music and the culture for our audience.
Ms. Brazhal
MSB DANCE
November 3, 4, 17 & 18, 2023
Washington Park
Ms. Brazhal Brewer is the Dance Director of Movement Strengthens Balance Dance Ensemble. MSB Dance Ensemble has an Elite performance team dedicated to sharing their talent across the Chicagoland area. Ms. Brazhal has been teaching dance to city youth since the age of 11 at many dance programs and after school programs.
MSB Dance Elite Performance Ensemble creates the opportunity for youth to use dance as an escape, a release, and to provide structure and balance in their lives. Ms. B uses dance as an outlet of expression and challenges young people to step outside of their box, and inspires them with her passion for teaching.
Their goal is to inspire their community with dance education, and focus on performance opportunities that will motivate, educate, and develop an appreciation of the fine arts.
Instagram @msb_dance_
Visit us:
Admission is FREE
Open Daily, 10am–5pm
Exhibitions close 15 minutes before the building closes
(Closed Holidays)
Find us:
Chicago Cultural Center
77 E. Randolph St.
Chicago, IL 60601
Parking:
Nearby parking garages are located at Grant Park North Garage (25 N. Michigan Ave.), Grant Park South Garage (325 S. Michigan Ave.) and Millennium Park Garage & Millennium Lakeside Garage (5 S. Columbus Dr.).
Pay in person at each garage location or pre-pay online for discounted parking. Visit www.millenniumgarages.com/rates or call 312.616.0600 for 24/7 customer service.
Public Transportation:
Take CTA to the Chicago Cultural Center
From the elevated lines: exit at Washington/Wabash and walk east.
From the subway: exit at Lake (Red Line) or Washington (Blue Line) and walk east.
Served by Michigan Avenue buses 3, 4, 19, 20, 26, 60, 66, 124, 143, 147, 151, 157 and Washington St. buses 4, J14, 20, 56, 66, 147.
For travel information, visit www.transitchicago.com. For fare information or to purchase fares in advance, visit www.ventrachicago.com.
The Chicago Inclusive Dance Festival
December 1, 2, 15 & 16, 2023
Disability Communities Across Chicago
The Chicago Inclusive Dance Festival/DisFest is an annual event focused on community building through inclusive dance. CIDF/DisFest features inclusive movement workshops alongside non-movement activities, such as short film and dance video viewings, academic presentations, discussions, and networking opportunities.
The festival connects this small community in meaningful and measurable ways by encouraging integrated, inclusive, and adaptive dance practitioners to dance together, to share their work, to collaborate, to discuss guidelines and procedures for best practices, and to network. The integrated and inclusive dance community has gained visibility in Chicagoland and the larger dance community through CIDF/DisFest.
They have sparked new art works and significant collaborations across Chicago neighborhoods and have grown the field of trained, disabled dance professionals in Chicago. Past participants have gone on to become celebrated Chicago dancers, dancemakers and dance teachers. The Chicago Inclusive Dance Festival/DisFest is a joyous event that is free, accessible, and open to the public.
Aguijon Theater
April 5, 6, 19 & 20, 2024
Belmont Cragin
Founded in 1989, Aguijón Theater Company is dedicated to creating exciting and meaningful theatrical experiences through the cultural exploration, discussion, and performance of works in Spanish.
As Chicago’s longest-running Latino theater, the company strives to foster, promote, and celebrate the diverse cultural excellence of the city’s Latino theater artists while challenging and inspiring its audiences to surmount language barriers and cross cultural boundaries.
Fiercely committed to ensuring that the arts are accessible in every Chicago neighborhood, Aguijón is especially dedicated to creating for and with the Belmont-Cragin community where the company has been rooted since 1999.
71st and Crandon Garden
May 3, 4, 17 & 18, 2024
South Shore
The 71st and Crandon Community Garden is located on the Southeast side of Chicago in the heart of South Shore, just blocks away from the South Shore Cultural Center.
The garden offers a safe and peaceful space for the community to gather for programs that help promote a sense of self-efficiency, connectedness, and wellness.
They seek to build community bonds and friendships that will expand across the generations by offering various free activities throughout the season. Programs include family fun days with arts and crafts, cooking demonstrations, yoga and gardening classes, as well as live music events.