Josh Schonwald
University of Chicago News
ph: 773-702-8359

June Arts Festival to Showcase Hyde Park's Cultural Offerings

Scheduled to coincide with the 57th Street Art Fair, the oldest juried art fair in the Midwest, the third annual Hyde Park Arts Fest will offer a smorgasbord of arts activities - from live music, theatre, ballet, and modern dance to poetry readings, arts exhibitions, and access to some of the Chicago's great museums.

And during festival weekend, a free trolley system will link the more than 20 participating arts institutions offering concerts, workshops, and tours. As an additional bonus, on weekends, parking is free of charge at all University of Chicago parking lots, including the parking structure on the southeast corner of 55th Street and Ellis Avenue.

Participating arts organizations include the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House, the David and Alfred Smart Museum, one of the country's leading university art museums; the University of Chicago's Renaissance Society museum, the country's oldest contemporary art society; the Chicago Storytellers Guild; the Oriental Institute Museum, home to one of the finest collections of ancient Near Eastern art in the world.

From ballet recitals and calligraphy workshops, to concerts, and lectures on modern art, the Hyde Park arts festival will have activities for people of all ages and interests. Some of this year's highlights include:

… Smart Museum curator Richard A. Born will discuss the exchange between Eastern and Western designers of the early 20th Century.
… Free tours of the Oriental Institute's Egyptian, Mesopotamian and Persian Galleries.
… Live Performances of traditional Indonesian gamelan and carillon music at Rockefeller Chapel.
… Muntu Dance Theatre will perform interpretations of ancient African and African American dance.
… The Silk Road Theatre Project's Precious Stones, in which two women, one Jewish, one Palestine, join forces to organize an Arab-Jewish dialogue group.

A complete schedule of programs is available at www.artsfest.uchicago.edu . This year, the fair, which is sponsored by the University of Chicago and the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce, will be headquartered at the Smart Museum.