The Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority approved the design of the DePaul University basketball arena today. We talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Blair Kamin about the $173 million project, as well as his take on the controversial $51 million Illinois Capitol renovation project in Springfield. View a slideshow.

Run for Science, Apple Fest and contemporary artwork; Chicago Tonight knows what's going on this weekend.

Northwestern University's Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art will be closed for the remainder of the calendar year.

The international art world comes to Navy Pier for the annual Expo Chicago. We get an early look as the artists, curators and gallery owners prepare for the big weekend. Read an interview with an exhibit curator and view a slideshow.

Geoffrey Baer answers your questions about disappearances, reappearances, and sudden appearances across Chicago – like the giant Buddha heads emerging from the earth in Rogers Park and North Lawndale – in this edition of Ask Geoffrey.

We revisit Jay Shefsky's profile of Chicago's sled hockey team -- that's the hard-hitting, fast-paced sport played by amputees and others with lower limb disabilities. Read an article and watch a web extra video.

A blues and soul singer to shake up your expectations. Read the Artbeat blog.

Chicago Sun-Times Theater Critic Hedy Weiss joins us to review shows currently on Chicago area stages, including Other People’s Money by Shattered Globe Theatre at Theater Wit, The Mountaintop at Court Theatre, and In the Heights at The Paramount Theatre. For our online audience, Weiss will also review A Raisin in the Sun at TimeLine Theatre. Learn more about the plays, and watch Hedy's web extra video review.

We revisit a story about a pair of artists who met, married and lived at Jane Addams’ Hull House during the Depression era. Their works are currently on view at the Koehnline Museum on the campus of Oakton Community College in Des Plaines. Read an interview and view a slideshow.

Frank Lloyd Wright designed houses, churches and museums, but the great Prairie architect also designed a book or two. The most significant was called The House Beautiful. Only 90 copies of The House Beautiful were printed, and fewer than 30 are accounted for. Read the Artbeat blog.

What are some of the finest story songs by Chicago songwriters? Read the Artbeat blog.

Veteran sportswriter Ron Rapoport releases his new book this week, From Black Sox to Three-Peats: A Century of Chicago’s Best Sportswriting from the Tribune, Sun-Times, & Other Newspapers. Read an excerpt.

1969 was a pivotal point in Eric Clapton's career. Cream had broken up the previous year, and the 24-year-old Clapton was now part of the super-group Blind Faith, which would dissolve within months. But not before Clapton did a surprise show in Skokie, Illinois.

A fired-up Chicago Bears team takes down the Minnesota Vikings. James "Big Cat" Williams gives us his perspective on yet another fourth quarter comeback. Watch a web extra video.

Mark your calendars for October 17 to witness a painting that is as gruesome as it is great.

Welcome to Artbeat, Chicago Tonight’s blog on arts & culture. It’s a privilege to be the curator and share my enthusiasms, but this is a two-way street: help me out, and I’ll return the favor.