“Nathaniel Mary Quinn: A Love Letter to My Mother” features 10 artworks by Chicago-born artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn, along with a recreation of his childhood living room from the Robert Taylor Homes public housing project.

According to a 2025 report by the University of Illinois Chicago Great Cities Institute, Latinos make up about 30% of the city and the majority of CPS students, yet only around 6% of philanthropic arts funding is directed toward Latino arts.

Mayda Alexandra del Valle will serve a two-year term and receive $70,000 to commission new works and create public programming. As Chicago’s second poet laureate, del Valle will serve as an ambassador for the city’s literary and creative communities.

The Intuit Art Museum in West Town champions the work of self-taught artists, those who create art outside of the mainstream art world. “Catalyst: Im/migration and Self-Taught Art in Chicago” has been extended through March 22.

A funhouse of art and technology, the WNDR Museum started as a pop-up in 2018 and then became a fixed destination in the West Loop. WTTW News arts correspondent Marc Vitali explored the space.

Arts of Life is a place where creative people with intellectual and developmental disabilities produce works of art and earn an income. Now their colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.”

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events will give one-time emergency grants between $10,000 to $25,000 to eligible nonprofit arts and culture organizations in Chicago that have experienced recent federal funding cuts.

As the nearly 100-year-old Cook County Jail dormitories were demolished in 2021, artist Maria Gaspar was able to salvage 18 cell bars and a couple of bricks.

Whether they work with the latest digital programs or cut up old magazines with scissors, artists can turn collage into a medium of beauty, darkness and humor.

The Intuit Art Museum has a new name, tripled its space (from 6,000 square feet to 18,000) and re-invented itself as a true museum. The new space opens to the public on Friday and WTTW News got an early look inside and out.

Alt Space Chicago is an art gallery that aims to involve the entire neighborhood. Co-founder Jordan Campbell calls it an artist-led engine that uses art and faith to galvanize the community.

Expo Chicago returns to Navy Pier this weekend, bringing art from around the globe and amplifying the city’s status as a destination for artists, gallerists and collectors. There is much to see — 170 galleries from 93 cities and 36 countries.

The new LP “Johnny Iguana – At Delmark” includes standards such as Junior Wells’ “Messin’ With the Kid” and unexpected tunes like Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” and AC/DC’s “Riff Raff” — all instrumental and all on piano.

Archival record label Numero Group pays homage to the practice of music discovery while aiming to give new life to music that may have previously flown under the radar. For more than two decades, the label has reissued music and chronicled the stories of artists across a wide range of genres.

Elena Diadenko aids the war effort in her native country. When she isn’t teaching she raises funds through art-related events — although now she has a heightened sense of urgency due to the new administration in Washington DC.

“I make the work so people feel seen and cared about and have a voice,” Kenn Cook Jr. said. “That’s what the work is — I just amplify the voice of people who live here and give them a chance to tell their own story, not letting that story be written for them.”