Chicago's Cultural Classrooms

Chicago is a city of cultural gems - many of them more than a century old. The World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 gave birth to both the Field Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra goes back even further, having given its inaugural concert in 1891. Newer gems including the Chicago Botanic Gardens, the Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, have also become important contributors to the Windy City's cultural landscape.

Most of these institutions are deservedly well known to Chicagoans and tourists alike. The Field Museum is famous for Sue, the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil yet discovered. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has won countless Grammies for its recordings and is revered around the world for its performances. The Museum of Contemporary Art draws crowds and controversy for its exhibits. And most everyone who grew up

in the area remembers field trips to the coal mine and U-505 submarine at the Museum of Science and Industry. But these and our other cultural institutions are far more than mere tourist attractions. They are also educational institutions, and are great places of learning for both intellectual enrichment and professional enhancement.

Here are just a few of Chicago's cultural classrooms.

The Newberry Library
60 West Walton Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
312-943-9090
www.newberry.org

The Newberry Library is an independent, free research library concentrating in the humanities. It houses an extensive noncirculating collection of rare books, maps, and manuscripts. The Newberry Library was founded by a bequest of Walter Loomis Newberry, a businessman and book collector who had been president of the Chicago Historical Society. The Newberry Library opened in 1896.

The Newberry Library Seminars program offers diverse and affordable classes. Topics range from genealogy (Keeping Up with the Dead: The Cemetery for the Genealogist) to art and music (The Harlem Renaissance: An Overview) to history (Siblings or Strangers - Christians and Jews in the Beginning) to writing (We Are the Stories We Tell). Other subjects include literature, Chicago history, book arts, and calligraphy. Most classes are in the $60 to $170 price range. Some seminars are eligible for Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

The Art Institute of Chicago
111 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60603
312-443-3600
www.artic.edu

The Art Institute of Chicago houses more than 300,000 works of art. Best known for Georges Seurat's A Sunday Afternoon on La Gran de Jatte, Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, and its collection of 33 paintings by Claude Monet, the Art Institute also offers lectures and classes within the facility, and runs the prominent School of the Art Institute of Chicago [SAIC].

The SAIC has been offering arts education for more than 100 years. Offerings include undergraduate and graduate degree programs, as well as a continuing studies program that caters to children and adults. The school also operates the acclaimed Ox-Bow summer school of art in Saugatuck, Michigan.

Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
2430 North Cannon Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60614
773-755-5100
www.naturemuseum.org

A newcomer on the block, but with a pedigree going back to the mid-nineteenth century, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum is a child of the Chicago Academy of Sciences and opened its glass doors in 1999. The mission of the museum is to expand the knowledge of nature and environmental science to promote understanding of Midwestern environmental issues and how those issues relate to the rest of the world.

Best known for its beautiful Lincoln Park facility and Judy Istock Butterfly Haven, the museum also offers classes for adults and children. Adults can take Hatha Yoga for Beginners and learn about yoga's philosophy and connection with the natural world. For 4 and 5 year-olds, Knee-High Naturalists is a fully facilitated, hands-on "tree-rific" class where budding naturalists will visit neighborhood trees, grow their own, and samples some tasty "treets."

Chicago Botanic Garden
1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, Illinois 60022
847-835-8261
www.chicagobotanic.org

Chicago's cultural classrooms are not limited to the indoors! A good place to get down and dirty is the School of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Since opening in 1972, the Garden's 385 acres have been transformed into a classroom, with more than 1.9 million plant specimens and 75 acres of lakes to study. The Garden is well known as a beautiful place to enjoy 26 specialty gardens, but the school offers classes and workshops on how to create that beauty yourself. From beginning courses for the casual gardener to Certificate programs for the serious plant enthusiast and aspiring professional, there is a class for everyone. Classes are offered at the main Glencoe location, Lincoln Park, and in Gurnee, Illinois. Most of the courses for the casual gardener are one-day events, and cost less than $30. In addition to gardening and landscape design, courses are offered in the botanical arts such as feng shui, bookbinding, Japanese ink painting, sketching, Zen, and more.

The school also offers a Naturalist Certificate Program (NCP) in association with the Morton Arboretum and the Field Museum. Courses include ecology, botany, zoology, and geology.

Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust
951 Chicago Avenue
Oak Park, Illinois 60302
708-848-1976
www.wrightplus.org

Frank Lloyd Wright certainly qualifies as a Chicago cultural institution. Perhaps the greatest of American architects, Wright made his home in Oak Park during his formative years as a professional. From 1889 to 1909, the years that Wright launched his famed Prairie style, Wright lived at 951 Chicago Avenue in Oak Park. The home and studio were as much his architectural laboratory as they were his personal residence.

In addition to regular tours at the Frank Lloyd Wright Studio in Oak Park and the Frederick C. Robie House in Chicago's Hyde Park, the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust sponsors lectures and tours. Upcoming events include a lecture on Great English Gardens by British architect Alfred Rowe, Junior Architecture Tours at Wright's Home and Studio and at Robie House, and Why Architecture Matters, a lecture by Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin.

Museum of Contemporary Art
220 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60611
312-280-2660
www.mcachicago.org

The Museum of Contemporary Art has been providing thought-provoking art, performance, and educational programs since 1967. In July 1996 the MCA moved into its new building near Chicago's historic Water Tower. The entire first floor of the new facility is dedicated to education. The Museum attempts to reach a broad audience through imaginative programs for adults, children, and families.

MCA's Fall 2002 course catalog includes classes on knitting, figure drawing, painting, writing, art history, computer graphics, yoga, tai chi, and The Art of Breath.

MCA also participates in joint programming with the Chicago Humanities Festival, the Poetry Center of Chicago, and the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum.

The Field Museum
1400 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60605
312-665-7100
www.fmnh.org

The Field Museum originated in the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. Located in Chicago's Jackson Park, the original structure was one of the exposition's most attractive buildings, but had been built of plaster with the intent it would last only a couple of years. The Field Museum opened in its current location and building in 1921.

The Field Museum offers far more than dinosaurs and chocolate. A variety of courses, lectures, and family and preschool programs are also presented. Upcoming adult programs for Fall 2002 include The Ancient Near East: Myth and Magic, Fossil Basics, and Chicago Archaeology. Family programs (designed primarily for youths accompanied by adult) include Paleontology A to Z, Music: Science and Sound! (no parent required for this one), and Behind-the-Scenes Workshop: Snakes and Legless Lizards!

Chicago Symphony Orchestra
220 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60604
312-294-3400
www.cso.org

Since first performing under the baton of Theodore Thomas in 1891, the CSO has gone on to both popular and critical acclaim. Great conductors have led and great soloists have performed with the orchestra for over a century. In 1997, renovations on Orchestra Hall, the CSO's home since 1904, were completed, turning it into Symphony Center.

Best known for its myriad awards and illustrious directors, CSO also offers a continuing education program. The Women's Association of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra presents adult education seminars, which include lectures and recitals by CSO and other musicians. CSO also offers a variety of educational programs targeted to youths, families, and schools. For ticket holders, pre-and post-concert conversations are also offered.

Museum of Science and Industry
57th Street and Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60637
773-684-1414
www.msichicago.org

The Museum of Science and Industry has origins that are tied to the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. The building is the last remaining major structure from the fair. The museum was the result of the civic pride Julius Rosenwald, Chairman of Sears Roebuck & Company. With the help of other Midwest business leads, the Palace of Fine Arts was converted into the Museum of Science and Industry, and opened to the public in 1933, in time for the Century of Progress Exposition.

The Museum's education division offers a mixture of events, ranging from field trips for students to professional development workshops for adults. This Fall, a variety of workshops for Girl Scouts are offered, including Aerospace, where students will learn about flying and the aerospace industry, and Toymaker, where Girl Scouts apply their scientific know-how and become investigators for the day. The Museum also offers "Snoozeums", overnight programs for organized youth groups of at least 10 individuals with children ages 7 to 14.

These are just some of the Chicago cultural institutions that are also Chicago's cultural classrooms. Interesting and diverse activities can also be found at the Mexican Fine Arts Cultural Center (www.mfacmchicago.org), the Harold Washington Library (www.chipublib.org), the John G. Shedd Aquarium (www.sheddnet.org), the Adler Planetarium (www.adlerplanetarium.org), and other institutions new and old. These cultural institutions will always be great places to bring visiting family and friends for music, art, and other exhibits, but don't forget them when you're looking for your next class!