Chicago

Critic’s

Table

Andres Hernandez, BR’RR PTCH Studies 002; BR’RR PTCH Studies 003.(2022)

Dec 7, 2023

Chicago Criticism: A Culminating Discussion

Green Line Performing Arts Center

6:00 - 7:30PM

Doors at 5PM

The Chicago Critic’s Table is APL’s new eight-month, paid incubator for emerging Chicago cultural critics.

For new and diverse art to thrive, we need new kinds of criticism and critical communities capable of reaching across audiences — and platforms — that have historically been siloed.

In our pilot year, this program will explore how we can create new critical communities composed of groups often treated as distinct — scholarly audiences, professional critics, fellow artists, community members who frequent the arts, community members who don’t, and more.

Chicago Critic’s Table offers emerging critics the opportunity to build a lasting network of colleagues working across a range of topics, methods, and platforms in order to support and experiment with each other as they continue to develop their voice, practice, and audience. In particular, this program seeks to foster critics whose work focuses on arts and culture as relevant to South Side communities.

Why Critics?

The sustainability of the arts in our communities requires that we attend to the physical and social life of art beyond its immediate production by also tending to its reception and circulation. By supporting a new generation of critics, we also support the work and careers of local artists, entrepreneurs, and cultural producers, and help connect new audiences to new work.

More broadly, by supporting new and inclusive communities of critics, we aim to expand what we consider criticism, who we consider critics, and what is considered “worthy” of criticism.

Meet the Cohort

click the photo to view bio

Current Works: Samples from our 2023 Cohort
House of Blues

Zaria El-Fil

Natasha Moustache: Lerozyon (L-EURO-ZHUHN)

Portable Gray, Vol 6, Issue 2. 2023

Entering Lerozyon (L-EURO-ZHUHN), visitors are transported to the shores of the Seychelles Islands. Bird songs from the archipelago serve as their own dialect, inviting visitors into the vast, polyphonic landscape. The walls are predominantly beige/cream (a color called “dainty lace”) and resemble the sprawling sand beaches found in Seychelles. There is a mixture of framed images that protrude outward to meet the visitor and those printed directly onto the wall … [Read More]

Camille Bacon

Immanuel Wilkins and Camille Bacon in conversation at the Stony Island Arts Bank

Rebuild Foundation. May 3. 2023

On March 28, 2023, ahead of his performance at Constellation, Chicago, alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins was joined by Camille Bacon for a conversation orbiting around the notion of musical composition and performance as a channel for the divine, specifically as it … [read more]

Camille Bacon

Rearrange: Torkwase Dyzon and Black Feminist Breathing

MOMUS. August 3, 2022

Spending time in a museum after it closes to the public holds a certain wonder. There is something invigorating about turning up where you know you are not usually “supposed” to be.

As scholar and somatic practitioner Aimee Cox says: “We have to train ourselves to be disobedient. I am exhausted by obedience—it has not served us.” Conscious disobedience has a way of enlivening the senses and hurtling our spirits back towards their … [read more]

Rikki Byrd

Curator's Talk | The New Black Vanguard: Antwaun Sargent in conversation with Rikki Byrd

Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), Mar 6, 2023

The New Black Vanguard: Photography between Art and Fashion highlights the work of 15 contemporary fashion photographers—from London to Lagos, New York to Johannesburg—whose images present radically new perspectives on the medium of … [Read More]

Britt Julious

Kara Jackson’s Mournful, Joyful, Unapologetic Guitar-Ass Music

Pitchfork, March 29, 2023

On Kara Jackson’s humbly epic song “no fun/party,” she mixes piercing personal reflections with writerly metaphors involving elephant tusks and dancing dragons, all atop her own spare guitar playing. Wistful strings simmer to the surface at points, intensifying the spotlight on Jackson’s plainly heartfelt delivery. It’s the kind of song that makes you instantly … [Read More]

Regina Victor

The Death of Oedipus and The Departure of Charlie Newell: ‘The Gospel at Colonus’ Heralds The Court Theatre Into a New Age

Rescripted, Sept 22, 2023

Watching The Gospel at Colonus at The Getty Villa is like watching a live resurrection. A theatre piece becomes a fossil on closing day, an antiquity to be dusted off and given new life. Mark J.P. Hood and Charlie Newell have rolled their stone all the way from … [Read More]

The Chicago Critic’s Table will be a biennial program, launching in 2023. This pilot year will be led by UChicago faculty member and Director of Arts + Public Life, Adrienne Brown (Associate Professor, Department of English and Department of Race, Diaspora, and Indigeneity).

During this time, participants will

  • workshop their criticism and experiment with other critical modes, voices, and platforms

  • incubate collaborative critical projects with participants, faculty, and artists

  • learn from other local critics and experience local work together

  • engage with artists, audiences, and artistic work at Arts + Public Life

  • propose public talk-backs and critical conversations

  • produce a portfolio of work about artistic and cultural production relevant to South Side communities. 

The Details

  • The cohort consists of 6 fellows in total, with two spots reserved for UChicago Graduate students. There are no university requirements for the other four spots.

  • The pilot year runs from April - November, 2023. It is broken into two phases: 

    • Phase I: Two-month intensive

      • We kick off the process the week of April 17th, 2023 with sessions that meet in person every week

    • Phase II: Monthly Sessions

      • From July - Nov, fellows will work largely independently, coming together on a monthly basis for workshops and review sessions

  • Funding: Fellows will receive an unrestricted stipend totaling $5,000.00, paid out on a bi-weekly basis over the 8 months. 

    • Additionally, we have set aside a $1000 Engagement Budget per fellow, to cover tickets, travel, etc. 

About the program