Now is the Time: Artists Go to Work

Arts and America at 250: We Stand at the Intersection of Creativity and Politics

Keynote Conversation
Friday, November 6, 2026
12:30pm – 1:45pm
Penthouse, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts
Free and Open to the Public

Artists have always responded to great inflection points in American history, and the 250th anniversary of our nation, at a particularly polarized time, is no different. Like art at the moment of the bicentennial, which carried its own fraught politics, artists across the performing and fine arts have responded in a variety of ways, from participation in official events programmed by the Trump administration to piquant commentary on a nation in perpetual conflict with its own founding ideals. Hear from artists, curators, and journalists who will explore America@250 through the cultural, political, and aesthetic lens of now.

Featuring visual artist and professor Mark Thomas Gibson; Natasha Egan, Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago; Kevin Iega Jeff, choreographer and founder of the Deeply Rooted Dance Theater; and Maria Gaspar, interdisciplinary artist and a professor in Contemporary Practices at SAIC. Moderated by Katie Benner, correspondent at The New York Times.

RESERVE

Presented by Court Theatre and the Institute of Politics at the University of Chicago.

Artists Go to Work

Keynote Conversation
Friday, November 6, 2026
2:30pm – 4:30pm
Penthouse, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts
Free and Open to the Public

Continuing our artist-centered examination of America@250, our second keynote features a conversation between Chicago-based artists who work at the intersection of art and civic life, nominated through a partnership between Illinois Humanities, Court Theatre, UChicago Arts, Smart Museum of Art, and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts.

More information coming soon – watch this space!

RESERVE

Artists Go to Work

Breakout Sessions
Friday, November 6, 2026
4:30pm – 6:00pm
Penthouse, Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts
Free and Open to the Public

Interactive breakout sessions hosted by Chicago-based artists who work at the intersection of art and civic life, nominated through a partnership between Illinois Humanities, Court Theatre, UChicago Arts, Smart Museum of Art, and the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts.

RESERVE

Header image: “Tropicalamerican” by Edra Soto.