Weasel Walter is an American composer, improviser, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and founder of ugEXPLODE Records. Walter's work has been informed by techniques and traditions of music including Avant-garde, experimental, no wave, free jazz, extreme metal, punk jazz, hardcore punk, noise, new music and free improvisation. He coined the term "brutal prog" to describe the aggressively dissonant strain of prog played by groups like his band The Flying Luttenbachers.
No Depression is a quarterly roots music journal with a concurrent online publication. In print, No Depression is an ad-free publication focused on long-form music reporting and deep analysis that ties contemporary artists with the long chain of American roots music. In April 2020, No Depression introduced digital versions of their print journal. While the print journal remains ad-free, the digital versions include roots-music-related advertisements. Its journal contributors include roots music artists as well as professional critics and reporters, photographers, illustrators, and artists.
Creative Loafing is an Atlanta-based publisher of a monthly arts and culture newspaper/magazine. The company publishes a 60,000 circulation monthly publication which is distributed to in-town locations and neighborhoods on the first Thursday of each month. The company has historically been a part of the alternative weekly newspapers association in the United States.
Defiant Theatre was a Chicago-based theatre company founded in 1993 by a group of students from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, which includes Nick Offerman. The eclectic troupe specialized in productions that emphasized inventive stagecraft, perverse and controversial topics, and skillful stage combat. While the company is highly regarded for original plays such as Action Movie: The Play and Godbaby, Defiant Theatre received notable attention for productions of plays by Caryl Churchill, Alfred Jarry, Sarah Kane, and William Shakespeare. Chicago Magazine named Defiant the "Best Experimental Theatre" in their August 1999 Best of Chicago issue. The company disbanded in 2004.
Johnny Wright is an American talent agent and media proprietor. He has managed groups including New Kids on the Block, the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, the Jonas Brothers, Menudo, Triple Image, and solo acts such as Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Stevie Brock, and Ciara. In 2022, he formed the boy band NoLonelyHearts.
Music Theater Works is a resident professional not-for-profit musical theatre company in Evanston, Illinois. It was founded in 1980 by Philip Kraus, Bridget McDonough, and Ellen Dubinsky.
Nicole Hollander is an American cartoonist and writer. Her daily comic strip Sylvia was syndicated to newspapers nationally by Tribune Media Services.
Blair Kamin was the architecture critic of the Chicago Tribune, for 28 years from 1992 to 2021. Kamin has held other jobs at the Tribune and previously worked for The Des Moines Register. He also serves as a contributing editor of Architectural Record. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1999, for a body of work highlighted by a series of articles about the problems and promise of Chicago's greatest public space, its lakefront. He has received numerous other honors, authored books, lectured widely, and served as a visiting critic at architecture schools including the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
Justin Hayford is a Chicago-based singer and pianist. He performs jazz and cabaret music and specializes in reviving obscure and forgotten songs from the past. Justin writes and presents cabaret shows at various venues in Chicago, and has released a number of albums.
The Waco Brothers are an American alternative country, or country-punk rock, band based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
Chopin Theatre Productions is a 501(c)(3) not for profit art presenter and producer at the historic Chopin Theater building in Chicago. Built in 1918, in what is now Wicker Park, the theater is located across the Polish Triangle. Chopin Theatre's 500+ annual theater, literary, music, film and social events are often avant-garde or international. Its mission is to promote enlightened civic discourse through a diverse range of artistic offerings.
Trap Door Theatre is an American, Jeff Award-winning, avant-garde theatre company based in Chicago. Its focus is on European and original experimental material.
American Blues Theater is a nonprofit, professional Equity theater company in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The ensemble currently has 30 members.
WFMT is a commercial FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a classical music radio format. It is managed by Window to the World Communications, Inc., owner of WTTW, Chicago's Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member station. WFMT seeks donations on the air and on its website. The studios and offices are on North Saint Louis Avenue in Chicago.
The MCA Stage is the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago’s performing arts program. Founded in 1996 with the opening of the MCA’s new building in Chicago, Illinois.
Robert A. "Bob" Roth is an American publisher and art collector who lives in Chicago. He was the founder and publisher of the Chicago Reader, one of the most influential and successful newspapers of its type. He was also one of the founders and the first president of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, located in Chicago. Intuit is the only nonprofit organization in the U.S. dedicated solely to presenting "outsider" art by self-taught artists.
Joan Dickinson is a contemporary American artist, writer, director, curator, and educator. Her creative practice combines visual and performance art, photography, writing, farming and environmental restoration, astrology, ceremony, and palliative care. Dickinson holds a doctorate (2012) from the Literary Arts program at the University of Denver.
Under the Gun Theater is a theater company located in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Angie McMahon and Kevin Mullaney, Under the Gun is a sketch and improvisational comedy theater which opened in Chicago's Lake View community in 2014. The theater was known for its interactive show Comedy Against Humanity, which ended due to legal concerns, based on the game Cards Against Humanity. In September 2017 Under the Gun Theater announced it would partner with the Chicago stand-up comedy institution Lincoln Lodge to focus on producing stand-up comedy shows.
Pullman Porter Blues is a 2012 play written by Cheryl West. Set in 1937, during the Great Depression, the play shows the story of the Pullman porters on a train ride aboard the Panama Limited from Chicago to New Orleans.
