Columbia College Chicago celebrates “Columbia Weekend” on Friday and Saturday, October 23 and 24, with activities targeted to alumni of the college and to parents and families of current students, along with the general public. The weekend includes the third annual Wabash Arts Corridor (WAC) Crawl and the Chicago Cultural Mile Association‘s first Halloween Gathering and parade, which includes Columbia College students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
The weekend kicks off on Friday with a slew of activities, including the Wabash Arts Corridor (WAC) Crawl from 4 to 9 PM. Running along South Wabash Avenue between Van Buren and Roosevelt, the Wabash Arts Corridor transforms the South Loop into a thriving artistic space, with eight educational institutions, 19 galleries, 14 performance spaces, five major hotels, and more than 40 restaurants. The WAC Crawl will include a stunning array of new, large-scale street and public art, an expansive cultural program ranging from the Joffrey Ballet to blues, jazz and hip-hop performances, tours of historic and new architecture, gallery openings, and special food and drink offerings from local restaurants and bars. The Wabash Arts Corridor Crawl unleashes the unbridled talent and energy of the Wabash Arts Corridor and its partners.
This year, the WAC Crawl celebration of public art pays special tribute to the new murals by alumni and world-renowned artists that now adorn our “living urban canvas.” The WAC Crawl will include an exclusive Alumni Welcome Reception from 5:30 to 7 PM at Hokin Gallery, 623 S. Wabash. To register, click here.
Columbia College Chicago‘s Vice President of Student Success, Mark Kelly, says he hopes the WAC Crawl will trigger a larger conversation among students, visitors, faculty, and South Loop residents and challenge the role of galleries and museum spaces as the primary proprietors in the production and reception of art. The event positions the South Loop as one of the primary centers for public art in the country.
“Playfulness is at the heart of the creative spirit. Playfulness is about work,” Kelly says. “What I want to do is create an environment on the street that reminds students why they are here; that the scale of this work will remind them they are here to do something big, something important.”
Saturday is Alumni Day at Columbia, with activities including:
- “Big Chicago” Faculty Panel Discussion – 11 AM-12:15 PM, 623 S. Wabash, Room 405 — Featuring professors Alton Miller, Raquel Monroe and Dominic Pacyga, moderated by Neil Pagano, Associate Dean of School of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
- Alumni & Family Lunch – 12:30-2:30 PM — HAUS @ Quincy Wong Center, 623 S. Wabash — Casual lunch with food, cider music, and a children’s costume contest.
- Art and Halloween Festival – 2-5 PM — Activities, performances, and interactive experiences along the Chicago Cultural Mile–Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River (Wacker Drive) to Roosevelt Road and eastward to the lakefront Museum Campus–including a children’s costume parade at Maggie Daley Park, 337 E. Randolph, at 2 PM. Drawing together world-renowned institutions including the Field Museum, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Columbia College Chicago, and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, as well as unique local organizations like the Silent Theatre Company (an ensemble founded and led by Columbia College Theatre Department alumni), this dramatic display will activate Halloween as the “artist’s holiday” along one of the most prestigious cultural avenues in the world.
- Columbia College Chicago Campus Tours – 3-4:30 PM
- Creative Spirit (Halloween) Parade – 6-8 PM on Columbus Drive, just east of Michigan Avenue, traveling north from Balbo to Monroe — parade with large spectacle, legions of lanterns, costumes, performances, music and dance.
For more information on alumni activities during Columbia Weekend, click here. Or visit the Columbia College Chicago Alumni Association’s Facebook page.
Alumni activities are free, but space is limited. To register, click here.
