Created in collaboration with The Visualist, Chicago’s leading visual arts calendar, Sixty’s Art Picks is a wide selection of Midwest arts events, handpicked for our audience of artists, cultural workers, and curators, prioritizing the spaces and events of historically marginalized peoples. Our list is broad but by no means comprehensive; please look at venue calendars to find more events.
All times are listed in Central Standard Time unless otherwise noted. Click here to get our Art Picks and latest articles delivered to your inbox monthly. You can find Art Picks from previous months here.
Before attending any in-person events, we hope you’ll read this open letter cowritten by a group of disabled queers to the Chicago party community, demanding COVID-safe protocols and mindful gathering to protect the most vulnerable members of our community during the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of this letter is to reach organizers who plan events and cultivate spaces for queer community building and joy. Please remember to mask; the pandemic is on-going.
Click a button below to jump to a specific week of events.
Tues, October 1, 7-8pm
Writing Resistance: Hannah Moushabeck and Sahar Mustafah
Pilsen Community Books: 1102 W 18th St, Chicago
Free
Tues, October 1, 8pm
Elastro: Tiziana Bertoncini / Thomas lehn Duo + Quartet w/ Emily Beisel + Michael Zerang
Elastic Arts: 3429 W Diversey Ave, #208, Chicago
$10-15
Wed, October 2, 5-6pm
Conservation in Practice
University Museums, Iowa State University: Online
Free
Wed, October 2, 6pm
AfroFuturist Weekend Day 1: Black Food Futures
The Blk.Room: 4015 W Carrol Ave, Unit 204, Chicago
Free
Wed, October 2, 6-8pm
Patchbent Sessions: Multichannel Panel
Experimental Sound Studio: 5925 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 3, 11:30am-1:30pm
Author Visits: Janice Harrington and Justin A. Reynolds
The Urbana Free Library: 210 W Green St, Urbana, IL
Free
Thurs, October 3, 5-8:30pm
PANEL: Threads and Legacies: Chicago’s Artist Educators and Their Networks
Gallery 400 Lecture Room: 400 S Peoria, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 3, 5-9pm
Meet at Mia
Minneapolis Institute of Art: 2400 Third Ave South, Minneapolis, MI
Free
Thurs, October 3, 6pm
Collective Practice Circles: Black Community
Penumbra Theatre: 270 N. Kent St, St. Paul, MN
$20-25
Thurs, October 3, 6-7pm(EST)
Mind/Body/Art
Cincinnati Art Museum: 953 Eden Park Dr, Cincinnati, OH
Free
Thurs, October 3, 6-7:30pm(EST)
Public Lecture: Charisse Weston
Cranbrook Art Museum deSalle Auditorium: 39221 Woodward Ave, Bloomfield Hills, MI
Free
Thurs, October 3, 6-8pm
An Evening with Angelo Madsen Minax
Gene Siskel Film Center: 164 N State St, Chicago
$0-13
Thurs, October 3, 6-9pm
What She Said: Movies and Movements on the Arts Lawn
The Arts Lawn: 337 E Garfield Blvd, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 3, 6-9pm
Earthly Delights
Julius Caesar: DM For Address
Free
Thurs, October 3, 6:30-8pm
CXW: Tala x Re/Match Artists
Tala: 1644 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 3, 7pm(EST)
Momentum | Intersection 2024 Artist Panel
Toledo Museum of Art: Online
Free
Thurs, October 3, 7-8:30pm
Nancy Ava Miller presents…Erotic Hypnosis
Leather Archives & Museum: 6418 N Greenview Ave, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 3, 8pm
AfroFuturist Weekend Day 2: Improvised Music Series @ AFW9
Elastic Arts: 3429 W Diversey Ave, #208, Chicago
$10-15
October 4-5, 2024
Tell it anyway, 2024
Walker: 725 Vineland Pl, Minneapolis, MN
$15
October 4-6, 2024
The Stranger and the Fog
Detroit Institute of Arts: 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI
Free
Fri, October 4, 11am-1pm
LPCPL Mural Unveiling
La Porte County Main Library: 904 Indiana Ave, La Porte, IN
Free
Fri, October 4, 5-8pm
Grand Hall Mural Project Unveiling: Carrie Gillen
Foundry Art Centre: 520 N Main Center, St Charles, MO
Free
Fri, October 4, 5-8pm
First Friday Reception: “Whip Stitch: Quilts Are Contemporary Art” and “Old & Bold: Vivid 19th and 20th Century Quilts”
South Bend Museum Of Art: 120 S Dr Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, South Bend, IN
Free
Fri, October 4, 5:30pm
“That’s How We Roll” Reception & Artists Talk | Jim Yellowhawk and Ray “Rock Boy” Janis
South Dakota Art Museum: 1036 Medary Ave, Brookings, SD
Free
Fri, October 4, 6pm
BDSM History & Memories: Notes from the Sexual Underground
Leather Archives & Museum: 6418 N Greenview Ave, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 4, 6pm
AfroFuturist Weekend Day 3: Flex Obscura @ AFW9
Elastic Arts: 3429 W Diversey Ave, #208, Chicago
$10-15
Fri, October 4, 6-7pm
Ále Campos: Artists Talk
Chicago Artists Coalition: 2130 W Fulton St, Unit B, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 4, 6-9pm
Jade Yumang / Qianwen Yu / JohnClaud Ruder
Ignition project space: 3839 W Grand Ave, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 4, 6:30-8:30pm
1st Friday Studio Tour
Contemporary Art Center of Peoria: 305 SW Water St, #2R, Peoria, IL
Free
Fri, October 4, 7pm
Jared Brown and AJ McClenon: A Girly Show
Berger Park Cultural Center (Coach House): 6215 N Sheridan Rd, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 4, 7-8pm
ASSEMBLYWOMXN Episodes III and IV
Comfort Station Logan Square: 2579 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 4, 7-8pm
Kiran Bath, Kabel Mishka Ligot, and James McKenna
Pilsen Community Books: 1102 W 18th St, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 4, 7:30pm(EST)
Negativland + SUE-C: We Can Really Feel Like We’re Here
MoCa Cleveland: 11400 Euclid Ave. Cleveland, OH
Free
Fri, October 4, 8pm
Celia Hollander
Bond Chapel: 1025 E 58th St, Chicago
Free
October 5-November 6, 2024
Exorcism = Liberation
Multiple Locations: Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 9am-5pm
CU Folk & Roots Festival
The Urbana Free Library: 210 W Green St, Urbana, IL
Free
Sat, October 5, 9am-5pm
Queer History Symposium at Gerber/Hart
Gerber/Hart Library and Archives: 6500 N Clark St, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 9am-5:30pm
Kartemquin Films: Documentaries for Democracy Symposium
Cobb Hall: 5811 S Ellis Ave, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 10am-1pm
Family Day: Arts and Craft with the Chicago Mosaic School
DePaul Art Museum: 935 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 11am-12pm
Frightfully Spooky Lanterns
Foundry Art Centre: 520 N Main Center, St Charles, MO
Free
Sat, October 5, 12pm
Quilt-Making Workshop
National Museum of Mexican Art: 1852 W 19th St, Chicago
$150
Sat, October 5, 1-7pm
60 wrd/min Art Critic: Red Line Service Edition
Chicago Art Department: 1926 S Halsted St, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 2-3:30pm
Talk | Notes in the Margins: “Why I Don’t Talk About ‘The Body’”
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago- Edlis Neeson Theater: 220 E Chicago Ave, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 3-8:30pm
YANIRA CASTRO: I CAME HERE TO WEEP
Honeycomb Network: 2657 W Division St, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 4-7pm
Luis J. Rodriguez: Todos los caminos llevan a casa (All Roads Lead Home) Book Release
18th Street Casa de Cultura: 2057 W 18th St, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 4-9pm
LUCKY NUMBER
Patient Info: 902 N Western Ave, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 6-8pm
Archiving Sites as Resistance and Reimagination
Chicago Artist Coalition: 2130 W Fulton St, Unit B, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 7pm
Side Yard Sounds: Carol Genetti/Peter Maunu
Compound Yellow: 244 Lake St, Oak Park, IL
$15
Sat, October 5, 7-9pm
The Lira Ensemble
Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts: 201 Schaumburg Ct, Schaumburg, IL
$40-50
Sat, October 5, 7:30-11:30pm
Gender Jumble Juggernaut
Agitator Artist Collective: 3851 W Fullerton Ave, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 5, 8pm
AfroFuturist Weekend Day 4: Freedom From and Freedom To @AFW9
Elastic Arts: 3429 W Diversey Ave, #208, Chicago
$10-15
Sat, October 5, 8:30pm
Reflections: Arushi Jain with Dorothy Carlos
Constellation Chicago: 3111 N Western Ave, Chicago
$25
Sat, October 5, 10am-8pm (EST)
Proof: A Midwest Lit Fest
Indiana Humanities: 1505 N. Delaware St. Indianapolis, IN (at the Harrison Center for the Arts)
Free
Sun, October 6, 2-4pm(EST)
Screening: OUTCRY: Alchemists of Rage
Contemporary Arts Center: 44 E 6th St, Cincinnati, OH
Free
Sun, October 6, 2-4pm
Symphony Joslyn
Joslyn Art Museum: 2200 Dodge St, Omaha, NE
$180
Sun, October 6, 3:30pm
“Minor Key” Gallery Talk, featuring Samantha Box and Mia Laufer
Des Moines Art Center: 4700 Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA
Free
Sun, October 6, 4-7pm
Paludarium
Grunts Rare Books: 1500 S Western Ave, Ste. 403, Chicago
Free
Sun, October 6, 4-7pm
Austin McCann: Turn Over
Letters to Nora: 1500 S Western Ave, Ste. 407, Chicago
Free
Sun, October 6, 7-9pm
damsel. & Friends at Dorothy
Dorothy: 2500 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
$12-15
October 6-26, 2024
Chicago Sukkah Design Festival
Art Design Chicago: 3615 W. Douglas Blvd., Chicago
Free
Tues, October 8, 12:15-12:45pm
Art Talk
John Michael Kohler Arts Center: 608 New York Ave, Sheboygan, WI
Free
Tues, October 8, 7-8pm
The Minneapolis Reckoning: Michelle Phelps and Julian Go
Pilsen Community Books: 1102 W 18th St, Chicago
Free
Wed, October 9, 5-6pm
A Conversation with the Artists of Luftwerk and Normal Studio
Haggerty Museum of Art: 1234 W Tory Hill St Milwaukee, WI
Free
Wed, October 9, 5:30-6:30pm
“A New History of Iowa” | Book Lecture with Dr. Jeff Bremer
Farm House Museum: 603 Farm House Ln, Ames, IA
Free
Wed, October 9, 5:30-7pm
Roundtable: The Classroom as Community and the Community as Classroom
Gallery 400 Lecture Room: 400 S Peoria St, Chicago
Free
October 10-11, 2024
Ontroerend Goed: Fight Night
Walker: 725 Vineland Pl, Minneapolis, MN
$15
Thurs, October 10, 5-7pm
Exhibition Opening Celebration: “Samantha Box: Caribbean Dreams”
Des Moines Art Center: 4700 Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA
Free
Thurs, October 10, 6-7:30pm
Art as Civic Ritual
21c Museum Hotel Chicago: 55 E Ontario St, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 10, 6-8pm
More Anxious Bodies
Gene Siskel Film Center: 164 N State St, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 10, 7-9:30pm(EST)
Detroit Story Fest 2024
Detroit Institute of Arts: 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI
Free
Thurs, October 10, 8:30pm
Midwest Arts Writers Fellowship: Public Talk
Sixty Inches From Center: Online
Free
October 11-20, 2024
Festival del Arte Popular
National Museum of Mexican Art: 1852 W 19th St, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 11, 5-9pm(EST)
Opening Celebration for Indigenous People’s Day Convergence Weekend
Contemporary Arts Center: 44 E 6th St, Cincinnati, OH
Free
Fri, October 11, 6-9pm
Austin Pope: The (Mis)Education of Chicago
Blanc Gallery: 4445 S MLK Dr, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 11, 6-9pm
Janice Marin & Pia Cruzalegui: STORIES Y DESEOS
Epiphany Center for the Arts: 201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 11, 7pm
Power Plays
Walker: 725 Vineland Pl, Minneapolis, MN
$12-15
Fri, October 11, 7-8pm
Gina María Balibrera and Nishanth Injam
Pilsen Community Books: 1102 W 18th St, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 11, 7-8:30pm
Spooky & Gay-er: a queer horror storytelling show!
Dorothy: 2500 W Chicago Ave, Chicago
$12-20
Fri, October 11, 7-10pm
20 Years of Chicago Film Archives
Logan Center for the Arts, The University of Chicago: 915 E 60th St, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 12, 12pm
SHAKE SHOOK SHAKEN: COUNTERBALANCE W/ Lindsay Weinberg + Julie Meckler
Elastic Arts: 3429 W Diversey Ave, #208, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 12, 1-2pm
Public Tour: Meet The Joslyn (English + Spanish) / Visita pública: Conozca a los Joslyn (inglés + español)
Joslyn Art Museum: 2200 Dodge St, Omaha, NE
Free
Sat, October 12, 1-3pm(EST)
We Still Here by Marc Lamont Hill
Contemporary Arts Center: 44 E 6th St, Cincinnati, OH
Free
Sat, October 12, 2-3:30pm(EST)
Ocean Vuong Conversation
Toledo Museum of Art: Online
Free
Sat, October 12, 4-6pm
25th Anniversary Show
Bert Green Fine Art: 8 S Michigan Ave, Suite 620, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 12, 5-8pm
THƯƠNG HOÀI TRẦN: In the Spaces Remaining
ARTRUSS: 4553 W Diversey Ave, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 12, 8pm
Dromez, Flesh Narc, Bakantez, Manual Pollination
Tritriangle: 1550 N Milwaukee Ave, Fl 3 Chicago
$10-15
Sun, October 13, 11am-4pm
Father Daughter Dance
The DuSable: 740 E 56th Pl, Chicago
$85
Sun, October 13, 12pm-4pm
Tilichero x POCAS+ Mercado
The Chicago Art Department: 1932 S Halsted St, Chicago
Free
Sun, October 13, 1pm
Gallery Talk with artist Samantha Box and Mia Laufer, Ph. D., guest curator
Des Moines Art Center: 4700 Grand Ave, Des Moines, IA
Free
Sun, October 13, 2pm
ebere agwuncha: chinelo house: weaving workshop
Roman Susan: 1224 W Loyola Ave, Chicago
Free
Sun, October 13, 8pm
ELASTRO AV Night 2: Curated by Clark Woods, Taylor Dye, Gordon Fung
Elastic Arts: 3429 W Diversey Ave, #208, Chicago
$10-15
October 15-November 3, 2024
Celebrate Día de los Muertos 2024
Columbus Museum of Art: 480 E Broad Stt, Columbus, OH
Free
Tues, October 15, 6pm-7:30pm
Dread Scott: Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series
The Art Institute of Chicago: Fullerton Hall, 111 S Michigan Ave, Chicago
Free
Wed, October 16, 6pm-7pm
Pierre Bayard: Hitchcock s’est trompe
Seminary Co-op Bookstore: 5751 S Woodlawn Ave, Chicago
Free
Wed, October 16, 6:30pm-7:30pm
Time Machine Bronzeville
Chicago Gamespace: 2418 W Bloomingdale Ave, Chicago
$5-8
Wed, October 16, 7:30pm
In Honor of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Penumbra Theatre: 270 N. Kent St, St. Paul, MN
$20
Thurs, October 17, 4:30pm-6pm
Muyiwa Adeyanju: Roots and Routes
Western Illinois University Art Gallery: 1 University Circle, Macomb, IL
Free
Thurs, October 17, 5-8pm
Intimate Alchemy: David Levinthal’s XXX Polaroids from the Kinsey Institute
Grunwald Gallery: 1201 E 7th St, Bloomington, IN
Free
Thurs, October 17, 5:30-6:30pm
Curator’s Tour of “Artists of an Era: A New Deal, Iowa Artists, and Iowa State College”
Christian Petersen Art Museum: Campbell Gallery, 1017 Morrill Hall, 601 Morrill Rd, Ames, IA
Free
Thurs, October 17, 6-8pm
An Evening with Paige Taul
Gene Siskel Film Center: 164 N State St, Chicago
$5-13
Thurs, October 17, 6-7:30pm
Mapping Indigenous Chicago
Newberry Library: Online
Free
Fri, October 18, 5-9pm
SK Reed: The Unreal
United Colors: 611 N 6th St, Kansas City, KS
Free
Fri, October 18, 6pm
Kristin Abhalter Smith: Double Stitch
Roman Susan: 1224 W Loyola Ave, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 18, 7-8:30pm(EST)
Friday Night Live! Wu Wei
Detroit Institute of Arts: 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI
Free
Fri, October 18, 7-9pm
To Washington Park, With Love: Rose Blouin Book Launch
Green Line Performing Arts Center: 329 E Garfield Blvd, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 19, 1-3pm
Weaving Workshop
Dorchester Art + Housing Collaborative | Rebuild Foundation: 1456 E 70th St, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 19, 2-3pm(EST)
Rock-Hewn Churches and Sacred Groves: Architecture as the Home of Religion and Art in Ethiopia
Toledo Museum of Art: 445 Monroe St, Toledo, OH
Free
Thurs, October 19, 3-4pm
Artist Talk: glyneisha
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis: 3750 Washington Blvd, St. Louis, MO
Free
Thurs, October 19, 3-6pm
Sharon Hoogstraten: Dancing for Our Tribe
Riverside Arts Center FlexSpace: 32 E Quincy St, Riverside, IL
Free
Thurs, October 19, 7-9pm
Leading Ladies of the Blues
Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts: 201 Schaumburg Ct, Schaumburg, IL
$40-48
Thurs, October 19, 1-3pm
Resilience & Renewal: Connecting with the Earth, the Ancestors, and Your Hidden Gifts
South Side Community Art Center: 3831 S. Michigan Ave.
Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 19, 6-9pm
Life is a Drag
Comfort Station: 2579 N Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Free
Fri, October 20, 4-7pm
PPP — THE PREPARATOR’S PET PIANO: Live Concert with Chelsea Bridge, Janet Xmas & Itsï Ramirez
Comfort Station Logan Square: 2579 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago
Free
Fri, October 20, 5-7pm
Trident Chili Cookoff
Leather Archives & Museum: 6418 N Greenview Ave, Chicago
Free
Tues, October 22, 9:30am
John Sterner | Lakota Artist and Educator’s Spiritual Art Journey | Guild Program
South Dakota Art Museum: 1036 Medary Ave, Brookings, SD
Free
Tues, October 22, 5:30-6:30pm
Agriculture in Context: The 1930s and the “Fountain of the Four Seasons”
Christian Petersen Art Museum: 1017 & 0003 Morrill Hall, 603 Morrill Rd, Ames, IA
Free
Thurs, October 24, 4-5:30pm
VOICES: Andrea Carlson
Center for Native Futures: 56 W Adams St, Chicago
Free
Thurs, October 24, 5-9pm
Night/Shift: Floating Worlds
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: 4525 Oak St, Kansas City, MO
Free
Thurs, October 24, 6-8pm
An Evening With Alan Kwan
Gene Siskel Film Center: 164 N State St, Chicago
$5-13
Thurs, October 24, 6-8pm
Studio Night: Interwoven
Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art: 4420 Warwick Blvd, Kansas City, MO
Free
Thurs, October 24, 7-8pm(EST)
CAM Presents: A Conversation on George Bellows’s Lithographs
Cincinnati Art Museum: 953 Eden Park Dr, Cincinnati, OH
Free
Sat, October 26, 2024
Arts/Industry Community Day
John Michael Kohler Arts Center: 608 New York Ave, Sheboygan, WI
Free
Sat, October 26, 2024-March 3 2025
Cecilia Beaven: Semilla
National Museum of Mexican Art: 1852 W 19th St, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 26, 11am-12:30pm
Workshop | Politics of Poetics: Heid E. Erdrich and Andrea Carlson
Center for Native Futures: 56 W Adams St, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 26, 1-3pm(EST)
Journeys to Healing: Artist Talks
Contemporary Arts Center: 44 E 6th St, Cincinnati, OH
Free
Sat, October 26, 3pm
Día de los Muertos Xicágo
National Museum of Mexican Art: 1852 W 19th St, Chicago
Free
Sat, October 26, 6:30-9pm
Día de Muertos
Comfort Station: 2579 N Milwaukee Ave., Chicago
Free
Sat, October 26, 7pm
Side Yard Sounds: Christine Shallenberg & Aurora Tabar, Kim Nucci, Mabel Kwan, Sara Zalek
Compound Yellow: 244 Lake St, Oak Park, IL
$15
Sat, October 26, 7:30-9pm
Third Coast Percussion
Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts: 201 Schaumburg Ct, Schaumburg, IL
$47-54
Sat, October 26, 11am-1pm
Working Studios: Photo Walking with Stephen Lowell Swanberg
6018|North: 6018 N Kenmore Ave., Chicago
Free
Sat, October 26, 11am-6pm
What is Seen and Unseen: Symposium and Artist Panels
South Asia Institute: 1925 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago
Free
Sun, October 27, 7-8pm
Illuminare
Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts: 201 Schaumburg Ct, Schaumburg, IL
$10-15
Tues, October 29, 6-7pm
Artist Talk: Bisa Butler and Basil Kincaid
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis: 3750 Washington Blvd, St. Louis, MO
Free
Tues, October 29, 6-9pm
Book Talk Life After Kafka
Goethe-Institut Chicago: 150 N Michigan Ave, Suite 420, Chicago
Free
Tues, October 29, 7pm
Side Yard Sounds: Christine Shallenberg & Aurora Tabar, Kim Nucci, Mabel Kwan, Sara Zalek
Pilsen Community Books: 1102 W 18th St, Chicago
Free
About the illustrator: Gaby FeBland is a multidisciplinary artist working in puppetry, illustration, playwriting, and performance. She is a proud co-founder of Foreshadow, an experimental shadow puppetry company. Her original plays and puppetry have been performed off-Broadway and at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Dixon Place, Green-Wood Cemetery, Coney Island U.S.A., Jalopy Theatre, the Owl Music Parlor, and the Coney Island Mermaid Parade.
As an actor, she is represented by Big Mouth Talent. For five years, she was the accordionist for Friends of the Bog. She was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.
Gaby attended Northwestern University, where she majored in Theatre Arts and Spanish. She holds a Graphic Design Certificate from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Her illustration and design work is featured on trains, newspapers, magazines, websites, event posters, albums, band shirts, greeting cards, buttons, and wedding venues across the world. You can find more of her work at her website.
