If you’ve followed us for a while, you know that our Art Picks offer a wide scope of events that are relevant to our audiences because we and the artists, cultural workers, curators, spaces, and projects we support live full lives that know no boundaries. We maintain expansive practices and work toward justice for BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and disability communities in Chicago and the Midwest.  

If this is your first time coming across this list, welcome. We’re glad you’re here and we hope this list sparks discovery, curiosity, and a demand for justice if you weren’t openly demanding that already.

Created in collaboration with The Visualist and adapted for social-distancing due to COVID-19, this list offers online exhibitions, streaming events, a list of online collections from Black and LGBTQIA+ archives, and other ways to spend time in the virtual space. 

Also, in support of our friends, our communities, ourselves, and abolition/liberation efforts, we’re prioritizing events that uplift and fight for Black Lives and celebrate Black Queer Lives because the fight for Black Lives is the fight for Black artists, our Black Trans family, our Black Queer family, and the many branches of these communities. 

Featured image: “More Than a Melody” by Kiki DuPont, originally created for Loss/Capture, an ongoing exploration into the archives and collections that preserve and speak to the histories, experiences, culture, and lives of Sixty’s core communities. Volume one focuses on the state of Black cultural archives in and beyond Chicago.

This is a growing list, so check back often for new additions.

Chicago Protest Listings

Protest Chicago

Note: If you’re attending any protests or events, here are some tips from The Blackivists archivist collective on how to document thoughtfully with the care and safety of our coummunites in mind.

November 1, 2020
Loss/Capture in Conversation: Chicago’s Music Legacies
with Ireashia M. Bennett and Arlene Turner-Crawford
Sixty Inches From Center: Online

November 1, 2020
Loss/Capture in Conversation: Vivian G. Harsh’s Life and Legacy
with Dr. Melanie Chambliss and Tracy Drake
Sixty Inches From Center: Online

November 1- 30, 2020
Chicagoland Shorts: My Mattachine
Mana Contemporary: Online
Free

November 1- 30, 2020
Reflections on Race and Contemporary Landscapes
LATITUDE: Online
Free

November 1, 2020- March 6, 2021
Museums of Future Past Times Present: Hatorade Retrograde The Musical
Gallery 400: 400 S Peoria St
Free

Sun, November 1, 12-1pm
Art & Democracy at Hull-House
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum: Online
Free

Thurs, November 5, 5:30-7pm
Histories of Multiracial Struggle and Solidarity (CBFS)
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture: Online
Free

Thurs, November 5, 6pm
Voices: Kameelah Janan Rasheed
Gallery 400: Online
Free

Thurs, November 5, 6-7pm
Reimagining Monuments
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: Online
Free

Thurs, November 5, 6:30-7:30pm
November Intro to Printing Workshop
LATITUDE: Online
Free

Thurs, November 5, 8-10:30pm
Erica Miller, Kyle Price, Norman Long
Elastic Arts: Online
Free

November 6-20, 2020
26th Annual Black Harvest Film Festival
Gene Siskel Film Center of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Online
$6-20

November 6- December 19, 2020
Erin Washington: Bodies feel dangerous right now
Western Exhibitions: 1709 W Chicago Ave
Free

Fri, November 6, 12-7pm
scott b. davis: Place in the Sun
Catherine Edelman Gallery: 1637 W Chicago Ave
Free

Fri, November 6, 5-8pm
Julien Creuzet
Document: 1709 W Chicago Ave
Free

Fri, November 6, 6:30-9:30pm
Kelly Reaves and Mel Cook: Torrential Hag
Cleaner Gallery: 1856 N Richmond St
Free

November 6 – December 19, 2020 (opening reception: Nov 7)
Amanda Williams: What black is this you say?
Rhona Hoffman Gallery: 1711 W. Chicago Ave.
Free

November 7, 2020 – January 17, 2021
The Long Dream
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: 220 E Chicago Ave
Free

November 7 – December 19, 2020
Kajahl: Royal Specter
Monique Meloche: 451 N Paulina St
Free

Sat, November 7, 2-4pm
Honoring Heohorii Narbut
Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art: 2320 W Chicago Ave
Free

Sat, November 7, 12-4pm
Roll Call
Gallery Studio Oh!: 4839 N Damen Ave
Free

Sat, November 7, 7pm
Chicago Asian American Jazz Festival — Day 2
Elastic Arts: Online
Free

Sat, November 7, 7pm
Rea Tajiri: History and Memory
South Side Projections, the Logan Center for the Arts, University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies: Online
Free

Sat, November 7, 6pm-12am
CCTV: Club Chicago Television
Reunion Chicago: Online
Free

November 7 – December 19, 2020
Jess Howard: The Spirit of Community
South Side Community Art Center: 3831 S. Michigan Ave.
Free

Sun, November 8, 7:30-8:30pm
Anišinabe Waki-Aztlán Posters (1977-1980)
Chuquimarca: Online
Free

Mon, November 9, 12:15pm
Suzanne Nossel: Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All
The Seminary Co-op Bookstores: Online
Free

Mon, November 9, 6pm
An Evening With Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
The Seminary Co-op Bookstores: Online
Free

Tue, November 10, 7pm
Black Women’s Stories Matter: With Dorothy Burge and Barbara Ransby
National Public Housing Museum: Online
Free

Tue, November 10, 12-12:30pm
Virtual Studio Visit: Darling “Shear” Squire
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: Online
Free

Tue, November 10, 6:30-7:30pm
Nyugen E. Smith
School of the Art Institute of Chicago: Online
Free

Tue, November 10, 7:30-8:30pm
Gray Sound: Maria Chávez
Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry: Online
Free

Tue, November 10, 6pm
Michelle Falkoff: HOW TO PACK FOR THE END OF THE WORLD
Women & Children First Bookstore: Online
Free

Tue, November 10, 6pm
Voices: Kamau Patton
Gallery 400: Online
Free

Tue, November 10, 6-8pm
Graphic Poetry Workshop
LATITUDE: Online
Free

November 11, 2020-April 24, 2021
Paola Cabal: What Means Light
The Arts Club of Chicago: 201 E Ontario St
Free

Wed, November 11, 4pm
Teen Workshop: Remixing the Archive
Museum of Contemporary Photography: Online
Free

Wed, November 11, 6-9pm
Defund CPD Resistance Training: Why Defund the Police & How to Get Involved
Online
Free

Thurs, November 12, 6-8pm
Teaching Social Justice: About Museums, Culture, and Justice to Explore in Your Classroom
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum: Online
Free

Thurs, November 12, 7pm
Celebrate People’s History: A Panel Discussion
Pilsen Community Books: Online
Free

Thurs, November 12, 1-2pm
Christopher K. Ho and Abigail DeVille in Conversation
Hyde Park Art Center: Online
Free

Thurs, November 12, 6-7pm
Ta-Nehisi Coates in Conversation with Eve L. Ewing
The University of Chicago and Semicolon Bookstore: Online
Free

Fri, November 13, 9:30-3:15pm
Indigenous Interventions: Reshaping Archives and Museums
Newberry Library: Online
Free

Fr, November 13, 6pm
Eye Heard That! A live reading featuring avery r. young & Rosamond S. King
Obsidian Voices: Online
Free

Fri, November 13, 12pm
Now, We Do: A Panel Discussion with Ayanah Moor, Jordan Johnson, Cindy Pickett, and Martin L. Boston
DePaul Art Museum: Online
Free

Fri, November 13, 12-1pm
Forrest Stuart and Cathy Cohen: Ballad of the Bullet and Democracy Remixed
The Seminary Co-op Bookstores: Online
Free

Fri, November 13, 5-8pm
Helen Mayer: Tracks
Oliva Gallery: 3816 W Armitage Ave
Free

Fri, November 13, 6pm
Movement Workshop with Brendan Fernandes & Paige Fraser
DePaul Art Museum: Online
Free

Fri, November 13, 7-8:30pm
Bridge Dance Festival 2020
Links Hall: Online
Free

Fri, November 13, 7-9pm
TQC: AIRMW presents Kioto Aoki & the Reduction Trio
Experimental Sound Studio: Online
Free

Sat, November 14, 6pm-12am
CCTV: Club Chicago Television
Reunion Chicago: Online
Free

November 15, 2020-March 7, 2021
Cecil McDonald, Jr.: Cuts & Beats
Hyde Park Art Center: 5020 S Cornell Ave
Free

Sun, November 15, 1-4pm
Code Is Not Neutral: CQDELAB Coding Workshop + Reading Group
ADDS DONNA: Online
Free

November 16, 2020 – April 29, 2021
Bisa Butler: Portraits
Art Institute of Chicago: 111 S. Michigan Ave.
$25

Mon, November 16, 5-6:30pm
Alec Karakatsanis in conversation on Usual Cruelty
The Seminary Co-op Bookstores: Online
Free

Mon, November 16, 7pm
Virtual Author Conversation: Paola Ramos & Cecile Richards
Women & Children First Bookstore: Online
Free

Tues, November 17, 7-8pm
Open Door Series: Nathan Hoks & Tara Betts
Poetry Foundation: Online
Free

Tues, November 17, 7-8pm
Choose Liberation Dance Party
Irina Zadov & Tracie D. Hall
Free

Wed, November 18, 7pm
The Fight is Far from Over
The ACLU of Illinois: Online
Free

Wed, November 18, 2-2:30pm
Virtual Talk: Spotlight on Bisa Butler
Art Institute of Chicago: Online
Free

November 20-December 11, 2020
Kelly Kristin Jones
062: 1029 W 35th St
Free

Sat, November 21, 10am
NMMA En Casa Virtual Series: Loom Weaving Workshop
National Museum of Mexican Art: Online
Free

Sat, November 21, 3-4pm & 6:30-9pm
Interactive Virtual Gala
Hyde Park Art Center
Donations Suggested

Sun, November 22, 1-4pm
Code Is Not Neutral: CQDELAB Coding Workshop + Reading Group
ADDS DONNA: Online
Free

Wed, November 25, 6-8pm
Mutual Aid is Abolition Work
Online
Free

Fri, November 27, 12-1pm
Soundtrack: Duane Powell
Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago: Online
Free

November 27 – 29
Grabadolandia 2020 Virtual Edition
Free