As part of the 2012 Chicago Cultural Plan, which proposed enriching Chicago’s artistic vitality and cultural vibrancy, 2018 has been designated the Year of Creative Youth – a citywide celebration of Chicago’s young artists and the mentors who inspire them. The year will offer a number of grants and events to support and encourage young artists, including the Rising Start Honor Roll, presented by Allstate Insurance Company. "When young people believe in themselves and are encouraged to bring their ideas forward, we know they'll create the kind of society that uplifts us all," said Vicky Dinges, Senior Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at Allstate.

The REDTalks series celebrates exceptional ideas and performances from Indigenous artists, innovators, and leaders. On September 13, world-renowned ballet dancer and instructor, Jock Soto, will engage in a lively dialogue about his extraordinary life in dance; he was only 16 years old when George Balanchine invited him to join the New York City Ballet. This REDTalk will take place on Thursday, September 13 from 7-9pm at Urbanspace Gallery. There is also an opportunity to participate in an open dance class with Jock, on September 6. 

Lino and Mirella Saputo, owners of dairy company Saputo, have announced a $1 million donation to the Pier 21 Immigration Museum. The museum is located in Halifax, Nova Scotia and occupies part of Pier 21, a former ocean liner terminal and immigration shed. In 1950, Lino and Mirella arrived at Pier 21 from Sicily, and they are hoping their donation will help other families get the same start in Canada as they did. Lino says: “It is not only our story that can be discovered here, but the family histories of the many immigrants whose contributions helped shape Canada.”

The heritage of the City of Chicago is inextricably tied to its architecture – known as the birthplace of the modern skyscraper, and the cradle for ground-breaking architectural invention by the likes of Frank Lloyd Wright and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The Chicago Architecture Foundation has been operating out of architecturally significant leased spaces since 1996, but now, on August 31^st, they will be opening their doors on a permanent center.

In 2007, the first rendition of The Manual of Strategic Planning was published; written by Gail Dexter Lord and Kate Markert, the manual offers proven methods for successful strategic planning in museums. In 2017, the manual was republished, and has since been translated into five additional languages. The Korean edition is expected to be published in eighteen months. 

Quantum: The Exhibition opened at the Ontario Science Centre on August 18^th. The exhibition explores current research at the quantum level – the unseen world around us that is made up of particles, forces, and fields. Quantum is the first ever exhibition on quantum science, and uses thoughtful and creatives stories and multi-level interactives to break down the barriers of this fascinating science.

Myseum of Toronto is searching for a new Executive Director to lead this exciting and innovative organization into the future. Founded in 2014, Myseum is a charity that showcases the history, spaces, cultures, architecture and the people that represent Toronto’s unique place in the world. As Executive Director, you will broaden reach and exposure. Working in partnership with the Board of Directors, you will deliver on the mission, producing events through a number of different avenues celebrating the evolution of Toronto’s communities, cultures, and urban and natural spaces. Myseum has been a valued client of Lord Cultural Resources’ since 2015 and we are sharing this posting to help Myseum build a pool of suitable candidates.

In 1947, officers forced Shirley Roach, then eight years old, to leave her home and move to the Shingwauk Indian Residential School. Roach, now eighty, describes her experience at the school as terrifying; having been physically, mentally, spiritually, and sexually abused by the staff. Today, the school is a part of Algoma University and as of this month, features a permanent museum display remembering what happened at the site. In order to prepare the displays, curators worked with survivors of the school. Roach says: “I just hope for the people that don’t know anything or refuse to know anything, this teaches them about residential schools.”

In 2018, men still dominate the Supreme Court six to three; Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is known for her historic position and stature as the second woman appointed a Supreme Court Justice, but also for the decorative collars that she affixes to her judicial robes. Ginsburg uses the collars both as a tribute the first female justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, but also as a tool; a fashion semaphore challenging the presumption, assumption, and expectation that the person within the robes will be a straight, white, cisgendered man.

Since 2014, more than 480 cultural sites in Italy have been free to visit on the first Sunday of every month. The initiative, known as “Domenica al Museo (Sunday at the Museum)”, was seen as a positive publicity campaign that brought in millions of visitors, many of which were visiting for the first time. However, as the “high season” of foreign tourists approaches, some museum directors expressed concern about overcrowding and security. While the initiative has been shut down, individual museums have the freedom to continue if they wish.

“It’s as if the museum didn’t quite agree to go underground,” says Asmo Jaaksi, one of the architects responsible for a new subterranean art museum in Helsinki. The museum, Amos Rex, is a 2,200 sq m flexible exhibition space that has taken over a former bus station parking lot. “Art used to be something you hung on the wall and went respectfully to contemplate,” says the museum’s director, Kai Kartio. “Today it is increasingly interactive and conversational…we realised that if we wanted to meet the challenges of the future, we had to have something different from our charming old office building.”

Before writing or the wheel, there was the Gobekli Tepe in south-east Turkey. The artificial mound is roughly 12,000 years old, and features a series of circular structures containing carved columns that support the roof. The communal effort required to construct Gobekli Tepe would have required hundreds of people, during a period when most social groups of hunter-gatherers had no more than 25 members. Due to the functionality of the building, combined with the aesthetic purpose, this structure can be considered architecture, something designed, rather than simply “building”.

A new maternity facility has been built in Kachumbala, Uganda, that is fully self-sustaining, and inspired by local practices. In addition to providing much needed space and divides within the building, the design makes the facility able to generate its own power, collect its own water, and provide natural air conditioning. Notably, beautiful, hollow terracotta clay screens were added to allow for light and airflow. The clay was locally sourced, and bricks were handmade on site.  "It was about increasing the capacity of the centre, making an environment that was suitable, which was a lot more pleasant, had a degree of privacy, which kept the harsh sun off, and which used passive deign methods to motivate air flow," says HKS Architects design director Dan Flower.

France wants its young people to experience more culture, so they are going straight to the source: smartphones. Currently in its beta-testing phase, the new mobile app, Pass Culture, offers 18-year-olds a $584 credit to use exclusively on cultural events – everything from theatre to musical instruments. The app also incorporates geolocating, to introduce the user to nearby cultural offerings. By 2019, the app will be officially launched.

Instagram users who access the New York Public Library’s account will get to experience classic literature in a new way; “Insta Novels” feature highly graphic animations integrated into the text of a classic novel such as Alice in Wonderland or The Metamorphosis. The full novel can be read through the Instagram app, much like an e-reader device; the pages have been designed to be reminiscent of traditional books, with soft off-white backgrounds instead of the typical harsh blue-white background on a phone screen. The NYPL already offers an extensive e-book collection, and they are hoping that the Insta Novels will help make literature more accessible to technology users.

Visitors exploring the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto will be met with a haunting new display; a row of white bookshelves filled with thousands of identical white books that are all blank inside. The project, called 168:01, is part of a travelling installation by artist Wafaa Bilal that is a response to the looting and destruction of cultural institutions during wartime. The public are invited to donate money to replace each faux book in the installation; the books will then be sent to the College of Fine Arts at the University of Baghdad, whose library was destroyed in 2003.

After an exhibition of queer art in Brazil was shut down last year, a crowdfunding campaign raised over one million reals, or $250,000, to reopen the exhibition. The opening weekend set an attendance record at the new venue, and featured 264 works by artists such as Lygia Clark and Adriana Varejao. The shows curator called the opening “a celebration of democracy and resistance”.

What should be done with monuments to figures historically tied to racism? Controversial, and historically celebrated, monuments are abundant in Canada, and have recently started to be removed from public spaces, often as a response to vandalism. While some monuments are problematic due to the actions of the individuals being honored, for others it is due to the offensive visual representations of Indigenous peoples. Working groups are being established to consider all the possible ways to address problematic monuments; everything from moving statues into storage, to erecting counter-monuments.

In the 1950s, 95% of the population in Quebec attended Mass. Today, only 5% attend. The sharp decline in church attendance has sparked a movement of conservation; as of April 2018, 547 churches in Quebec have been closed or transformed in an effort to preserve historic buildings, while still putting them to good use. Many of the reimagined churches continue to serve their communities, by teaching technical skills or offering low-cost meals.

In New York State, abandoned buildings are getting a second chance; the new program Neighbors for Neighborhoods provides financial support for residents to renovate and reactivate abandoned properties and transform them into affordable rental housing. The program will help to improve the visual appeal of a neighborhood, while providing affordable, stable housing.