Chicago's Premier Magazine for Culture & the Performing Arts

Clef Notes Chicagoland Journal of the Arts serves as the city's premier magazine for Chicago performing arts coverage with feature stories on music, art, theater and dance.  We provide departments that cover a wide range of the creative muse for Chicago arts lovers. Clef Notes examines innovations in culture, while at the same time, looks back to the history of art, theater, dance and the performing arts to inform on what they mean to us today.  Our magazine brings news, interviews with renowned concert artists and editorials, essays and analysis on a wide variety of subjects all touching art, the artisan and the muse.  In addition, we provide a comprehensive digest of cultural offerings within the Chicago area in the pages of our popular Cultural Almanac, which features previews, reviews for current running performances and comparative listings of arts events throughout the Chicagoland calendar.

Clef Notes Journal - Spring 2013

Forecasts notwithstanding, spring has definitely arrived in Chicago. And in Chicago, spring is often considered one of the most exciting components of the annual arts and culture calendar. Often the second wind of our culture season, spring offers new, reinvigorated energy with productions, performances and exhibits that frequently mark the highlight and most inspired events of a cultural institution's season.

Sources of that inspiration serve as some of the most fascinating aspects of Chicago cultural life. Of course, in every arts-focused city, inspiration can come from anywhere. But with the enormous level of support for the arts here, artists enjoy a great freedom that encourages a wealth of experimentation. And that beckons all sorts of inspiration.

Clef Notes' Spring 2013 is all about the unique inspirations behind the exciting cultural events in this second wind of our arts season. One of the most inspired elements of arts and culture in Chicago is the training of our young talents.The ability to plant seeds in fertile young minds, seeds that can grow into the most incredible artistic vision, is one of the most rewarding aspects of life.

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And in our new expanded Arts & Education feature, David Berner examines Lookingglass Theatre's unique camp, Springglass, an exceptional training and coaching program that develops area students with a passion for the live stage. It's a wonderful program that can inspire a lifelong love of the theater arts.

Also in this issue, we take a look at the inspiration behind the Art Institute's newest exhibition, They Seek a City, an intriguing show that chronicles the indelible impact of the Great Migration on Chicago's cultural scene through the artists that sought a haven here in the Midwest. It offers a fascinating look at a seminal moment in Chicago's development as a Midwestern metropolis and the cultural hub it is today.

And, of course, we had a wonderful time learning all about the exciting inspiration for “Havana Blue.” Co-commissioned by the Auditorium Theatre, “Havana Blue” combines the forces of Frank Chavez, artistic director of River North Dance Chicago, and Orbert Davis, artistic director of The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic. Emily Disher had a chance to sit down with both artists on their collaboration and its origins, which began on a 2011 journal to Chavez home of Cuba. What it produced was just the sort of one-of-a-kind work that could only be created in Chicago.

It's all perfect fodder that apex, the incredible crescendo that the spring season often means to Chicago arts and culture. Cultivated from a seed, reinvigorated and energized, Chicago's cultural calendar has some powerfully wonderful experiences ahead. We hope you'll take an opportunity to find inspiration here in the pages of Clef Notes so that you won't miss a moment of it!

Sincerely,

D. Webb

Publisher