Lakeview opens search for artists to energize public spaces

Lakeview is looking for artists! And not just for murals under the L tracks—officials want sculptors, designers, musicians, performance artists and creators of all media to heed the call.

The Lakeview Chamber of Commerce will be accepting submissions for this year through April 30. That’s not a hard deadline though, the proposal form will remain open past that date and ideas will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Dillon Goodson, the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce’s director of community development, said that the organization is open to all kinds of art that could enrich Lakeview’s public spaces.

“We are interested in seeing everything from artists and curators who create murals and sculptures, to musicians and dancers that might want to engage the community with a more temporary program,” Goodson wrote in an email.

Last year the neighborhood was involved in the city’s Year of Public Art initiative which funded a 4,000 square-foot mural by Anthony Lewellen at the intersection of Lincoln Ashland and Belmont. The positive response inspired the neighborhood to bring in more public art this year with funding from Special Service Area (SSA) 27.

The program could take place anywhere as long as its within the boundary of the neighborhood. When reviewing proposals, officials will also be looking to enhance specific spaces.

Dillon Goodson / Lakeview Chamber of Commerce

Some locations that could get invigorated with art include the neighborhood’s people spots, which are seasonal decks that extend the sidewalk into wide streets and the Southport Plaza at the Low-Line which hosts a farmer’s market and has four mural walls.

Eventually the Low-Line, a project still in the works, will transform the space beneath the Brown Line tracks between Paulina Street and Ashland Avenue into an art walk lined with murals, interactive art and sculptures.

The Lincoln Hub—or the Lincoln, Southport, and Wellington intersection—is an area that will have quite a lot going on this year. This intersection, along with the stretch of Lincoln Avenue between Belmont and Diversey, is a place officials are looking to enliven with more art as they plan for a series of rotating pop-up markets featuring local artists, crafters and merchants.

• A look at the planned Lakeview Low-Line pedestrian path [Curbed Chicago]
• Curbed Chicago Pocket Guide: Spring 2018 [Curbed Chicago