The Best of the MCA in 2014: Blog Team Edition

1. A Celebration of Marriage Equality

2014 marked the year that the State of Illinois extended the right to marry to all couples, regardless of sexual orientation. When the legislation passed we knew we had to do something special to celebrate, so a core group of staff at the museum got together and quickly arrived at an ambitious idea: make the museum available for weddings all day, for free. We partnered with Equality Illinois for the event and sent out an open call for couples to participate. The response was overwhelming; filled with stories of couples who had long been in love but were not allowed the right to marry their partner until now. On June 2, we opened our galleries for 15 spectacular weddings spanning all traditions, cultures, and kinds, and hosted a free reception for each couple on our terrace in the back. Even with a little rain, it was a beautiful day.

2. “The Diversity Talk” by William Pope.L

Given that unofficial title by artist William Pope.L, the talk upended any expectations of what panels and discussions on diversity are supposed to be like when the panelists, Pope.L, Zachary Cahill, and Lisa Yun Lee, joined Romi Crawfordon stage in full animal costumes—an idea from collaborator Wolfie E. Rawk. The costumes obfuscated all identities and physical appearances (so much so that it took some time to figure out who was who) and added some unexpected levity to the talk. As Pope.L wryly noted, diversity conversations often become divisive among potential allies, so an undoubted high point was when the artist-dressed-as-rat asked the packed house to check under their seats for the lyrics to “America the Beautiful.” As the audience sang the chorus, “America! America! God shed His grace on thee/And crown thy good with brotherhood/From sea to shining sea,” it was an inescapable realization that, in this moment of togetherness-by-song, we were describing a nation we are still working to better.

3. School Partnerships

Working with the community is a major and amazing part of the work that the MCA does every single year, but because it isn't hanging on the walls of our galleries, many people don't know about our partnerships with Chicago schools. This year we began sharing stories of our work—how we're bringing students to the museum, working with the teachers to develop new modes of teaching and art-inclusive curricula, and how we're enabling Chicago artists (above) to work with students in order to build their understanding of art and their own creativity—on social media and our blog, with more stories to come.

On a related note, we also shared Analú Maria López's recent archival discovery of a grainy slide featuring Keith Haring, evidence of how far back the MCA's collaboration with Chicago Public Schools goes. This led to additional discoveries in the museum's archives about the 1989 collaboration between the MCA and Chicago Public School students. The next time you walk the passageway between the Orange Line trains and Midway Airport and think, “Hey, those panels look like a Keith Haring!” you're right. They're by Haring and CPS students, a collaboration we helped organize in 1989.