Evanston Mayor Stephen Hagerty, the Evanston Arts Council, and community partners are hosting “A Bright Night for the Arts,” an annual celebration recognizing the contributions of those who help make Evanston a vibrant and creative community.
The event is open to the public and will take place on Tuesday, November 13, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., at Northwestern University’s Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, in Evanston. Admission is $20 per person.
A cocktail hour with tasty bites will start the celebration, followed by a stroll through the Block’s current exhibition, “Up is Down: Mid-century Experiments in Advertising and Film at the Goldsholl Studio.”
Mayor Hagerty will honor past volunteer members of the Evanston Arts Council as well as present the Mayor’s Award for the Arts to Harvey Pranian for his 30-year commitment to Young Evanston Artists (YEA!). On one Saturday every May, YEA! turns an outdoor Evanston venue into a pop-up gallery of artwork from over 3,000 Evanston students.
The celebration’s “Bright Spots” include the Witness Quilt Project, which gathered over 200 community members to stitch quilts to honor local victims of domestic violence, and scenes from I.D., Art of Evolution’s powerful theater program in partnership with Mudlark Theatre. The program engaged Evanston students in an original production exploring issues of racism.
In addition, the Evanston Mural Project will present local murals from the last two years and the artists who made them, and Picturing Evanston, a new website featuring the city’s vibrant arts community, will provide a multimedia presentation about local artists, makers and artisans.