Isabella DeLeo

When Eibur Stepney remembers her father, she hears the sounds of music being made in the basement studio of their South Side home.

Her father, the soul producer, arranger and songwriter Charles Stepney, would write arrangements by hand in that studio. Remembering her childhood, Eibur Stepney said, “the thing that I loved the most was just sometimes going to the bottom of...

On a recent Sunday on Chicago’s Riverwalk, a few dozen people sat on red and yellow Adirondack lawn chairs listening to classically inspired pianists Shi-An Costello and Jonathan Hannau improvise.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most widely performed and recognizable works. Within it, audiences encounter a supernatural maze of interconnecting plot points, including a play within the play and a character who gets turned into a donkey.
For Chicago theater director Beth Wolf, A Midsummer Night’s Dream holds a special significance: It’s the play that...

From paintings of fungi and bacteria on decorative tiles to a jellyfish chandelier hanging over the great room, nature is at every turn inside Casa Zero. Here, poetry and sustainability collide, paving your journey to the chlorophyl-inspired sofa.

WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information. Sign up for our newsletters to stay up to date on the stories that matter. Around 10 p.m. on a recent night in June, Wills Glasspiegel went to the Merchandise Mart to test run Billiken, a new eight-minute art film he co-directed with Shkunna Stewart, with animation by Brandon K. Calhoun.

Around 10 p.m. on a recent night, Wills Glasspiegel went to the Merchandise Mart to test-run “Billiken,” a new, eight-minute art film he co-directed with Shkunna Stewart, with animation by Brandon K. Calhoun. He wasn’t preparing the film for a screening inside a theater. He was getting ready for something bigger, with the movie to be projected onto the mammoth, 340,000-square-foot facade of the Merchandise Mart.

On a blisteringly hot June morning inside the Edgewater arts nonprofit 6018North, the Chicago artist and dancer Hannah Santistevan grabbed a pink and red paint-splattered turntable record and began to gracefully move.
Posing for the camera, Santistevan hoisted the record high above her head and positioned it in such a way that it almost blended in with the backdrop: a ci...

Art, meet Lego. The Museum of Science and Industry debuts The Art of the Brick on February 10, an exhibit celebrating all things Lego. The exhibit features original artworks from contemporary artist Nathan Sawaya, in addition to his Lego recreations of famous art throughout history.

Within a few months of launching The Signature Fit, a women’s fashion brand based out of Chicago, Kiara Lee and Darnyá Jamerson attended a large fashion trade show in Las Vegas.
Looking back, they realized the chance to connect with other entrepreneurs helped jumpstart their small business.

Summer traditionally brings a long list of great stuff to do in the Chicago region. But this year, with inflation in the backdrop and COVID making planning a last-minute affair, we’re focused on what’s free. All summer long, WBEZ will be curating this list of recommended concerts, performances, art shows, neighborhood fests and other cultural highlights.

I keep thinking about the suitcase. Skylar (Talia Ryder) packs sweaters and a pair of jeans into an oversized travel bag (oversized, at least, for what is supposed to be a day-long trip). The next morning, Skylar and her cousin, Autumn (Sidney Flanigan), wake up when it’s still dark outside to board a bus from their hometown in rural Pennsylvania to New York City.

Despite this year’s SXSW being canceled due to COVID-19, the Austin-based festival has found a way to share some of its films with the public, making the majority of the shorts program available online for free starting on Wednesday, March 25.

There are many reasons why people might want to become independent workers or freelancers.