if you are in chicago and like art events, in case you didn't know, you can look online at thevisualist.org and see a great calendar of what's going on.
My recommendation if you’re looking to start going to openings is to sign up for gallery newsletters and plot out who has overlapping art openings (usually on first Friday’s). Organize your gallery-hopping by neighborhood! Grab a friend, plot where you’ll get snacks along the way.
West Town / Noble Square:
Western Exhibitions
Patron
Document
Paris London Hong Kong
Volume
ENGAGE projects
Rhona Hoffman
Andrew Rafacz
Monique Meloche
Mickey
West Loop / Fulton Market:
Corbett v Dempsey
Chicago Artists Coalition
Kavi Gupta
Anthony Gallery
Arts of Life
Gray
Humboldt Park / Garfield Park:
Tusk
Patient Info
Goldfinch
Julius Caesar
Pilsen / McKinley Park:
Tiger Strikes Asteroid / MANA
Prairie
Produce Model
University Galleries (go for BFA and MFA shows!):
DPAM
Gallery 400
Logan Center for the Arts
Renaissance Society
Block Museum
SAIC galleries
Check out the Chicago Show Calendar for mostly DIY bands, touring folks and DJs! The website’s calendar seems to be down at the moment but their Instagram and stuff are still updating frequently - at least on my phone. Chicago also has a lot of classic house music so go dancing!
Live music scene here is amazing, and there are independent venues all over doing great shows. Follow @chicagoshowcal on IG, she posts EVERY show at EVERY indie venue EVERY week.
And if you ever need a concert buddy here, hmu 😇👋
you can get your hair cut/dyed and also a lot of other things for a great price. if you are a student or broke with time to spend, this is a great way to spend it. I got three rounds of lightener and toner for 60 dollars. i also got my hair cut for 20 dollars once. also, the students i've met are very very very sweet.
food testing focus testing groups is my current side hustle. if you are in a major city (i'm in chicago and there are a lot) you can find these consumer tests, sign up for them and go into a facility and taste foods. they usually pay about 50 dollars to try one product and you can try interesting things in a strange envrionment with other strange people. I reccomend p&k surveys and curion and bryles.
the art institute holds free lectures from visiting artists pretty regularly. they have famous and good artists, and they can be extremely inspiring if you are an artist yourself. the lecturers are very interesting and give great life advice. i usually leave with a new feeling in my heart and body than when i came in.