No Jazz, Gospel or Blues fests as ‘Open Chicago’ reopening plans expand

CHICAGO – The Chicago Blues Festival, Gospel Music Festival and Jazz Festival all are taking another summer off, according to an announcement Monday from Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE).

The House Music Festival will become “House City,” a nine-part series of free events in Chicago’s neighborhoods. Taste of Chicago remains the previously announced Taste of Chicago To-Go (July 7-11). And four evening events at Millennium Park’s Jay Pritzker Pavilion will take the place of the largest city music fests of the summer, with nights of gospel music, jazz, house music and blues. Not yet mentioned: the fate of the Chicago Air & Water Show later this summer.

It’s an unexpected curtailing of some of the headliner events of Chicago’s outdoor season, especially given the recent speed of Chicago’s reopening from the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.

Both the city and the music festival presenters attributed the summer’s schedule to planning time. Although the city and state both have fully reopened, you can’t turn something as big as Chicago’s Jazz Festival on a dime.

“Yes, there is grief” about not having the usual Jazz Fest, said Heather Ireland Robinson, executive director of the nonprofit Jazz Institute of Chicago, which programs the week-long, multistage Jazz Fest put on by DCASE. But in a typical year, “we start planning this thing in January and February. We gather in the snow. At that point, we weren’t even at the vaccine point.”

Decisions had to be made then as to how to plan the summer.

DCASE commissioner Mark Kelly said the focus should be on all that is happening, instead of all that is not.

The city’s announcement Monday included a calendar of events as part of the previously announced “Open Chicago” initiative. The lineup, some of it already reported in the Tribune, is headlined by “Chicago in Tune” (Aug. 19-Sept. 19), commemorating the 2021 Year of Chicago Music. Organizers plan to make it an annual event. Most of the concerts and events are pushed into the neighborhoods, rather than collected on the lakefront — and that’s a plus, Kelly said.

“We’re really proud of what we’ve put forward,” he said. “The challenge was how to animate both Millennium Park and the entire city.”

Scenario planning began months ago, with DCASE’s reduced budget also part of the mix. At some point, one plan had to move forward; Kelly said he couldn’t put a date on when that was. “It’s all been a bit of a blur, to tell the truth.”

“Chicago Presents” (an initiative of the Arts77 recovery plan) is an umbrella of neighborhood arts programming that includes House City and the weeklong Taste of Chicago To-Go, as well as new events including:

– ¡Súbelo! (Sept. 4) in the Pilsen neighborhood, a celebration of Latinx music and culture.

– Global Peace Picnic (Sept. 25) at the Humboldt Park Boathouse, an afternoon of world music and family activities commemorating the United Nations’ International Day of Peace.

Chicago blues musician Billy Branch, who played the first Chicago Blues Fest and will be part of the Pritzker Pavilion event, said no Blues Fest this year feels like a loss.

“It’s a disappointment. It’s wonderful being able to showcase in beautiful Millennium Park for so many people” in a typical summer, he said. “The fans love it. This year? It’s an adjustment.”

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