We always talk about Chicago vs New York and rarely mention one of the most exciting and inspiring statistics about Chicago – it is the most international city in the United States.
When I first heard this I didn’t believe it, but Chicago has this status not because it has the largest immigrant population (which is doesn’t) but because it is home to the most diverse immigrant population. New York has an cross-the-Atlantic-based population, California has a Pacific-based one, but we, here in the middle, have a little bit of everywhere. This site has great ethnic and immigrant population information if you’re interested in the breakdown.
This is my single favorite thing about Chicago. I had Conversations About Iraq for three years in the alley behind my old apartment with a Muslim woman from Iraq, the conversation oscillating between the war and screaming to our kids to not get hit by an oncoming car. Our closest Chucky Cheese’s has more women in Saris and head scarves than women wearing jeans. 70 languages are spoken in my kid’s school – the ESL program is bigger than special ed. I grew in an incredibly ethnically diverse area and when I had to pick an area for my own family, I went right back to the Hasidic Jews walking from temple, along with elderly Asian women with sun umbrellas.
So it’s my bag. And since I get to call some of the editorial shots, I wanted to let writers pitch random countries that have a scene here and do a write up. We try not to make any generalizations – any that appear were presented by the artists themselves as generalizations about their own nationality, and you can take up the argument with them if you wish. But ethicity also intrigues me because we take our culture with us wherever we go, including our artwork. So local artwork in Chicago, in a subtle, ethnically-fusioned way, has an international flair that makes Chicago’s art scene unique, and worth celebrating.
So far:
http://chicagoartmagazine.com/2010/01/one-view-of-the-korean-art-scene-in-chicago/
http://chicagoartmagazine.com/2009/12/iraqi-art-com/
