I asked those who receive my ArtLetters to grade Chicago's institutions that exhibit visual art. Here are the fascinating results. Thank you for participating.
The most votes were cast for:
1. Art Institute of Chicago
2. Museum of Contemporary Art
3. Chicago Cultural Center (the top 3 were essentially a tie)
4. Smart Museum
5. Hyde Park Art Center
6. Renaissance Society
The fewest votes were cast for:
1. Cervantes Institute
2. Sullivan Galleries of the School of the Art Institute (new)
3. Little Black Pearl
4. McCormick Freedom Museum
The highest grades were for (B or higher)
1. Chicago Cultural Center
2/3 Oriental Institute
2/3 Smart Museum
4. Art Institute of Chicago
5. Hyde Park Art Center
6. National Museum of Mexican Art
7 Museum of Contemporary Photography
The lowest grades were for: (D or below -- perhaps more votes here would have made a difference)
1. Cervantes Institute
2. Southside Community Arts Center
3. Little Black Pearl
4. DuSable Art Museum
5. Chinese American Museum of Chicago
The most controversial (those with the most range in the votes) were:
Renaissance Society
Museum of Contemporary Art
Chicago History Museum
The Institutions and their scores: (A=4, B=3, C=2, D=1, F=0)
Art Institute of Chicago 3.17
Arts Club of Chicago 2.59 (No Website)
Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture 2.20
Beverly Art Center 2.44
Block Museum 2.91
Cervantes Institute 1.60
Chicago Cultural Center 3.40
Chicago History Museum 2.93
Chinese-American Museum of Chicago 1.88
Columbia College galleries 2.71
DePaul Art Museum 2.52
DuSable Museum 1.86
Elmhurst Art Museum 2.56
Evanston Art Center 2.38
Field Museum 2.96
Gallery 400 2.50
Governor's State Sculpture Park 2.50
Hyde Park Art Center 3.09
I Space 2.56
Illinois State Museum, Chicago 2.90
International Museum of Surgical Science 2.46
Little Black Pearl 1.77
Loyola University Museum of Art 2.19
McCormick Freedom Museum 2.20
Museum of Contemporary Art 2.50
Museum of Contemporary Photography 3.00
Museum of Science and Industry 2.98
National Museum of Mexican Art 3.07
Oriental Institute 3.25
Renaissance Society 2.74
Smart Museum 3.25
Smith Museum of Stained Glass 2.67
Southside Community Arts Center 1.70
Spertus Museum 2.75
Sullivan Galleries 2.95
Ukrainian Institute 2.42
Vietnam Veterans Art Museum 2.53
There are a lot of things to discuss here. A lot of people provided comments with their "ballots." I would hope that those who've already commented do so again, here, publicly and that others do too.
Thank you very much,
Paul Klein
The institutions that I noted as most controversial had a lot of A’s, D’s and F’s and a lot fewer grades in between. For them it might be difficult to extrapolate from these results. They are pleasing a fair number of people and alienating others. A tough predicament to reconcile. Except for those, most grading was rather consistent.
This wasn’t a ‘blind’ polling. I could see who voted for what. (Maybe next time we’ll do it differently.) Take a look at the institutions that scored the lowest. Predominantly it was people who those institutions would consider members of their community who downgraded them. They also received a lot fewer votes than those who scored higher because they tend not to be familiar to a broad audience. Their task is pretty clear.
Three of the top five institutions are affiliated with the University of Chicago. I think that’s noteworthy.
I was very surprised to see some of the results. My biases are not necessarily the same as yours.
There’s a lot of room for discussion here. Many of you posted insightful comments. In the hope that you would include them in this discussion, I chose not to include comments in the article.
Thank you for participating,
Paul Klein
The institutions you listed need to be monitored to assure that they serve all of us, not only a few, and that they respect the artists and artworks that they exhibit.
Unfortunately, many art institutions are both under-funded and under-utilized. IF we convince educators that all the arts need to be taught in the public schools, that our students need to be educated about all of our history and culture, need the stimulation and problem solving opportunities the arts present, we could use these spaces as education centers and therefore have them filled on a regular basis. Science is NOT enough; neither is MATH!
Re-instating good art education programs into the schools would assure that all these students (and maybe their families) would make regular trips to the art museums. The results could mean the centers and museums are held to higher standards, get more funding and serve us all better!
We also have segregated institutions in Chicago. This is a multi-cultural nation and I hope our institutions will learn to reflect that.
I also hope that local intituions will put more effort into supporting local artists! Each public museum and art center should mount, at least, one Chicago artists only show per year. It can be juried, invitational, a "people's choice" type event or some combination. Chicagoans would go to see Chicago living artists!