CGN Art World Recap: 1/18/23

Artists Book House opts out of Harley Clarke Mansion

The Artists Book House informed the city it is leaving the Harley Clarke mansion, bringing an abrupt end to the group’s dream to create a book and literary center in the long-shuttered lakefront building, its founder said Thursday, Jan. 12.

The decision was reached reluctantly, after consulting with four fundraising firms, who, while agreeing it was possible to raise the money required to restore the mansion, concluded that it would take eight to 10 years, far beyond what the group had committed to originally, said Audrey Niffenegger, the founder of the Artists Book House, confirming the decision.

Note: CGN profiled Niffenegger and the project in the Fall 2021 issue of CGN

Chicagoan awarded high honors from France for work rebuilding Notre Dame Cathedral ravaged by fire

Carla Knorowski cried as she sat on the couch at her Lake View home and watched news coverage of a fire tearing through Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

It was April 2019. The smoke and flames struck a nerve.

Several weeks earlier, Knorowski, a professional fundraiser who’s raised millions for her alma mater, the University of Illinois at Chicago, began working with Friends of Notre Dame de Paris on the organization’s board of directors.

Via Chicago Sun Times

Elmhurst Art Museum Receives $150K NEA Grant

EAM announced they have been awarded a $150,000 matching grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and they are the only museum in the State of Illinois to win this national award.

This nationally recognized award will aid future renovations to the museum's roof to protect its permanent collections and sustain our humanities programming.