Chicago Humanities Festival

Location: Museum Of Contemporary Art

Date: Saturday, November 9, 2013; 6:30-9:00 pm

A ‘Humanities Festival’ sounds very profound and the description on the One Brick website certainly added to the appeal.  It said, “The Chicago Humanities Festival began in 1989 as a dream shared by a determined group of Chicago's cultural leaders eager to extend the riches of the humanities to all who might benefit - that is, everyone.”  It went on to say, “The Chicago Humanities Festival's mission is to create opportunities for people of all ages to support, enjoy and explore the humanities. They fulfill this mission through their annual festivals, the fall Chicago Humanities Festival and the spring Stages, Sights & Sounds, and by presenting programs throughout the year that encourage the study and enjoyment of the humanities.  The Chicago Humanities Festival is devoted to making the humanities a vital and vibrant ingredient of daily life.  They believe that access to cultural, artistic and educational opportunities is a necessary element for a healthy and robust civic environment.”  The theme for this year’s fall festival was ‘Animal: What Makes Us Human’, and as a part of that, they were showing a play called ‘Elephant Room’.  One Brick was going to be helping out as ushers for the evening, and the venue was the ‘Museum Of Contemporary Art’.  Thus for the second time this Saturday, I was headed to a museum…though this time it was in my neighborhood.  I have been to the MCA several times and it is in fact one of my preferred places to visit on Tuesday’s during summer.  With the nice weather, they open up their back patio and there is usually live music to entertain the crowd.  Furthermore, on Tuesday’s the museum is open till late and is free for the residents of Illinois; and I certainly take advantage of that.  The exhibits are...well, interesting to say the least and while it may take a far better person than me to explain a few of those, walking through museums is one of my favorite activities and something that I recall fondly from my prior experiences. 

Outside the museum

This evening I arrived to see a giant bust of some statue outside the museum.  Being the EC I was taking some pictures when I spotted Wilson, who was the EM.  Also present was Rich, and after a few pictures we went inside to wait for the others. As we put away our coats our fellow volunteers, some of who were regulars and others I met for the first time, joined us.  Since our main task was as ushers, we were all dressed in either all black or black and white.  Wilson said that this would probably be one of the easiest gigs that we had ever done, where after we finished ushering people; we would get to enjoy the show.  Phillip, our site rep, gathered us all together and told us our duties.  The first task was to make the programs.  He took us to the back room where all the programs were kept in a box, and we had to first stamp them for the right show, insert them into a folder and finally staple them.  Phillip said that we needed approximately 300 of these programs and a few had already been made.  One of our volunteers started counting the programs that were ready to go, so as to minimize our work.  Rich started stamping the programs, while two others were inserting into folders and two were stapling.  With this assembly line, we were done soon thereafter and it also gave us time to chat about art interpretation.  While Wilson said that everyone should interpret art individually, I said that one of my best experiences at a museum was when a lady who worked in the gallery explained the displayed art to me.  I still remember how she pointed out the various textures, the use of colors, the light and the mood and it was a whole new way of looking at things. 

The show

Our next task was to stand at the entrance to the auditorium and as people came in, we were to tear their ticket stubs, hand them a program and guide them to their seats.  Phillip told us that once all the people had been seated, we could find empty seats and watch the show as well.  There were two entrances and I was paired with Rich and Cara on one of them.  For our entrance there was another instruction that Phillip wanted us to follow.  Approximately 30 minutes into the show, there was something happening in the airlock between the inner and outer doors and we were told not to let anyone leave from that entrance, were they looking to go to the bathroom.  This meant that one of us had to be by the door for the duration of the show and I told Rich that I would do it.  Cara and I started ripping tickets and Phillip had given us something that looked like a tool belt/apron to put the stubs inside.  We were telling the guests that it was a 75-minute show with no intermission and that we could not allow any drink in an open container inside.  Also, we were telling them to retain the other half of their ticket stub for entry into the museum any time over the next 7 days.  It was quite rapid once the people started coming in and very soon everybody had been seated.  Phillip came to take our aprons and while Rich and Cara found seats in the audience, I grabbed a chair and sat next to the exit to guard it.

Not a bad view

The show started and it was basically three guys doing illusions and comedy sketches.  It was funny in parts and I got to see close-hand why they wanted someone to guard the exit, since it was a part of one of their illusions.  I enjoyed the show and once it was over we waited for the people to leave and then went to clean up the aisles.  Consistent with other One Brick events, we went out afterwards and were also joined by Gary, who was attending the show as a guest.  It was a fun Saturday evening and we enjoyed chatting about the show and the other common interests amongst many One Bricker’s – favorite actor to play  ‘Dr. Who’.  My day had been fantastic starting with the ‘Parade School’ in one museum and ending with a show in another.  And while the morning’s activity had been somewhat challenging, Wilson had been right about this one. It had been the easiest project that I have ever done, but a satisfying one as well.