A free opening reception for the exhibition, "Stitched in Tradition: Art Quilts of the Black Threads Collective," will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight, Wednesday January 9, at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St. in Evanston. 

Entertainment will be provided by blues guitarist Chainsaw Dupont.  Refreshments will be served.

Featured artists include Bettye-Jo Bonds, Cheryl Bonds-Rayner, Loretta Brown-Singleton, Loraine Little, Artis Pearson, Sandra Richards, Stephanie Samuel, Deborah Stokes, Tracy Vaughn-Manley.

Curated by Dr. Tracy Vaughn-Manley, the exhibit will run through February 27, in recognition of Black History Month.

A free staged reading of the play "Gee's Bend" will be co-presented in conjunction with this exhibit by Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre and Piven Theatre Workshop at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 4.

You are invited to Community Meetings on Tuesday, January 15, to hear the preliminary findings of the evanstARTs visioning process.  A morning meeting will take place from 10:30 a.m. to noon at the Music Institute of Chicago, 1490 Chicago Avenue.  An evening meeting will be held from 7:30 to 9 p.m. in the Parasol Room at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Avenue, 4th floor.  Arrive a half-hour prior to the start of each meeting to enjoy a short performance by Evanston artists.

evanstARTs is a collaborative effort of the City of Evanston, the Evanston Community Foundation, and the Evanston Arts Council to create a "Roadmap for the Arts" in Evanston. 

For more information, please contact info@evanstarts.org.

Nominations are being sought for the sixth annual 2012 Leadership Award, presented by the Arts & Business Committee of the Evanston Arts Council.  This is your chance to recognize a business that has supported the arts, or an individual representing a business who provided support with the direct backing and involvement of the business.

Please click here for the 2012 Leadership Award nomination form.  The deadline for receipt of nominations has been extended to Thursday, January 17.  The award will be presented at the Annual State of the City Address and Mayor’s Award for the Arts Luncheon, scheduled to be held on March 8.

Nominations are being sought for the Mayor's Award for the Arts. Every year, the Mayor's Award for the Arts is presented to one individual and one arts organization in recognition for their contributions to the Evanston community through the demonstration of excellence in the arts. Recipients are selected from nominations submitted by the public at large. The deadline to submit nominations has been extended to Friday, January 18, 2013.

The City of Evanston/Evanston Arts Council is accepting applications for the Cultural Fund Grant Program, which provides small grant support to Evanston nonprofit arts organizations.  The deadline for submission of applications is 5 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 4.

A grant writing workshop will be offered at 5 p.m. on Monday, January 14, in room 106 at the Noyes Cultural Arts Center, 927 Noyes St.  For more information, please contact Angela Allyn at 847.448.8260.

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

The City of Evanston has released the Downtown Evanston Performing Arts Study, which outlines an action plan for creating a performing arts corridor in the heart of Evanston.

The report identifies the need for three major performing arts venues: one venue housing two flexible theaters (250 and 299 seats); one venue housing a fixed-form end-stage theater for dance and music productions (400 seats); and one venue housing two theaters (400 and 100 seats) to be used as a resident theater facility.

Conducted over a five-month period, the study was supported in part through a grant from the Our Town program of the National Endowment for the Arts.

For an extensive listing of cultural arts happenings in Evanston, please visit (and bookmark!) evanstonartsbuzz.com, your online guide to arts events in Evanston throughout the year.