For Immediate Release
August 28, 2008
Media contact: Priscilla Hunter, 312.369.7805, 312.286.6624 (cell) or phunter@colum.edu
CHICAGO, IL--For the fourth year, Columbia College Chicago fashion design and fashion retail management students and faculty will participate in Fashion Focus Chicago, a weeklong celebration of Chicago’s fashion industry. From October 1 through October 8, some of the city’s most talented designers will showcase their skills in runway shows, fashion installations, shopping events, student designer events and industry seminars.
Chicago’s Chase Promenade North in Millennium Park will be home to five runway shows and Gen Art’s Shop CHICago:
• October 1 Gen Art’s Fresh Faces in Fashion featuring Pete Wentz’s Clandestine Industries
• October 2 Chicago Sister Cities International Program World Fashion Chicago
• October 3 Dress Code, a fashion show showcasing the work of top fashion design students from four Chicago-area design schools. Dress Code is produced by Nena Ivon, Manager of Special Events for Saks Fifth Avenue and Columbia College adjunct faculty in Arts Entertainment & Media Management.
• October 4 Gen Art’s Shop CHICago
• October 6 Allure of Couture, produced by Barbara Samuels, Columbia College adjunct faculty in Arts Entertainment & Media Management and Nick Cave, chair of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago fashion design department
• October 7 Macy’s presents Designers of Chicago Fashion Show
For further information and event details call 312.744.2400 or go to www.chicagofashionresource.com.
New to the runway shows this year is Dress Code, the first Fashion Focus runway show to feature student designers from Chicago’s four design schools: Columbia College Chicago; The Illinois Institute of Art-Chicago; the International Academy of Design and Technology; and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Columbia fashion design students Jen Beeman, <Amy Fenderson, Liz Klimek, Yuka Takeda and Reginald Valdezco were the lucky five selected by fashion design faculty.
In addition, Columbia fashion design faculty will present a Fashion Illustration Demonstration on Thursday, October 2 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the college’s Hokin Annex, 623 S. Wabash Avenue, 1st floor. Guests can sketch a professional runway model wearing student designs while faculty members assist with the drawings and answer questions. Materials provided. This event is free and open to the public. Due to limited space, reservations are required. To RSVP call 312.369.7557.
From October 1 through October 8, check out these ongoing student events:
“Same Suit, Different Story” on exhibit at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan Avenue, in the Michigan Avenue and Balbo Street windows and the South Lobby. This exhibit highlights the creativity of Columbia students’ coursework in Fashion Design: Concepts. Students deconstruct a man’s suit and shirt and recycle it into an original garment concept.
“Fashion Lab” daily at 72 E. Randolph Street from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a special Gallery Talk on Saturday, October 4 from Noon to 1 p.m. and shopping with student designers from 1-4 p.m. Admission is free. Fashion Lab is a showcase of one-of-a-kind student designs that are yours to own! Stop by this showcase of work by students from all four design schools. Students participating in the Fashion Lab will be on hand during Saturday’s Gallery Talk to discuss their work. Guests will be able to purchase pieces on Saturday or by contacting the student designers directly throughout the week.
Fashion Focus programming is presented by the City of Chicago in partnership with Macy’s; Gen Art Chicago; the Apparel Industry Board, Inc.; Chicago Fashion Foundation; Columbia College Chicago; The Illinois Institute of Art—Chicago; the International Academy of Design and Technology; the School of the Art Institute; Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center; Sister Cities International Program; Chicago History Museum; Urban Shop Guide; and ShopWalk. For further information and event details, visit www.chicagofashionresource.com or call the Department of Cultural Affairs, 312.744.2400.
Columbia College Chicago, an urban institution committed to open access, opportunity and excellence in higher education, provides innovative degree programs in the visual, performing, media and communication arts to more than 12,500 students in over 120 undergraduate and graduate programs, including film & video, art & design, arts management, television, radio, music, interactive multimedia – all within a liberal arts context. Founded in 1890 as a communications school, Columbia College Chicago was revisioned in 1963 as a liberal arts college with a “hands-on minds-on” approach to arts and media education and a progressive social agenda. Under the current leadership of President Warrick L. Carter, Ph.D., Columbia is aggressively pursuing this mission. Columbia is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. The college is accredited as a teacher training institution by the Illinois State Board of Education. For further information visit www.colum.edu.
Media Contact: Micki Leventhal 312-369-4899 or mleventhal@colum.edu
CHICAGO, IL (September 2, 2008) – The fifth year of Columbia College Chicago’s signature public event, Conversations in the Arts, will celebrate the foundational philosophy of the college by welcoming public intellectuals who have made significant contributions to new outlooks and advocacies in the areas of educational equity, learning theory, creative activism, diversity in the arts and economic development. Speakers for the Founders Lectures are: Jonathan Kozol, Sir Ken Robinson, Anna Deavere Smith, and Richard Florida. Each program will include a lecture, followed by audience Q & A moderated by a member of the Columbia faculty. History and details regarding the Conversations in the Artsseries, the Founders Lectures and full biographies of the speakers can be found at www.colum.edu/conversations
All events take place at Columbia’s Film Row Cinema, 1104 S. Wabash, 8th floor, and begin at 7:30 p.m. Founders Lectures are free and open to the public, however space is limited and tickets are required. Tickets can be reserved through the Columbia Ticket Center on a first-come, first-served basis, two months before each event. Call 312-369-6600.
Jonathan Kozol, author of Savage Inequalities, Death at an Early Age, and numerous other works arguing for the rights of children and a more democratic system of public education, speaks on Monday, October 20 as part of Columbia’s Creative Nonfiction Week http://www.colum.edu/specialevents/cnfw/. Kozol will discuss “A New War on Poverty: Equality and Opportunity in America.”
Sir Ken Robinson, Ph.D., author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative and the Robinson Report All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education, is an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources. He brings his engaging speaking style to Columbia on Tuesday, December 2, as he challenges educators to teach youth to be creative thinkers rather than merely good workers.
Anna Deavere Smith, author of the plays Fires in the Mirror and Twilight: Los Angeles 1992 and professor of theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, uses her singular brand of theater to explore issues of community, character and diversity in America. Her artistic contributions and social advocacy have been recognized with a MacArthur Foundation “genius” Fellowship. On Tuesday, January 27, 2009, Smith shares her ideas on “Engaging the World: The Role of the Artist in Society.”
Richard Florida, Ph.D., author of the bestselling book The Rise of the Creative Class, is an urban studies theorist whose work has effected change in the way regions, nations and companies compete. The founder of the Creative Class Group and one of Esquire Magazine’s “Best and Brightest in America,” Florida will discuss economic development and creativity on Thursday, April 30, 2009.
“The timing of the Founders Lectures is especially significant because 2009 marks the 40th anniversary of the formulation of the college’s mission statement,” says Mark Kelly, vice president of student affairs. “As we move into the future, we want to reconnect Columbia to the vision and mission that helped to create the modern college and that will also help to chart a path for the next 40 years.”
Over the past four years, Conversations in the Arts has welcomed famous individuals whose contributions to arts, culture and education exemplify the humanistic qualities and values that are part of the Columbia College Chicago educational experience. Since the series’ founding in 2004, the public has enjoyed the personal and inspiring stories of legendary figures including Laren Bacall, Ben Vereen, Mary Tyler Moore, Julie Andres, James Earl Jones, Debbin Reynolds, Joan Lunden, Richard Roundtree, Salman Rushdie, Jane Alexander, Edward James Olmos, Diahann Carroll and Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni.
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