Help Revamp the South Loop with the Wabash Arts Corridor Initiative

March 5, 2013

Columbia College Chicago faculty and staff members are invited to attend meetings to discuss the emerging Wabash Arts Corridor (WAC), which is designed to transform the empty storefronts, parking lots, walls, and vacant land on Wabash Avenue into a dynamic, creative thoroughfare that can serve as a gateway to the South Loop.

The first meeting, which is an internal Columbia College planning meeting, takes place at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 7, at Stage Two, 618 S. Michigan Ave. 

The corridor, which sits between Congress Parkway and Roosevelt Road, has the building blocks of a vibrant thoroughfare. In addition to restaurants, coffee houses, and arts supply stores, Wabash Avenue features the C33 Gallery, A+D Gallery, ShopColumbia, HAUS performance center, Elephant Room, Buddy Guy's Legends, Papermaker's Garden, IAM Gallery, Conaway Center, Center for Book and Paper Arts, Film Row Cinema, and Getz Theater.

Phase One of the Wabash Arts Corridor Initiative includes:

• A mural on George's Lounge, 646 S. Wabash Ave., by Columbia alumnus Nino Rodriguez, which presents a snapshot of Chicago;
  
• A series of large-scale photographs, spotlighting the work of fashion photography students, will soon grace the exterior of the Hilton Chicago;
  
• Photography and English students will soon collaborate on creating images and text to be installed on the support beams for the El tracks on Harrison Street;
  
• The Papermaker's Garden, 745 S. Wabash Ave., will be expanded in spring 2013.