After nearly two decades of pursuing our mission to move music forward, we find ourselves in an extremely fortunate position. Eighth Blackbird has an audience and a platform to reach them. We also have physical space to rehearse, move, experiment, and create. Recognizing the advantage this infrastructure gives us, we came to the conclusion that offering these assets to other artists could have measurable impact. So we created a new initiative:
The Chicago Artists Workshop
There are specific tenets central to CAW. In addition to showcasing the stellar and wide-ranging work of working artists, we wanted to create work for artists during a time when the performance industry was enormously threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are also working with artists to explore what online performance will mean in a post-pandemic performance world. Finally, we’re determined for the series to be defined by its extraordinary caliber and creativity rather than by genre or discipline.
CAW’s streaming productions are marked by a cinematic multi-camera configuration, full lighting and audio support, and a modern performance aesthetic, creating a highly-polished broadcast product. Following performances, artists are also provided with all recorded media for personal use. Additionally, artists are invited into the Eighth Blackbird studio for multi-day workshop residencies to rehearse, create, and refine production curation.
The Chicago Artists Workshop is made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts.