The popular Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest (GAAF) returns to Rogers Park for its 22nd year on August 18-20, 2023, bringing more than 120 artists and over 30+ live music acts on two stages to the Glenwood Avenue Arts District, steps from the Morse Red Line ‘L’ stop at 6900-7000 N. Glenwood Avenue and 1300-1500 W. Morse Avenue. Admission is free to the public. The fest includes an art fair, live music on two stages, kids’ artmaking activities, food and drinks from local restaurants and live demonstrations of performance art and artmaking.

Kicking off the festival will be a Friday Night Cobblestone Jam (music only), Friday August 18, 6-10 p.m. followed by an outdoor artist fair on Saturday, August 19 from 11 a.m.-9 p.m. and Sunday, August 20 from 11 a.m.-7 p.m., presenting a diverse selection of over 120 artists and craftworkers, including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, ceramics, glass, textile, metal, mixed media and functional art, including returning artists Carlos Barberena, Molly Costello and Daniel Estep, among others. New artists include Amelia Kieras Paper Arts, Serif Ceramics, Nicole Dalton, Donna Katy Jones, Madeline’s Makery, Jasmyne Robertson, Becca Siegel, Connie Toebe and more.

This year, the Outrageous Open Arts Demonstrations Area, where interactive demonstrations of art, craft and street performances will occur, welcomes a newcomer, Poems While You Wait, to join them at the festival. Poems While You Wait feature poets who use typewriters to turn your topics into custom, hand-crafted poems. They will be standing by for suggestions on Saturday afternoon from 2:30 to 6 pm. at the CTA Morse Station viaduct. The festival will add a second food court near the East Stage this year to accommodate the addition of two food vendors, bringing more local food offerings to both music stages. Morse Market KidFest Family Art Activity Tent will return with hands on activities from The International Art Group.

In honor of the festival’s theme, World Music, the headliners this year include Chicago’s award-winning Indo-Afro-Caribbean music ensemble, Funkadesi, Chicago Jazz ensemble Lucy Smith Quartet, Whiskey for Jesus, the Latin Folk Fusion ensemble Son Monarcas, and Rogers Park’s very own Urban Rhythm Band. Below is the music lineup for the East and West stages, with more acts to be announced:

Friday, August 18

East Stage:

6:00 PM – The Luna Blues Machine

7:00 PM – Hinda Hoffman

9:00 PM – Lucy Smith Quartet

West Stage:

6:00 PM – Ras Kwame (One Africa)

7:00 PM – Roots Vibration

8:30 PM – Urban Rhythm Band

Saturday, August 19

East Stage:

4:45 PM – Beats Y Bateria

6:00 PM – Radio Free Honduras

7:30 PM – Son Monarcas

West Stage:

6:30 PM – Amazing Heeby Jeebies

8:00 PM – Whiskey for Jesus

Sunday, August 20

East Stage:

4:00 PM – Iron Years

West Stage:

4:30 PM – ÉSSO

Time TBD – Funkadesi

GAAF is excited to welcome interested volunteers to help the festival run smoothly. Volunteer activities include the Friday set up team (moving tables and chairs to vendor spaces), vendor check-in and greeters Saturday and Sunday, Sunday breakdown team and more. For more information and for volunteer sign up, visit https://www.glenwoodave.org/glenwood-ave-arts-fest/get-involved.

Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest is a free, weekend-long street arts fair serving an estimate of 15,000 festival-goers annually. For over two decades, visitors have experienced fine art and crafts, music, live demonstrations, and local food and drink on the cobblestone streets of the Glenwood Avenue Arts District in Chicago’s historic Rogers Park neighborhood. Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest is a broad-based, grassroots and non-profit event planned and staffed by volunteers. For more information, visit glenwoodave.org.

Glenwood Avenue Arts District features artist studios, music venues, and numerous restaurants and bars. It is located in the heart of the Rogers Park neighborhood, which is also well known for its theaters, including Lifeline Theatre and Rhapsody Theatre, which make up one of the city’s hottest theater corridors.

Rogers Park Business Alliance is a nonprofit organization that has served Chicago’s diverse Rogers Park neighborhood for 30 years. RPBA works to cultivate and sustain a thriving economic environment in Rogers Park, serving businesses and residents with a variety of public events and business initiatives. RPBA programs include the GROW/PROGRESANDO entrepreneurial training program, the Illinois Small Business Development Center at Rogers Park Business Alliance, Chalk Howard Street Festival, Taco Crawl, and the Glenwood Sunday Market farmers market. For more information, visit RPBA.org.

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Photos courtesy of Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest (GAAF)

Official Website

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Tags: Amazing Heeby Jeebies, Amelia Kieras Paper Arts, Beats y Batería, Becca Siegel, Carlos Barberena, Chalk Howard Street Festival, Chicago, Connie Toebe, CTA Morse Station, Daniel Estep, Donna Katy Jones, ÉSSO, Funkadesi, GAAF, Glenwood Avenue Arts District, Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest, Glenwood Sunday Market, GROW/PROGRESANDO, Hinda Hoffman, Illinois Small Business Development Center at Rogers Park Business Alliance, Iron Years, Jasmyne Robertson, Lifeline Theatre, Lucy Smith Quartet, Madeline’s Makery, Molly Costello, Morse Market KidFest Family Art Activity Tent, Morse Red Line, Nicole Dalton, Poems While You Wait, Radio Free Honduras, Ras Kwame (One Africa), Rhapsody Theatre, Rogers Park, Rogers Park Business Alliance, Roots Vibration, RPBA, Serif Ceramics, Son Monarcas, Taco Crawl, The International Art Group, The Luna Blues Machine, Urban Rhythm Band, Whiskey for Jesus