Activating Chicago: How One Cultural Agency Is Transforming the City’s Art Scene

Last weekend, Chicago’s art scene came alive with the second Chicago Exhibition Weekend (CXW), a four-day celebration featuring a full program of events, from gallery openings and panel discussions to collector visits and even an art-and-tennis mixer. Co-presented with EXPO CHICAGO and spread across the city’s galleries and creative spaces, the second edition of the event showcased a thriving local scene that’s poised for greater growth as CXW and related initiatives continue to gain momentum. At the center of it all was Gertie, the cultural consultancy founded by Chicago-born advocate and patron of the arts Abby Pucker, who has been instrumental in both shaping the city’s cultural landscape and attracting investment in Chicago’s flourishing arts ecosystem.

During the weekend, the historic Chicago gallery GRAY marked its recent expansion with a show of works by represented artists, including major pieces by Alex Katz and McArthur Binion. Meanwhile, local dealer Marianne Ibrahim hosted a Thursday cocktail event in partnership with EarlyWork and Independent Curators International, celebrating the debut of “Escaping the tyranny of meaning,” Leasho Johnson’s first show with the gallery. It featured intricate works that blend collage and painting, intertwining sociological themes and mythologies rooted in Jamaican and Caribbean heritage.

The lineup of gallery and museum exhibitions throughout the city was diverse and vibrant, reflecting the strength and breadth of Chicago’s programming at both the institutional and market levels. Highlights ranged from David Antonio Cruz’s masterfully painted, intimate canvases in “come close, like before” at Monique Meloche Gallery—celebrating the joy and love of chosen families—to the visionary, multimedia universe of Mexican artist Leopoldo Goút in “Elefante” at the rapidly rising Chicago gallery Povos. This gallery, which opened its second location downtown last April during the city’s Art Week, continues to gain momentum. Underscoring the global connections tying Chicago’s scene to the wider art world, Povos not only hosted the official kickoff party at Arabella on Thursday but also collaborated with Singapore-based advisory project Ghost Projects for an exclusive Saturday dinner attended by a mix of local and international collectors, as well as many of Chicago’s art leaders.

Povos’ young but ambitious founder, Lucca Colombelli, told Observer that what Gertie is doing for Chicago via Chicago Exhibition Weekend and other initiatives comes down to bringing people to the city. “People are traveling for this. In our events alone, I hosted visitors from New York City, Paris, Milan, Mexico City, Shanghai, Miami and elsewhere.” According to Colombelli, there’s now, thanks to the combined efforts of Gertie, EXPO CHICAGO and the West Town Chamber, there’s an unusual and welcoming buzz that’s inspiring more galleries to get involved. “We went for it ambitiously: six events, six locations, four days. Sold-out film screening, downtown afterparty, an ambitious art opening, big dinner, nightclub party and advisory launch. I don’t regret it at all; the engagement was there, the art was there, the money was there and most importantly, the culture was there. I genuinely feel that Chicago deserves more attention, so I’m grateful to those investing in it.”

Another local gallery that has made its mark internationally is DOCUMENT, which presented “Auto Allay,” a show of multimedia installations by the Indonesian collective Tromarama. Blending technology with analog methods, the exhibit delved into the ever-blurrier boundaries between leisure and labor, relaxation and productivity and the personal and public spheres—especially in the digital platform economy. Rhona Hoffman, by contrast, took a more historically reflective approach, staging a compelling dialogue between the works of Gordon Matta-Clark and Suzanne Harris, two seminal figures from SoHo’s nascent art scene in the early 1970s.

On the institutional side, multimedia artist Neil Beloufa is probing what defines humanity at the intersection of various disciplines in her show “Humanities” at the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago. The show is anchored around an ambitious interactive multimedia installation Growth, which was initially commissioned by the Ren and the Kunsthalle Basel in Switzerland.

And the always-compelling Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago had its own diverse lineup, including a survey of Arthur Jafa’s work from the past decade and “Trade Windings: De-Lineating the American Tropics,” which examines the impact and legacy of Atlantic trade routes since Columbus’ era. Another notable exhibition, “Descending the Staircase,” explored innovative representations of the human form. To help audiences navigate this robust lineup, the team at Gertie collaborated with local art figures—including artists like Nick Cave and Bob Faust and MCA curator Carla Acevedo Yates—to create curated routes for visitors to follow.

As Lacey told Observer during the Rococico Dinner event, which launched the art-filled weekend on Thursday night, “It’s all about making art and this community accessible.” Meals and other convivial gatherings are key experiences that EarlyWork, which aims to bring together like-minded groups of culture lovers, curates to encourage connection and engagement. Held in partnership with Maria Vogel’s Rococo Advisory, the dinner celebrated five Chicago-based artists—Carmen Neely, Yvette Mayorga, Isabella Mellado, Elsa Muñoz, and Armani Howard—through a culinary outing featuring five unique recipes inspired by each artist’s practice. Hosted inside Armani Howard’s studio at Mana Contemporary, the evening invited guests to explore other creative spaces, such as Mayorga’s studio for dessert, offering a more intimate glimpse into each artist’s work and narrative plus a chance to meet and converse directly with the creators while immersed in their artistic worlds.

As reiterated throughout our interview and in various speeches over the weekend, Gertie’s mission is about breaking down barriers and exploring new models. “We are a network; we are connectors and amplifiers,” Lacy emphasized. “I think the art world is in an interesting place right now, and something has to change. Otherwise, this ecosystem will collapse, and no one wants to see that. There is a shift in mindset and people are becoming more open to new models and new ways of doing things because it’s necessary now. I think the city of Chicago and the community of Chicago is fertile ground for this sort of movement to happen.”

Lacy is deeply embedded in the art scene, with seven years of experience as a director at powerhouse gallery Kavi Gupta— a gallery that has been a major player in the scene, until a scandal involving artists who claimed they never received payments from sales. Prior to the fallout, Kavi Gupta was known for its home parties, gatherings and robust cultural programming, which contributed to the city’s broader cultural offerings. The gallery was still anyway open and active contributing to the CXW  program.

Pucker, meanwhile, recounted that the idea for all this first began as a college group focused on gatherings and social activities. When she returned to Chicago after twelve years spent between New York and Los Angeles, she saw the potential to transform it into a real platform “Gertie” to support and grow the local scene. “When I moved back and started this listening tour to understand what was missing here—why there wasn’t cohesive or youthful energy like I found in L.A. or New York—I realized that there’s so much happening in Chicago, but people don’t know how to access it,” she told Observer. “That’s why I started the company.”

Gertie’s first venture was the publication of a cookbook-esque guidebook, (A)Part Chicago, which served as a playful introduction to the city. It featured contributions from twenty-six local collectors and artists sharing their “recipes” for a perfect day in Chicago. “We ended up selling out of the first run of 1,000 copies,” she said. “We self-published them, did another run of 1,000, and realized people were excited to explore their city differently.”

Today, this has coalesced into EarlyWork, Gertie’s rapidly growing membership network designed for young Chicagoans eager to build a community around cultural engagement. It has become a pivotal tool for activating and educating an entirely new generation of collectors and patrons. Launched just last April during Art Week, the service boasts 130 members, with more joining in the days leading up to the CXW events. However, Lacy and Pucker’s focus remains on expanding the collector base and making the scene more appealing so artists and art professionals relocate to Chicago.

“There are more opportunities here for artists to have space, which is both physical—in terms of studio size—and mental, to try new things,” Lacey explained. Pucker added that they”re “trying to make it a more exciting place for artists to stay after they graduate.” Acting as a connector, Gertie also facilitates partnerships between local galleries and those in New York and LA—critical for broadening the exposure of the Chicago art community.

By connecting Chicago to other cities in the U.S. and abroad, Gertie’s model has the potential to expand into other cultural hubs. According to Pucker, who serves on the boards of The Marshall Project, Pioneer Works, Ghetto Film School and the progressive political organization Run for Something, “Gertie is intentionally peculiar to Chicago, but EarlyWork as a membership platform can be scaled. We are already discussing opportunities for partnerships with other museums in the country, and in February, members will have their first itinerary to Guadalajara and Mexico City. We’re aiming to facilitate at least two trips a year.”

The second edition of CXW demonstrated the strength and vibrancy of Chicago’s art community, showing how it can expand and thrive with the right support. Gertie’s platform is poised to amplify the city’s potential and help restore its standing as a key cultural center in the country. The next milestone will be the first edition of EXPO CHICAGO under Frieze, which will provide another major opportunity to explore Chicago’s rich cultural offerings—paired, perhaps with Gertie’s help, with the city’s warm hospitality, historic architecture, inspiring community and stellar culinary scene.