2019 has been designated The Year of Chicago Theatre by the city, thanks to a push from its Mayor and Commissioner of the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), Mark Kelly.  This is not intended to be an annual event; rather each year Chicago will be devoted to something else.

What this means is that in 2019, the theater industry will be given the chance to “refocus on a constituency that has been forgotten over the last year of internal navel-gazing: the audience.”

2017 in Chicago became known for the year brimming with public art, with 2018 focused on creative youth.