Elastic Arts

Elastic Arts The Elastic Arts Foundation (EAF) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization focusing on music - art

TONIGHT!! We have a The.BlkRoom takeover here at Elastic Arts! Tonight we celebrate Black Chicago House Music! We’ll be ...
08/29/2026

TONIGHT!!

We have a The.BlkRoom takeover here at Elastic Arts! Tonight we celebrate Black Chicago House Music! We’ll be sharing resources for Black and Brown artists while enjoying late night house-vibes with TBRs Resident DJ John West, with friends Yanna Lynette, and DJ Khali Melon. Come out to Elastic to enjoy food, great music, artist resources, and extra performances by very special guests. We’ll get started at 7pm - free admission to all!

TONIGHT!Join us as we welcome back Matthew Daher’s project ‘The Wisdom to Know the Difference’ with Chicago artists Sara...
08/28/2026

TONIGHT!

Join us as we welcome back Matthew Daher’s project ‘The Wisdom to Know the Difference’ with Chicago artists Sarah Lutkenhaus and Luca Cimarusti joining the night. Daher’s electroacoustic solo project explores control and surrender on both a sonic and spiritual level. Using Ableton Live, drum / cymbal triggers, and apTrigga samplers, Daher processes acoustic drums and vocals, blends them with lush textures, and triggers other sonic events from the drum kit at varying degrees of randomness. Song-structured webs of intended and unintended sonic consequences emerge in generative, genre blurring compositions. Daher has performed the project in over 30 cities across the US and Canada, including performances at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

Sarah Lutkenhaus uses modular synthesis, field recordings, and vocal improvisation to build layered compositions. The work explores emotional extremes, physical limitations, and vulnerability of the human experience in modern daily life. Luca Cimarusti is a Chicago-based musician who has spent over twenty years operating in experimental rock, punk, and heavy metal. His solo percussion practice focuses on repetition, resonance, and decay.

We’ll see you tonight at 8pm, here at Elastic!

As part of the 2026 Chicago Jazz Festival Citywide series we present a free show with Elastic Arts mainstays on Wednesda...
08/28/2026

As part of the 2026 Chicago Jazz Festival Citywide series we present a free show with Elastic Arts mainstays on Wednesday September 2nd. First up we’ll hear from electroacoustic duo Whisker (Ben Billington + Andrew Scott Young) who welcome cellist and electronic artist Lia Kohl in for a trio performance. These three can be heard together on their 2025 album ‘Trips’ released by Amalgam. Billington’s synthesizers weave within Young’s upright bass passages in the classic duo setting, but Kohl brings new life to their approach with cello, electronics, and piano.

We’ll then hear from trumpeter Corey Wilkes’ trio featuring Justin Dillard on organ and Jeremiah Collier on drums. Wilkes is known as an electro-acoustic soul artist, blending jazz, electronic music, and soulful vocals in his solo projects. His collaborations extend beyond the world of music, through film, visual art, and community building.

This event is $FREE$ thanks to DCASE and the Chicago Jazz Festival!

Join us this Friday as we welcome back Matthew Daher’s project ‘The Wisdom to Know the Difference’ with Chicago artists ...
08/26/2026

Join us this Friday as we welcome back Matthew Daher’s project ‘The Wisdom to Know the Difference’ with Chicago artists Sarah Lutkenhaus and Luca Cimarusti joining the night. Daher’s electroacoustic solo project explores control and surrender on both a sonic and spiritual level. Using Ableton Live, drum / cymbal triggers, and apTrigga samplers, Daher processes acoustic drums and vocals, blends them with lush textures, and triggers other sonic events from the drum kit at varying degrees of randomness. Song-structured webs of intended and unintended sonic consequences emerge in generative, genre blurring compositions. Daher has performed the project in over 30 cities across the US and Canada, including performances at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

Sarah Lutkenhaus uses modular synthesis, field recordings, and vocal improvisation to build layered compositions. The work explores emotional extremes, physical limitations, and vulnerability of the human experience in modern daily life. Luca Cimarusti is a Chicago-based musician who has spent over twenty years operating in experimental rock, punk, and heavy metal. His solo percussion practice focuses on repetition, resonance, and decay.

We’ll see you Friday at 8pm here at Elastic!

Join us this Thursday for a special night of improvisation featuring musicians in from Poland and Texas! Olbrzym i kurdu...
08/25/2026

Join us this Thursday for a special night of improvisation featuring musicians in from Poland and Texas! Olbrzym i kurdupel, in Chicago from Poland, consist of two exquisite musicians Tomek Gadecki (tenor and baritone saxophones) and Marcin Bożek (bass guitar). The music they play is simple, unrestrained, and uninhibited improvisation. They are joined by Danny Kamins, an improvising saxophonist based in Houston, TX who spent some past years here in Chicago.

We’ll first hear from a new duo from Janna Lee and curator Molly Jones. Lee uses her voice to explore different facets of herself and exorcise uncomfortable emotions that can’t be put into words. Her solo work combines harsh noise drowning in reverb with haunting processed vocals that probe the dark recesses of a woman’s psyche. Jones is a saxophonist from free jazz and Balkan brass traditions. Her playing originates in a place of playfulness, listening, and attention.

8:30 pm: Janna Lee / Molly Jones duo
9:30 pm: Danny Kamins + Olbrzym i kurdupel

08/24/2026

Elastic’s Outreach Program, Dark Matter Series, and our friends at The.BlkRoom have an amazing two-day event this Friday and Saturday! First up on Friday we party at The.BlkRoom for ‘Black in the Courtyard!’, an outdoor event (weather permitting) featuring an Afro Puerto Rican Baile performance from Lauren Brooks and Los Medicos. This will be followed by a late night showing of Black Orpheus presented by the blkfilmclub. The event will have free food, art activations, and additional performances from Elastic Dark Matter Residents Udo and Xavi. This kicks at 6pm on Friday at The.BlkRoom!

Saturday we have a BlkRoom takeover here at Elastic Arts! The event celebrates Black Chicago House Music! We’ll be sharing resources for Black and Brown artists while enjoying late night house-vibes with TBRs Resident DJ John West, with friends Yanna Lynette, and DJ Khali Melon. Come out to Elastic to enjoy food, great music, artist resources, and extra performances by very special guests. We’ll get started at 7pm Saturday night. 

Let’s party this weekend! See you both Friday and Saturday!

Join us this Sunday as our AfriClassical Futures series presents a free concert of Julius Eastman’s ‘The Holy Presence o...
08/21/2026

Join us this Sunday as our AfriClassical Futures series presents a free concert of Julius Eastman’s ‘The Holy Presence of Joan of Arc’ and other works at Epiphany Center for the Arts! Sunday 8/23 @ 4pm!

AfriClassical Futures is a quarterly music and conversation series that foregrounds the accomplishments of Black composers and musicians from the diaspora and beyond that are educated or working in, around, or influenced by Western Classical music and classical traditions more broadly.

This program features works that invoke contemplation, memory, and ecstatic vision towards a liberated world, finding joy in the ordinary and extraordinary alike. Julius Eastman’s The Holy Presence of Joan D’Arc for 10 cellos and the Prelude for solo voice meditate on the saintly visions a young Joan D’Arc received during periods of religious ecstasy in her youth and the message to “speak boldly.”

One More Angel by guest conductor/composer Ahmed Al Abaca, written in honor of their Aunt Ra, is a reflection on the fullness and complexity of life and the cherished memories we create with our elders. This program will also feature a new composition for 10 cellos and voice with text by olula negre, an aubade on the quotidian and transitory nature of dawn as it relates to the experience of queerness. A brief conversation between Ahmed Al Abaca and series curators Julain Otis and olula negre will follow the music.

This event is free and open to the public. This AfriClassical Futures program is made possible by support from: The Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Prince Charitable Trust, Aaron Copland Foundation, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, New Music USA and Elastic Arts Foundation.

TONIGHT!This evening the Improvised Music Series welcomes saxophonist/electronicist/composer Jorrit Dijkstra from Boston...
08/20/2026

TONIGHT!

This evening the Improvised Music Series welcomes saxophonist/electronicist/composer Jorrit Dijkstra from Boston. On this trip Dijkstra continues his longstanding musical relationship with Jeb Bishop and, following up on his January 2024 Chicago visit, performs again with Michael Zerang, while meeting Mabel Kwan for the first time.

The night will open with another first-time meeting! Bishop & Djikstra convene a winds-based quintet, including regular collaborator Keefe Jackson, Elastic regular Ben Zucker, and a special guest clarinetist.

8:30 pm
Jorrit Dijkstra - Saxophones
Jeb Bishop - Trombone
Keefe Jackson - Tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
“Andre Royston” - Clarinets
Ben Zucker - Cornet

9:30 pm
Jorrit Dijkstra - Saxophones, electronics
Jeb Bishop - Trombone, electronics
Mabel Kwan - Piano
Michael Zerang - Drums, percussion

Join us this Saturday for Freedom From and Freedom To!FFFT is an exploration and celebration of artistic circumstance. M...
08/20/2026

Join us this Saturday for Freedom From and Freedom To!

FFFT is an exploration and celebration of artistic circumstance. Movement and sound improvisors from all around Chicago gather in front of a live audience, where they are grouped by chance. Each group performs an improvised set. We fuse diverse artistic backgrounds and practices to create unique and fleeting worlds. There will be a special opening set from Pittsburgh duo Slowdanger. Following we’ll have 4 x 15 minute sets from on-the-spot lottery chosen ensembles. Don’t miss this! SATURDAY 8/22 @ 7pm!

Opening Act: Slowdanger

Dancers:

Sophie Minouche Allen
Haas
Irene Hsiao
Shalaka Kulkarni
Maya Odim
Rin Peisert
Asha Rowland
Cristal Sabbagh
Musicians:

Paul Giallorenzo
Nexus J.
Fred Jackson Jr.
Caroline Jesalva
Haruhi Kobayashi
Mabel Kwan
Yuri Basho Lane
Janice Misurrell-Mitchel
Allen Moore
olula negre
Isaiah Spencer
Jefferey Thomas
Eli Wallace

On Sunday electronic music based label Lunt and Oglesby will be hosting their 11th Kit Swap for the first time here at E...
08/19/2026

On Sunday electronic music based label Lunt and Oglesby will be hosting their 11th Kit Swap for the first time here at Elastic Arts. Kit Swap is a daytime event where soccer enthusiasts and electronic musicians come together to trade soccer jerseys and/or music gear. Do you have a soccer jersey that doesn’t fit anymore? MIDI controllers or synths that have no use in your studio? Come through and make a trade. There will be 11 live electronic acts, a FIFA station and custom up-cycled jerseys for sale from Crossbar Syndicate. Roll through! Free admission!

Address

3429 W Diversey #208
Chicago, IL
60647

Telephone

+17737723616

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