Announcing SMALL

ed — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:37:01 +0000

Small Manufacturing Alliance (SMALL)
SMALL is a new organization that promotes companies and individuals who make locally manufactured products.

The goal of the organization is to amplify awareness of products made in the Chicago Metropolitan area through events, promotions, media and trade shows. SMALL will emphasize that sustainable businesses are the key to our economic well being. The organization will assist these local manufacturers with legal aid, seminars, marketing services, incubation services and other resources to help grow their business endeavors.
SMALL will be launched this May during Version Festival. We will create a department store like space called the SMALL Showroom at the gallery Co-Prosperity Sphere located at 3219 S Morgan Street in Chicago that will be open for the entire month of May. Think of it as the People’s Macy’s. Products will be displayed in the showroom for one month. During promotional events at the SMALL Showroom the creators of these local products will be able to demonstrate or present them to the public.

If you are interested in being a big part of SMALL please email edmarlumpen(at)gmail.com. We are currently focused on identifying manufacturers and producers to create a directory of Made in Chicago products. We will then contact interested parties to join us for the launch of the event at the SMALL Showroom that opens May 1, 2012 at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Chicago. If you would like to join SMALL please visit http://www.smallma.org

Product categories featured in SMALL’s Directory include: [ ] Auto & Bike [ ] Apparel [ ] Body Products [ ] Children & Maternity [ ] Contract Manufacturers [ ] Food & Beverage [ ] Furniture [ ] Hospitality/Entertainment Products [ ] Home & Garden [ ] Jewelry/Accessories [ ] Pet Products [ ] Print & Media Production [ ] Other artisan made and hand crafted items.

The Public Media Institute

ed — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:54:01 +0000

PMI is a non-profit 501(c) 3, community based, arts & culture organization located in Chicago, Illinois. Our mission is to create and incubate innovative arts programming and cultural infrastructures to transform people – socially and intellectually – through the production of festivals, art spaces, events, exhibitions, community projects, artifacts and media.

Public Media Institute is committed to the region’s cultural ecology and is evident through our series of programs, spaces and projects.  The programming includes two annual international arts festival, Version and the MDW Fair. With over 1000 participants a year, the festivals act as filters for experiencing a wide variety of cultural programs, artist-run initiatives and projects.

PMI publishes several periodicals including Proximity Magazine, the international arts and culture journal, as well as Lumpen magazine, Materiel Magazine and the community newsletter The Bridgeport International.   Public Media Institute showcases emerging and established artists from Chicago and around the world in our network of art spaces and partner organizations. Our main exhibition facility is the experimental cultural center, Co-Prosperity Sphere: a 5,000 + sq ft visual arts and performance space. Two additional spaces – Eastern Expansion and Northern Exposure – act as ancillary exhibition spaces.
PMI also operates an artist residency program, traveling exhibition series, an artist-led art school, an international artist exchange program, public art programming and other projects and initiatives.