Keynote Sessions Announced for 10th Annual Creative Chicago Expo

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) has confirmed three keynote addresses for the 10th Annual Creative Chicago Expo, March 1 and 2 at the Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St.).

Rick Valicenti, founder and design director of the communications design firm Thirst/3st, will speak at 10:30 a.m. on Friday, March 1 with a keynote entitled, "Being All Creative - Chicago Style". Valicenti, a National Design Award winner, has been influencing the design discourse internationally since 1988, with clients including Herman Miller, Wright Auctions, Third Coast Audio Festival, the New York Times, Fulcrum Point and many others. Valicenti designed the 2013 Expo identity, four distinct covers for the event guide.

At 3 p.m. that same day, Chris Kaskie, President of Pitchfork will present "Overload: Cultivating a Trustworthy Brand and Cutting through the Noise." With more than four million unique visitors each month and 500,000 visits each day, Pitchfork has one of the Web's most loyal audiences and is considered one of the world's most popular, trusted, and influential music publications. Starting in 2004 as Pitchfork's first full-time employee, Kaskie has overseen the company's operations, guiding its development and growth - the Pitchfork Music Festivals (Chicago and Paris) and Pitchfork.tv being just two of its success stories.

The final keynote session will be on Saturday, March 2 at 10:30 a.m. with Christine Cikowski and Joshua Kulp, called "Building a Food Life." Cikowski and Kulp are the founders of Sunday Dinner Club, an "underground restaurant", as a solution to the grind of the standard
restaurant environment and hierarchy. They will discuss the regulatory challenge of building a company that defies conventional processes and whose profit motive has been replaced by a quest for a sustainable food life.

This year's event offers 32 workshops covering subjects as varied as "Funding Options for your Arts Organization", "How to Get Published", "Setting Up Your Creative Business", "Starting a Nonprofit", "How-To Kickstarter" and many more. (A complete list is attached).

Experts from a wide range of disciplines including business, law, publishing and accounting will be on hand to provide advice and counsel at this free admission Expo. All workshops will be audio-recorded by EARS-Chicago, (Engineering and Recording

Society of Chicago), and available on the newly relaunched Chicago Artists Resource website, www.chicagoartistsresource.org

Throughout both days, more than 130 vendors will be on site throughout the Chicago Cultural Center, representing a wide array of business, services, arts organizations, and city departments and sister agencies. Local and national services and resources include
Kickstarter, Fractured Atlas, Artspace Projects, Springboard for the Arts, Go See Do, The Recording Academy, Second City Training Center, Rebuild Foundation, and United States Artists. Also many creative spaces will be represented, including Logan Square Chamber of Commerce, Pullman Artspace, Six Corners Association, and Ravenswood Artwalk. (A complete listing of companies is on the event website, www.creativechicagoexpo.org.)