Though summer maintains its sizzling grip on Chicago here in late August, we all know that fall, and the explosion of arts events it brings, is just around the corner.

As Chicago’s premier locally owned and operated cultural publication, we are busy getting ready. And a big part of that preparation is our creation of the annual bible of fall events planning, Fall Forward, wherein we cull the very best, the most essential events of the new season for our audience.

Do we even need to say there is no better place to advertise a fall event? Of course not. But remember, not only will our audience be lining up for all the shows and openings, but we’ll be meeting friends for drinks, or grabbing dinner, before or after the show. So bars and restos? Miss this one at your own peril.

Of course, before we even head out the door, we’ll need to swap our swimsuits and flip-flops for more suitable attire, not to mention trade in the shaggy, sun-bleached look we’ve been sporting for a ready-for-primetime coif. Fashion boutiques? Salons? Get the picture? We hope so.

Please let us know right away if we can customize a marketing program for you. Because right around the corner comes Newcity’s killer lineup of fall specials—Best of Chicago, University of Chicago Orientation Week, Boutiqueville—that will keep our audience, and your cash registers—hopping.

Fall Forward Advertising Deadline: August 27

Call 312.243.8786 x17 or email advertising@newcity.com

Newcity and Northwestern’s American Music Theatre Project invite you to enter for a chance to win tickets to a production of:

NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE, an epic new musical

For a chance to win tickets (a complimentary pass for two) to an opening-weekend performance of NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE, email your full name, age and address to: NotWantedOnTheVoyageTix@gmail.com.  Please indicate your preferred performance- Friday, July 16 – 8 pm; Saturday, July 17 – 8 pm; or Sunday, July 18 – 2 pm.  Be sure to include NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE CONTEST in the subject line.

NOT WANTED ON THE VOYAGE is a provocative new musical about an ordinary family faced with extraordinary circumstances.  Secrets lie just beneath the surface in this darkly funny, modern re-imagining of the Great Flood—the first time the world ended.  Dynamic Broadway writers Neil Bartram and Brian Hill have teamed up with award-winning director Amanda Dehnert to create an epic production, complete with rain, fire, magic and a soaring, eclectic score. Read the rest of this entry »

Newcity is pleased to announce the return of our biggest literary issue of the year, Lit 50: Who Really Books in Chicago, timed to coincide with the Midwest’s biggest literary event, the Printers Row Lit Fest.

While last year’s edition chronicled many behind-the-scenes individuals who bring Chicago’s literary culture  to life, this year we’re focusing on the artists, in order to offer a fresh perspective, a fresh list. So this time around, look for Chicago’s leading writers, poets, book designers and so on. (Here are links to the previous two editions: 2009 and 2008)

It will be an issue that lovers of the book cannot miss.

If you have not reserved space, please do so. This edition will reach Chicago’s most avid supporters of the literary arts, not to mention that your investment will help support Newcity’s ongoing increase in coverage at a time when everyone else is stepping back.

Please reserve space by this Friday, June 4. Artwork is due Monday, June 7.

And be sure to keep up with our literary coverage at Newcity Lit.

Sixteen is a great age to be in a Chicago summer, and this year we celebrate Summer Guide’s 16th birthday.

One of our largest endeavors of the year, Summer Guide is a fusion of three things we consider vital to summer in Chicago: a calendar of all of the fairs, festivals, outdoor concerts and blockbuster movies coming our way from Memorial Day to Labor Day; a series of handy if sometimes offbeat guides to doing summer things in the city, whether swimming the lake shore or shopping the farmers markets; and, our signature essays that offer the season the level of discourse that it and this city deserve. You can get a read on our voice at Summer.Newcity.com

If summer is a season important to your business or institution, you cannot afford to miss Chicago’s original Summer Guide.

Publication date: May 27
Ad  space deadline: May 21

Email advertising@newcity.com for rates and details.

Newcity’s April 29 issue, presenting “Breakout Artists: Chicago’s Next Generation of Image Makers,” marks our seventh annual edition devoted to showcasing Chicago’s top emerging artists.  Each new edition of Newcity’s Breakout Artists issue has become the talk of Chicago during the course of the Art Chicago/Artropolis art fairs.

And this year, we’re taking it to a new level, with a corresponding exhibit at Art Chicago to allow audiences to see for themselves the creations of the artists featured in the issue. Not to mention our booth at the fair, which will be distributing this edition to art lovers and collectors from near and far.

So who should advertise in this issue? Well anyone connected to the art world, either as an exhibition venue, a teacher of art or as a seller of art, of course. But beyond that, anyone interested in connecting to culture in its most exuberant form, or reaching the consumers of art—often the most demographically desirable of all—whether to offer them a place to eat, to shop, or to have a cocktail. To inquire about rates and space availability, email advertising@newcity.com.

Space Reservation Deadline: Friday, April 23

Materials Deadline: Friday, April 23 (preferred), Monday, April 26 (late)

Print readers of Newcity will notice some changes this week. As promised in an editor’s note, here’s a more detailed explanation of those changes.

Clubs has merged with Music: Over the last decade, Newcity has dedicated more space and resources, proportionately, to clubs and electronic music than any other publication in town. Unfortunately, we never developed a commensurate ad base in that realm to match our commitment, and the shrinking page counts brought about by this economy made the depth of our commitment unsustainable. The recent demise of some of Chicago’s most music-oriented clubs, notably Sonotheque and Lava, meant that our coverage has been increasingly limited to a smaller range of venues. Our commitment to dance music is not reduced in any way; it remains a personal favorite, and we’ll run as many good stories about it that we can find. But since our current coverage is so much about the music, and not about the “room,” we thought it Read the rest of this entry »

We’re expanding Newcity’s roster of regular contributors. Click here for a rundown of our current needs.

On March 11, Newcity will publish its Resto 100 list of Chicago’s essential restaurants, our biggest and most important restaurant of the year.

Here’s last year’s edition.

To advertise, please contact advertising@newcity.com or call us at 312.243.8786 x17

FAQs

Who covers food for Newcity?
Newcity’s Resto 100 is being edited by Michael Nagrant, our regular food columnist. Mike is one of the stars of food writing in Chicago. Here’s his bio: Mixing the smarts of Alton Brown, the honest sensuality of Ruth Reichl, and the gritty no-holds barred wanderlust of Anthony Bourdain, Mike Nagrant knows his way around a corporate franchise salad, hidden ethnic storefronts and precious high cuisine.  He also never met an organ meat he didn’t like until he met the goat eyeball taco at Chicago’s Maxwell Street Market.  But he’ll try anything twice (because you never know if the first example was cooked right), so he’s on the lookout for a better eyeball taco if you know of one.  In addition to his weely Newcity column, Nagrant is the founder of Hungry magazine, a contributing essayist to the groundbreaking Alinea book and the dining critic for Chicago Social (CS) magazine. He’s also a feature contributor to The Chicago Sun Times, Time Out Chicago, Chicago Magazine and the Chicago correspondent for Zagat, and has also written for Saveur and the Chicago Tribune. Read the rest of this entry »

If Valentine’s Day means something to your business, whether you’re a restaurant or entertainment purveyor, a gift seller or an appearance enhancer, you won’t want to miss the chance to advertise in one of Newcity’s most popular Love & Sex issue. Sure, others may try to tell folks what to do, but nobody looks deeply into the soul of romance like Newcity does with our entertaining collection of vignettes, confessions and oddities.

Don’t risk heartbreak. Invest in a happy ending today by contacting advertising@newcity.com

Issue Date: February 11

Space/Materials Deadline: February 5

And if you think you’ve got a story to tell, click here for editorial specs for this issue.

Newcity is pleased to announce the return of our biggest performing arts issue of the year, The Players: Chicago’s leading performers.

While last year’s edition chronicled many behind-the-scenes individuals who bring Chicago theater, dance, opera, comedy and performance to life, this year we’re focusing on the artists, in order to offer a fresh perspective, a fresh list. So this time around, look for Chicago’s leading actors, directors, dancers, choreographers, lighting designers, playwrights and so on.

It will be an issue that lovers of the stage cannot miss. Read the rest of this entry »