Polish Avondale Is Dying

By Ewa Lyczewska

“It breaks my heart. I treat Avondale like my home, this is my home,” says Stasia Jozwik, a 58-year-old owner of Szarotka, a florist shop in Avondale, who moved to Chicago from Poland 25 years ago but now lives in Niles.

According to Northwest Chicago Historical Society’s records, Poles begin to move into Avondale neighborhood in 1890s. Avondale lies west of the North Branch of the Chicago River between Addison Street on the north and Diversey Avenue on the south, stretching westward to the tracks of the Soo Line Railroad. The Polish Avondale flourished in 1980s as the martial law in Poland brought a flood of immigrants. “If you were to come on Sunday to Avondale 30 years ago, you would think you were on Marszalkowska Street [one of the main streets in Warsaw],” says Jozwik,”That ended in 2000.” As Poles are moving away from Avondale, Polish businesses are struggling and closing their doors, and the neighborhood is loosing its Polish identity.

Polski sklep (Polish store), located on 3067 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, is one of the few last Polish businesses in the area. Photo by Ewa Lyczewska.

Jozwik is just one of the many Polish business owners fighting for survival. “Everything is closing down. There used to be four Polish restaurants in this area, now there is only one,” says Ralph Pietrzyk, 65, from Mount Prospect, who works at Apteka Ziolowa, a drug store, in Avondale. “I am thinking of closing my store next year,” admits Elizabeth Krupa, 62, an owner of Eva, a Polish bookstore, who lives in Prospect Heights. “I have one customer a day, not enough to make a rent,” says Jozwik. “In the past, I had three people behind the counter and there would be 15 customers in store at one time, now it is only me and two customers a day,” says Krystyna Henia, a 58-year-old owner of Back to Nature store, who lives in Northbrook.

But not only Polish stores are struggling. Krzysiek Grot, 29, Chicago, an owner of Café Lura admits that the business is not as it used to be. The bar, which took its name after a strong and black coffee, was opened in 1986 by his parents who wanted a meet-up place for Polish artists living in Chicago. Only 10 years ago, the place was full with people, open seven days a week and serving food, says Grot. Today, the bar is open Friday through Sunday, the place often rented on weekends for events attended by Americans and Hispanics.  “I might sell the place some day,” admits Grot, “but I do have a sentiment for it.”

“There are no Polish people living in the neighborhood and the ones that are still here are an old generation that decided to stay because of St. Hyacinth Basilica, says Jozwik.“ Sister Aleksandra Antonik, 29, who works and lives in St. Hyacinth Basilica parish, admits, “We do not have families with children in the neighborhood. The benches during the mass are becoming emptier.” Henia had to get rid of the merchandize for children at her store, as no one was buying it.

The church used to be so full on Sundays that you had to stand during the mass. Today there is plenty of space and mostly old people come for the mass,” says Stasia Jozwik. St. Hyacinth Basilica is located at 3636 W. Wolfram St. in Chicago and offers four Polish masses on Sundays and two during the weekdays. Photo by Ewa Lyczewska.

Polish Film Festival in America educates audience about Poland

The 15-to-18-years-old boys are forcefully dragged through a corridor of army men who beat them with sticks till they bleed. It is hard to watch the faces of the horrified boys even though we know they are actors. But when the frame becomes black and white and we watch images obtained from The Polish Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) and see the faces of the boys whose story is the narrative of the movie, you can almost feel the audience tense up. The movie “Black Thursday,” is one of the 60 movies showing at the 23rd Polish Film Festival in America currently running in Chicago.

The PFF, a 16 day-long festival shows movies in seven venues around Chicago area and attracts 35,000 viewers every year, according to Patrycja Wierzba, PFF’s marketing coordinator. Although most of the movies shown at PFF are chosen to educate about Polish culture, history and tradition, the festival still manages to interest Polish and American community.

A scene from 'Black Thursday'

According to Zoran Samardzija, an assistant professor at Columbia College whose research is post-communist Eastern Europe cinema, the most used themes in contemporary Polish films are: the legacies of World War Two and the Holocaust, national history and identity, migration, Poland’s relationship to Western Europe and the legacies of communism. This year festival is showing 22 feature movies, 35 documentaries and three animations. In 12 of the feature movies and 21 of documentaries presented at the festival, at least one of the mentioned themes is the primary theme of the movie.

According to Wierzba, about 60 percent of festival’s audience is Polish and 40 percent American. Although the festival started in 1989 with screenings at The Polish Museum of America, today festival established itself on Chicago calendar and has media partners such as Chicago Tribune and WTTW11. According to Dan Soles, WTTW11 senior vice president and chief television content officer, WTTW11 decided to partner up with PFF as they believe the festival provides quality programming (“good stories and plots”) and brings the “wonderful productions” from Poland. WTTW11 has shown movies that are screened at the festival and according to Soles, they were met with positive feedback from the viewers and good ratings. Although “Katyn”, one of the movies shown at the previous festival and last year on WTTW11, is about the mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the Soviet secret police in 1940, the movie still was seen by many viewers, many of them non-Poles, said Soles.

PFF organizers want to show movies that could be understood by non-Poles and would let the non-Polish audience feel “closer to Poland,” said Wierzba. The PFF board wants Polish and non-Polish audience to learn about Poland. “I lived in ’70s Poland and remember how it was, but still I did not know much about the events [in “Black Thursday”].” The movie tells the story of events that even some of the today Poles are unfamiliar with. During the communist regime the information about the brutality of Polish Army and militia at the workers’ strikes shown in the movie was unknown to public as regime leaders were in charge of media and communication. Since 1998 IPN is working to collect all of the remaining materials to build a historical account of events and make it accessible to public. As the director of “Black Thursday,” Antoni Krauze, said after the screening of the movie at the festival, “I used the everyman character that is often seen in American movies to tell the story. Someone who is not on the front lines of the battle yet becomes a victim.” With this approach Krauze hoped for more viewers to connect with the movie.

'Black Thursday' producer Kazimierz Beer and director Antoni Krauze discuss the movie with the PFF audience

According to Jan Lorys, director of The Polish Museum of America, Americans should have no trouble relating to Polish history shown in the movies at the festival. “It is like watching movies about Indians and cowboys, conflicts are always the same in every culture.” Lorys is happy that PFF exists in Chicago and says the festival gives people opportunity to watch the movie together and discuss it afterwards. This is good not only for the Polish community in Chicago but also for Americans, said Lorys.

According to Wierzba selection process for the PFF repertoire begins every June at the Polish Film Festival in Gdynia, Poland. Krzysztof Kamyszew, a former president and a founder of PFF who is still on the executive board of the festival is one of the judges at the Gdynia festival. While in Poland he watches the movies and notes which ones would be good for the Chicago audience, said Wierzba. When Kamyszew is back in Chicago he discusses his and the executive board members’ choices and together they decide on the list. The goal: movies that tell a tale of Poland.

There is one movie that always makes the cut. Since 1994, every year the director of the Golden Teeth award winning feature film is guaranteed that his movie will show next year. Although an award is called the audience award the winning movie is chosen by seven judges. Six of them are chosen from the audience by PFF organizers. “We know who is in our audience,” said Wierzba, “we try to choose people who know more about movies.” According to Wierzba, they look for people involved in media or film industry who understand festival’s mission. A general public vote constitutes the seventh vote. Throughout the festival audience votes on their favorite movie and the movie that gets the most votes gets one vote. Last year the winning movie was “Little Rose” by Jan Kidawa-Blonski which was loosely based on poet Pawel Jasienica’s life. The poet fell in love and married a girl who worked as an informant for communist government and reported her husband’s every move to her superiors. Unfortunately, Kidawa-Blonski had no new movie this year and he lost his spot.

But some of the films have contemporary topics, said Wierzba. One of the movies dealing with issues in today’s Poland is “Dance Marathon.” A comedy about a crowd that has gathered for a dance competition in the provincial town of Dabie tells a story about a small town in Poland. One of the characters in the movie, a young girl, enters the competition to win and leave Poland for a better life in Ireland. According to Dublin24.net, a news website for Poles living in Ireland, currently, there is about 300,000 Poles working in Ireland. Ireland is the third country in the European Union (after Great Britain and Germany) with the largest Polish population, according to Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan. “Dance Marathon” was directed by Magdalena Lazarkiewicz, a sister of Agnieszka Holland (“Total Eclipse” and “The Secret Garden”).

Holland, like her sister, is one of Polish directors attending festival. Holland’s movie “In Darkness” comes out in February but Sony Classic who is the distributor of the movie made an exception and allowed the movie to be shown at the festival. According to Samardzija “In Darkness” is the classic example of Polish director choosing Holocaust as the primary theme in the movie. The movie tells the story of Holocaust in Lvov, a Polish city that is now part of Ukraine. Leopold Socha, a simple sewer worker and petty thief charges Jews for hiding them from Nazis in sewers, only later to discover unexpected emotional union with them. The movie is Poland’s entry for the upcoming Oscars.
And although Poland has yet to win an Oscar for the best movie, even though some people argue that it did with “Pianist” in 2002 (the movie was directed by Roman Polanski and shot in Poland with many Polish actors in it) Chicago community seems to appreciate Polish cinematography as an unvarying number of people show up every year to see movies about Poland, said Wierzba.

For more information about the festival and festival’s schedule please visit www.pffamerica.org.

Hilligoss Galleries finds ways to survive in today’s economy

With the economy not improving some galleries are struggling to stay open. Many of them had to close their doors, most recently Old Vic Art Gallery in Champaign, Ill. A number of galleries that are still open try to find other ways to stay in the business. We talked with Tom Hilligoss, the owner of the Hilligoss Galleries located at Magnificent Mile, about how his gallery is doing in today’s economy.

How is Hilligoss?

Tom Hilligoss with a painting of sunflowers painted by him.

We are standing on the edge of the cliff for more than three years. I do not see our way out of this. We will have to reshape the business or wait for a miracle.

Do you have any changes in mind?

We are thinking of redesigning space and building a stage for a theater that would enlarge the use of the facility. We are also thinking of having a bar and charging people for drinks, instead of providing it for free at the events. We will be working on raising money for these projects.

Are people not buying art? 

If they are investing they are investing in low-budget art. When crash came in October 2008 it left us high and dry. About 80% of our customers left. We had to get art at lower prices for the 20% that is still buying. If people are buying it is because something good happened to them, like a bonus. But people used to spend $50,000 on a picture, now they are spending $2,000 to $5,000. We had to bring artists at lower prices for that 20%.

Has your customer base changed? 

According to Hilligoss these paintings of sunflowers attract people to come in.

Most of the people who come in through the door are neither Chicagoans nor people from the suburbs. Today, our audience is becoming international; tourists visiting Chicago. We are also trying to take advantage of the opportunities that are available like teaming up with galleries from China and Russia or reaching customers there through the Internet.

What is selling in Chicago? 

These two ”Kissing Sunflowers” are the best sellers in the gallery.

Sunflowers [paintings] by [artist] Rasa have been our miracle for two to three years. After I put a large painting of sunflowers in the front window people started coming in and asking for paintings. We have sold 18 sunflowers [pictures] so far. People are looking for something that makes them feel good, and everyone loves sun and gold. We sell more of smaller paintings than larger ones. In particular, people love “Kissing Sunflowers.” Our biggest sellers are “Kissing Sunflowers” 11-by-14 inches that sell for $1,950 and 30-by-40 inches for $6,500.

Hilligoss Galleries is located at 520 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill., 60611. For more information about the gallery, please visit www.hilligossgalleries.com.

MCA: “The Language of Less (Then and Now)” could have been much more

Bare white walls, a mosaic of cork triangles on the floor, tangled rubber vines hanging from the glass ceiling and a lamp tangled in them shining through them at the wall to create knotted shadows.  On one of the walls, the title: “Walk Around There. Look Through Here” by Leonor Antunes.

Antunes is one of the 40 artists featured at the new Museum of Contemporary Art exhibition “The Language of Less (Then and Now).” The exhibition, split into two parts, explores minimalism in arts. “Then” features Minimalism and post-Minimalism work from 1960s and 1970s and “Now” showcases minimalism artwork by contemporary artists. An interesting concept that unfortunately ended with a not thought out execution.

“Sleeping in the Order of the Slowing Time” by Jason Dodge, an artist featured in "Now."

Minimalism emerged in New York in 1960s as a rebellion to Abstract Expressionism. Minimalists avoided metaphorical association, symbolism and self-expressionism of the previous generation of artists. They rejected the fine arts mediums such as paintings and sculptures and chose to make specific objects. They wanted the audience to focus on shapes, patterns, proportions and structure. Donald Judd, one of the artists featured in “Then,” once said, “A shape, a volume, a color, a surface is something itself. It shouldn’t be concealed as part of a fairly different whole.” Today minimalists, although inspired by the fundamental concepts of Minimalism are not afraid to use metaphors.

Although equal in space “Then” and “Now” are unequal in the number of artists and artworks they feature. According to the exhibition’s checklist, “Then,” shows 43 artworks (all part of the permanent collection) by 35 artists while “Now,” has 23 artworks by only five artists: Leonor Antunes, Carol Bove, Jason Dodge, Gedi Sibony and Oscar Tuazon. While “Then” is organized into four themes: building blocks, measuring and limits, dimensions of space and open systems. “Now” has no organization. What would have improved this exhibition is if the artworks from “Then” and “Now” where organized together in themes to show a different approach to same topic or medium. Instead the visitors are left to draw conclusions about the contrast and similarities between Minimalism and minimalism.

MCA visitor listens to “My Flesh to Your Bare Bones” by Oscar Tuazon and Vito Acconzi

But if you are an art lover, pieces like “Sleeping in the Order of the Slowing Time” by Jason
Dodge are not to be missed. A stack of three pillows, each pillow used only by a botanist, archeologist or tectonic geophysicist, links three life cycles: plants, civilizations and earth. The artwork by Oscar Tuazon and his mentor and teacher Vito Acconzi, “My Flesh to Your Bare Bones,” makes you stop for more than a moment. From one of the speakers in the corner you hear Acconzi reading “Antarctica of the Mind,” an unrealized proposal for the Halley II Research Station. While from the speaker on the left you hear Tuazon: “I want to put something inside my body and carry something in it. I want to get inside my body and get carried in it, I’d like to get buried in it, put my head in it and get in it, I’m not scared of it.” Now, that is not Minimalism.

THREE STARS

“The Language of Less (Then and Now)” will be at MCA till April 8, 2012. For prices, hours and more information about the exhibit, please visit www.mcachicago.org.

“Walk Around There. Look Through Here” by Leonor Antunes

Miles Davis and one night in Warsaw

As Jazz Jamboree, an annual international jazz festival in Warsaw, is about to announce its program and dates, few music scholars reminiscent on one of the biggest highlights of this festival’s history.

The first Jazz Jamboree was organized in 1958 and it was called “Jazz 58.” Although the earliest three editions of the festivals took place in the student club Stodola (barn), the venue soon changed to Filharmonia Narodowa (Warsaw Philharmonic), and later in 1965 to Sala Kongresowa (Congress Hall). Today, the festival is one of the biggest and oldest jazz festivals in Europe and attracts people from around the world. However, one of its most memorable events happened in communistic Poland when the government agreed to invite an American musician Miles Davis.

John Szwed during a lecture at DePaul University on Oct. 17, 2011.

During “Miles Davis: The Jazz Musician as Dandy,” a recent lecture at DePaul University, John Szwed, director of the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University and an author of “So What: The Life of Miles Davis,” to prove his point about how Davis was dismissive of the audience showed a video of the concert recorded at Jazz Jamboree in 1983. In the video we can see hunched over Davis playing to the floor, never looking up at people. According to Szwed, Davis “had no recognition of the audience and applause.” Davis often played with his back turned to people, said Szwed, and would leave after he was done with his part, while the band kept playing. No matter how hard the audience would applause, Davis would not come back, said Szwed.

According to Marek Dusza’s article for Audio, a Polish music magazine, everyone was excited for Davis to come in 1983, not only because of Davis’s great talent but the concert (Oct. 23) was few months after the martial law ended (July 22) in Poland, and Polish people were hungry for contact with the outside world. Dusza was lucky to attend the concert.

An evening started by festival organizers asking already seated audience to leave as the band had to do a sound check, said Dusza. After 40 minutes audience was invited to go back to their seats. Andrzej Paulukiewicz, a music journalist at a Polish magazine Wprost,  wrote in one of his articles that Davis “played with his back turned to the people.” However, according to Dusza, after the concert was over Davis encored three times. As Davis was finally leaving the stage he lifted his hat and bowed to the audience, said Dusza. Too bad that according to the only journalists that were able to interview Davis during his stay in Poland, Davis had no idea in which country in Eastern Europe he was, said Dusza.

Pop-up Art Loop: Win-Win for Artists and Chicago Loop Alliance

“If the place gets rented, we are out in 10 days,” says Ken Ilio, a volunteer worker at “Scary,” a new exhibition at Pop-up Art Loop gallery at Block 37.

Pop-up Art Loop, started by Chicago Loop Alliance, uses empty storefronts in the Loop for moveable public art galleries. “The purpose of the program is to fill spaces with business,” says Dillon Goodson, a project coordinator at CLA. Potential renters get to see used space and are more likely to acknowledge it when they walk by it, says Goodson. “Otherwise they might not even notice it.”

“It is a win-win for everyone,” says Ilio. “We get to show our work for free, they [CLA] get to attract business.” Chicago Photography Collective, an artist organization that exhibits “Scary” and rents at Block 37, does not pay for the space it is using or charges for the admission to the gallery.

Before CPC came to Block 37 (108 N. State St), they were located for eight months at 29 E. Madison St, says Ilio. Ilio is not only the sole worker at Block 37 Pop-up Art Loop gallery but also a member of CPC. CPC had to move out from the space at Madison Street in 24 hours after next door 7-Eleven decided to expand and asked for the space. “No problem. That’s how Pop-up Art Loop galleries are designed,” says Ilio. For three months CPC was without the new location until CLA secured for them the space at Block 37 in May.

Goodson tells me that usually exhibitors have plenty of time, about 30 days, to leave the space. “If we have to get out sooner, than that is unfortunate.” Goodson recalls the time when they had to move out exhibitors in 24 hours. “It was less than ideal situation,” says Goodson. But the result, renting space to the business, is worth it, adds Goodson.

Pop-up Art Loop is currently using eight spaces in the Loop, says Goodson, but CPA hopes to expand next year and add more locations.

“The whole movement took off,” says Goodson. Not only are the artists contacting CLA, but space owners as well. “We have to be selective, the brand has establishes itself,” adds Goodson. CPA is not the only one with plans for the future, Ilio tells me that CPC wants to obtain business license to sell photographs at the gallery.

“Scary” is the fourth exhibition CPC is showing since they have moved to Block 37. The exhibition features work mostly by Rosemary Warner, but has pictures from 13 other CPC photographers, including Ilio. According to Ilio some people who have been to the gallery contacted featured artists and bought pictures from them. Warner tells me that although no one has tried to buy her pictures; her work was noticed and critiqued in Newcity Art.

“Scary” will be at Pop-up Art Loop gallery at Block 37 till November 6. Gallery is open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.popupartloop.com.

New comedy for the girls’ night out

“This is your life, don’t get creative,” says mom to Ally in “What’s your number?” But Ally does not listen to her mom and fights for her happiness. Ally does not wait for the man to save her. Ally looks for the man.

“What’s your number?” staring Anna Faris as Ally, is a feel-good romantic comedy, a must-see with your girlfriends. As if it was not enough to get dumped and fired, Ally learns, in Marie Claire magazine, that “96 percent of women who’ve been with 20 or more lovers can’t find a husband.” Well, Ally has slept with 20. So with the help of a neighbor Colin (Chris Evans) she goes on a quest to reconnect with her exes in hopes of finding “the one that got away” and keeping her number at 20.

What follows is a journey of self-discovery and funny encounters of ex-lovers.  We learn that Ally, at some point, pretended to be English so she would have more in common with her British boyfriend Simon (Martin Freeman). This goes horribly wrong for her when she gets drunk and starts speaking with “Borat” accent. Another time, she meets an ex-boyfriend Tom (Anthony Mackie) who tells her, “I wouldn’t know I was gay, have I not dated you.”

The movie works because it picks on what some women are doing when they’re dating. Ally wakes up in the morning; brushes her teeth, combs her hair, puts on mascara and jumps back into the bed so she looks “beautiful” for her boyfriend when he wakes up. Her interests and style change depending on whom she is dating. She is a man pleaser, but a funny one. So if your girlfriends are looking for a movie to see on a girls’ night out, choose “What’s your number?”

Polka rocks it out

“Hot as a grilled kielbasa. Crunchy as a potato pancake.” No, this is not a description of a dish in a Polish restaurant; this is the slogan of a polka band, The Polkaholics.

The Polkaholics is not the only polka band trying to appeal to a younger demographic by reinventing polka. Many polka bands choose to mix polka with other styles of music hoping that this will give polka recognition that they feel it deserves.

“We take rock or country and try to turn it into 2/4 tempo,” says Tony Blazonczyk, the leader of New Phaze.  Blazonczyk explains that the reason they change country or rock music into polka is so that people unfamiliar with polka can “understand it better.” “The younger generation responds great to it,” adds Blazonczyk. According to Don Hedeker, the leader of The Polkaholics who mix rock with polka, people who come to The Polkaholics concerts are in their mid 20s and 30s.

“When people mention polka they think of an old wedding band. Polka is still in back of the line to getting the recognition it deserves,” says Blazonczyk. In fact, in 2009, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (Grammy Awards) dropped polka category in a statement that the category had been cut “to ensure the awards process remains representative of the current musical landscape.”

According to Hedeker, there is a lot written about blue grass or folk but not about polka, a view that Blazonczyk agrees with. Hedeker calls the absence of polka in media: “ignorance.” Dave Ulczycki, president of International Polka Association, agrees that polka is not “exposed” enough in media. Ulczycki says that the membership at their organization is always around 700, a fact, he says, that interest in polka is not disappearing.

Hedeker, whose parents came from Germany, grew up listening to polka but as a teenager turned to rock. Hedeker says that later he got “bored” and “tired” of rock. “So I went to the store and bought polka and became interested in it,” says Hedeker. In 1997 Hedeker got together with his two musician friends (James Wallace and Steve Glover) who had no background in polka. “We played this rock instrumentation [with polka] and we had so much fun.” The three of them decided to start a band. As Hedeker tells me, he thought about his childhood and polka and decided: “Why don’t I use this background in the positive way.”

The Polkaholics and New Phaze’s schedule is busy. “We play at bars, outdoor fests and block parties,” says Hedeker. For the last 14 years The Polkaholics have played at Taste of Polonia, an annual Polish festival in Jefferson Park neighborhood. Both bands are taking part in Oktoberfest celebrations. You can see New Phaze at Old Town Social Club (October 1; 455 W. North Ave, Chicago; 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.) and The Polkaholics at Saint Mary of Vernon Oktoberfest (October 15; 236 U.S. Highway 45, Vernon Hills; 6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.).  Check out  schedule for New Phaze and schedule for The Polkaholics to see upcoming shows.

Polish Theater Finds Other Ways to Survive

The parking lot is getting busier by the minute. Nicely dressed people hurry to the entrance as no one wants to make a faux pas and be late for the play. It is Friday night and the theater is almost full. But this is neither The Chicago Theatre nor Goodman; this is Copernicus Center, a home to a Polish theater.

As much as an art is about vision, it is also about business. Theatres need to make money in order to survive and compete with other theaters. Theater administrators try to get the best plays, promote, market and sell the most tickets in order to turn a good profit. Most Chicago theatres have sponsors, members and a huge turnaround that makes them successful businesses. Copernicus Center however, finds other ways to make money.

Copernicus Center (Lawrance & Milwaukee) continues to serve Chicago’s Polish population. (Photo by Ewa Lyczewska)

Copernicus Center is located in Jefferson Park neighborhood, or as Polish immigrants call
it “Konstantynow,” the name derived from  local St. Constance Church. In 1985 Copernicus Foundation, a non-profit Polish organization that promotes Polish culture, took over the administration of the old Gateway Theater. Foundation’s board members decided to preserve the building but remodel around it and build the stage that would be big enough for plays, musicals, concerts and dance festivals. Today, Copernicus Center hosts best theater companies from Poland and amateur Polish community theaters from Chicago and the U.S.

According to Patrizia Fuchs, Copernicus Foundation events coordinator, although the Copernicus Center sells tickets it is not enough for the checkbook to balance. “You’ve got to figure out the ways to survive,” says Fuchs. The biggest fundraiser is an annual Taste of Polonia, which is a four day long festival during Labor Day weekend. “32 years of bringing people together,” says Fuchs. During festival Copernicus Foundation collects money from ticket sales, parking fees and merchant stand applications. The turnaround is about 40,000 people, says Fuchs. An online application lists a price of $850 for one merchant stand.  Fuchs however, does not discuss exact income numbers.

But since this is not enough to make ends meet, Copernicus Center rents its spaces to other immigrant communities. I meet Fuchs just seconds after she had a meeting with representatives from a Latino community who want to organize a “general” Latino festival for 14 Hispanic cultures at Copernicus Center. These kinds of events, as well as renting Copernicus Center spaces to expos, businesses and political meetings, allows Copernicus Foundation bring theater companies from Poland, explains Fuchs.

Marzena Carstens, Copernicus Foundation marketing coordinator, says that the next step for the Copernicus Center is to reach out to Americans in Chicago. Carstens wants American public become part of the audience in Copernicus Center and build a membership base that would bring constant income for the theater. American public is sure to be interested in Polish culture and arts, says Carstens.

Copernicus Center is located at 5216 W. Lawrance Ave. For more information visit www.copernicusfdn.org.