Chicago Cultural Patrons
Chicago has always understood the cultural power of patronage. Its skyline, museums, universities, orchestras and public spaces bear the fingerprints of families and business leaders who decided that private wealth could help build public culture. Walk through the Art Institute of Chicago, look up at the city’s architecture or encounter Picasso’s monumental sculpture in Daley Plaza, and the underlying idea is familiar: Cities become culturally important because somebody is willing to invest in making them so. But Chicago may be overlooking a newer class of cultural patron operating in plain sight. The chef. The suggestion sounds strange only because Americans tend to put restaurants in the category of commerce rather than culture. A museum acquires art; a restaurant buys vegetables. A collector commissions an artist; a chef orders plates. A foundation makes grants; a restaurateur pays suppliers. Yet examine what an ambitious restaurant actually does and those distinctions begin to...