What to do in Chicago in October 2026

Saturday, October 17, 2026

• Visual arts

  until Dec 31

  Double Feature with Short Subject

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jan 31

  Designing for Change: Chicago Protest Art of the 1960s–70s

  Chicago History Museum · Lincoln Park

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jan 3

  Raqib Shaw: Paradise Lost

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Nov 15

  Saint-Porchaire

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Other

  until Jan 31

  Anne Frank The Exhibition

  Griffin Museum of Science and Industry · Hyde Park

• Visual arts

  until Feb 7

  Chicago Works | Mike Cloud: Worldless Obstruction

  Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago · Streeterville

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jan 25

  Embroidered Traditions from Morocco to Afghanistan

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jan 25

  Abigail Lucien: Blood of the Earth

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Nov 9

  Self, Made: Fourteen Modern Artists from the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jun 20

  Atrium Project: Celeste Rapone

  Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago · Streeterville

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Oct 19

  Beyond Form: Abstraction at Midcentury

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jan 31

  Kenzi Shiokava

  Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago · Streeterville

  • Visual arts

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• Visual arts

  until Jul 11

  From the Center: Looking at Lucy Lippard

  Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago · Streeterville

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Dec 7

  Lee Miller: Fearless

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jan 3

  Mary Cassatt: After Impressionism

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Dec 11

  Karimah Ashadu: Machine Boys

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Mar 14

  Slow Dance

  Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago · Streeterville

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jan 18

  Jill Mulleady: The Passenger

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jul 11

  How Do We Heal?

  Smart Museum of Art · Hyde Park

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jul 11

  Nina Chanel Abney: Between Us

  Smart Museum of Art · Hyde Park

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Feb 21

  teamLab: Everything Exists in Infinite Continuity

  Smart Museum of Art · Hyde Park

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Dec 20

  Utamaro: Elements of Beauty

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

• Theatre

  until Nov 1

  Dead Girl's Quinceañera

  Goodman Theatre · The Loop

  • Theatre

• Visual arts

  until Mar 14

  Tony Cokes: On Boredom

  Art Institute of Chicago · The Loop

  • Visual arts

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• Literature

  until Nov 12

  The Long History of the Yiddish Short Story

  Newberry Library · Gold Coast

  • Literature

• Other

  until Jan 3

  After the Age of Dinosaurs

  Field Museum · Museum Campus

• Other

  until Dec 31

  Aquí en Chicago

  Chicago History Museum · Lincoln Park

• Comedy

  Open run

  Best of The Second City

  The Second City · Old Town

  • Comedy

• Music

  until Oct 18

  Chopin In Winter

  Chopin Theatre · Ukrainian Village

  • Music
  • Theatre

  $25

• Theatre

  until May 2

  Dennis Watkins' The Magic Parlour

  Goodman Theatre · The Loop

  • Theatre

• Other

  until Nov 1

  Fright at the Field

  Field Museum · Museum Campus

• Other

  until Dec 31

  Injustice: The Trial for the Murder of Emmett Till

  Chicago History Museum · Lincoln Park

• Theatre

  until Nov 8

  Jekyll & Hyde

  Broadway Playhouse at Water Tower Place · Magnificent Mile

  • Theatre

• Theatre

  until Oct 25

  KOWALSKI

  Lookingglass Theatre Company · Magnificent Mile

  • Theatre

• Comedy

  Open run

  No Grown-Ups Allowed

  The Second City · Old Town

  • Comedy

• Visual arts

  until Dec 31

  Nuestras Historias: Stories of Mexican Identity from the Permanent Collection

  National Museum of Mexican Art · Pilsen

  • Visual arts

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• Comedy

  Open run

  Pandemonium, Please Hold (114th Mainstage Revue)

  The Second City · Old Town

  • Comedy

• Other

  until Apr 11

  Pokémon Fossil Museum

  Field Museum · Museum Campus

• Comedy

  Open run

  Reality Detox: The Improv Experience

  The Second City · Old Town

  • Comedy

• Comedy

  Open run

  Second City Presents: Thank You, Goodnight

  The Second City · Old Town

  • Comedy

• Music

  until Nov 29

  Sunday in the Park with George (Kokandy Productions)

  Chopin Theatre · Ukrainian Village

  • Music
  • Theatre

  $25

• Other

  until Oct 18

  The Changing Face of Science

  Field Museum · Museum Campus

• Theatre

  until Nov 1

  Topdog / Underdog

  Steppenwolf Theatre Company · Lincoln Park

  • Theatre

• Visual arts

  until Jan 31

  US at 250: Dorian Sylvain, We Weave Our Future

  Chicago History Museum · Lincoln Park

  • Visual arts

• Visual arts

  until Jan 31

  Where Memory Lives: 40 Years of Día de Muertos

  National Museum of Mexican Art · Pilsen

  • Visual arts

• Other

  until Oct 18

  Festival del Arte Popular 2026

  National Museum of Mexican Art · Pilsen

• Theatre

  until Oct 18

  Waitress

  James M. Nederlander Theatre · The Loop

  • Theatre

• Theatre

  until Nov 22

  Hayward (The Gift Theatre Presents)

  Steppenwolf Theatre Company · Lincoln Park

  • Theatre

• Music

  until Oct 18

  Thaddeus Tukes Quartet

  Jazz Showcase · South Loop

  • Music

• Comedy

  until Oct 17

  Roast Battle

  Zanies Comedy Club · Old Town

  • Comedy

  $32 Tickets ↗

• Cinema

  until Oct 24

  Black Zombie

  Facets · Lincoln Park

  • Cinema

• Cinema

  until Oct 24

  Her Private Hell

  Facets · Lincoln Park

  • Cinema

• Comedy

  until Oct 17

  Luke Null

  Zanies Comedy Club · Old Town

  • Comedy

  $37 Tickets ↗

• Theatre

  until Oct 17

  The Infinite Wrench

  The Neo-Futurists · Andersonville

  • Theatre

  $10 Tickets ↗

• Visual arts

  until Feb 21

  ¡TINTA ARDIENTE!

  National Museum of Mexican Art · Pilsen

  • Visual arts

• Music

  9:30 AM

  Educator Seminar | Facing Freedom

  Organization

  Chicago History Museum · Lincoln Park

  • Music

• Music

  10:30 AM

  Mrs. Dipsworth's Storytime

  DuSable Black History Museum · Washington Park

  • Music

• Music

  3 PM

  Josh Joplin - Matinee

  Hideout · Goose Island

  • Music

• Music

  5:30 PM

  LOCKED SHUT

  Subterranean · Wicker Park

  • Music

  $15 Tickets ↗

• Music

  6:30 PM

  Sabina

  Subterranean · Wicker Park

  • Music

  $13 Tickets ↗

Everything on in Chicago