Cover art by: Alanna Zaritz
Stephen Anthony Rawson: You’ve partnered with a number of Chicago-based organizations—the MCA, GirlForward, the Rebuild Foundation,
the Mosaic School, Openlands Lakeshore Preserve—as well as many composers and performers from this area, and, in 2017, Spektral Quartet was named Chicagoans of the Year. What do you see as your responsibility to Chicagoans?Russ Rolen: I think it’s just being a good citizen. Our responsibility as artists is to be good “citizen artists.” And a “citizen” is different from a “resident.” A “citizen” is someone who participates in the life of the city; someone who is adding to it as they can. It also means being that city’s champion in a way. When we’re in Chicago, we want to be involved in many different artistic conversations that are happening. We want to be making friends all over the city. We want to be adding to it and doing our part in the ways that artists can. And when we go out of the city, we feel like it’s important to bring art from Chicago to other places so that the art that’s being created here is not siloed here. It’s using the platform that we have as an opportunity to share what’s happening where we come from.
All proceeds from this issue of Comfort Hive will benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Grab a copy!