Bronzeville Art District gears up for this year’s final bus tour of galleries

South Side art lovers are gearing up for one final fete before the fall.

All summer, the Bronzeville Art District has hosted free monthly tours of its member galleries. Participants ride double-decker buses staffed by docents. Galleries sometimes offer beverages and live music.

“It’s about connecting people with their culture and history of one of the African American communities of Chicago, as well as bringing people from all over the city to enjoy what Bronzeville has to offer,” said Frances Guichard of Gallery Guichard, 436 E. 47th St.

This year’s final tour runs Friday from 6-9 p.m. Participants can start at any of the five galleries, including Blanc Gallery, Faie Afrikan Art, the South Side Community Art Center and the building at 436 E. 47th St., which houses both Gallery Guichard and the Bronzeville Artist Lofts.

Buses leave every 20 minutes, following two different routes. One runs from the 47th Street building to Faie Afrikan Art; the other, between 47th Street, the Community Art Center and Blanc Gallery.

No registration is needed for the free event, though participants may RSVP beforehand, using the Eventbrite link found on the Bronzeville Art District website.

Gallery Guichard/Provided

Once aboard, docents share stories about the neighborhood going back decades.

“The history starts to percolate,” said William Scott III, a docent with the tour since its inception 16 year ago.

His favorite things to point out include a former residence of Ida B. Wells, the birthplace of gospel music and telling the history of the South Side Community Art Center, which, at 82, is as old as he is.

“I’m really limited by the three hours, you might say,” Scott said.

Beyond knowledgable docents, participants get to enjoy the “unique stamp” of each gallery, said Monique Brinkman-Hill, executive director of the South Side Community Art Center.

For instance, Faie features work collected from Africa, while Gallery Guichard showcases contemporary work from the African American diaspora.

Gallery Guichard/Provided

Rounding out their first year in person since the pandemic began, organizers hope to celebrate Bronzeville’s art and hear its stories of resilience, going back to the Great Migration of the early 20th century, when many Black Southerners moved north.

“Bronzeville was one of the first places that they landed, and it was a place that was booming with art, with music, with businesses,” Brinkman-Hill said.

“It remains an area that has seen ups and downs of economics as well as things like the pandemic, but it remains and sustains to be strong because of the people in the community.”

Michael Loria is a staff reporter at the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South and West sides.