Korean-American dancers in Humboldt Park. Singers strolling through the Art Institute. Slam poets on the streets. Dancers in Union Station. These are some of the ongoing events of Chicago Performs!, a series of summer and fall spectacles that are being staged in unlikely places around the city.

The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation is sponsoring the program so that Chicago artists can take to the streets this year to surprise and cheer up Chicagoans. The idea was suggested by philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus, who said, “This is a way of supporting our wonderful performing arts groups and providing some surprise and delight for Chicago.”

The Driehaus Foundation, in association with the MacArthur Foundation, runs two programs that promote small arts organizations. Seventeen arts groups have agreed to take part in Chicago Performs! Performances, which began in June, are posted on the Driehaus Foundation website. But most viewers will be surprised.

“We wanted people to smile,” said Peter Handler, program officer with the foundation.   “We also wanted them to see things they may have never seen before.”  Artists are choosing their own locations and their own performance times. Assistance on locations is being provided by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs.

The performing groups include: Blair Thomas & Company, Porchlight Music Theatre, Chicago a cappella, Natya Dance Theatre, Asian Improv Arts Midwest, Korean American Resource and Cultural Center, Global Girls, Chicago Community Chorus, Young Chicago Authors, DanceWorks Chicago, International Contemporary Ensemble, Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, The Dance Colective, Deeply Rooted Productions, 500 Clown, Redmoon Theatre, and Collaboraction.

“The program gives artists a chance to take their art to the street and share the joy of it with many others,” said Handler. “It should delight.”

Chicago Performs!  -- Upcoming events:
-Friday, August 21: Noon    Michigan and Wacker, Riverwalk:  Asian Improv aRts Midwest:

-Saturday, August 22:  10:30 am, Noon, and 1:30 pm  at North Community Bank, at the corner of Clark and Berwyn streets in the Andersonville neighborhood: Porchlight Music Theatre

-Sunday, August 23: 10:30 am, Noon, and 1:30 pm at Café Selmarie, 4729 N. Lincoln Avenue, in the middle of Lincoln Square: Porchlight Music Theatre

-Friday, August 28: 7-7:40 p.m., Humboldt Park Boat Hous:  Korean American Resource and Cultural Center performs:

-Sunday, October 4 at the Flatwater Classic boat race on the Chicago River:The Dance Colective:

Previous events:

Redmoon
June 11 at Millennium Park
June 28 at the Gay Pride Parade
July 30 at Daley Center Plaza
August 4 at Grant Park, just before movies

Deeply Rooted Productions
June 17 at Italian Fest
June 18 at Millennium Park
June 21 at Soul Sistah Fest

Korean American Resource and Cultural Center
July 18 at Morton Grove

Young Chicago Authors
July 14 near DePaul Center
July 15 near DePaul Center
July 16 near DePaul Center

Chicago Community Chorus
July 26 at First Congregational Baptist Church
July 27 at Doubletree Hotel, 300 E. Ohio

Global Girls
Aug. 1 at Avalon Park Health Fair
Aug. 15 at South Chicago

Chicago a cappella
Aug. 6 at Art Institute of Chicago, Modern Wing

Blair Thomas & Company
Aug. 12 at Anderson Farmer’s Market

Natya Dance Theatre
August 19 & 20, 2009 at Pritzker Pavilion

Still to finalize schedule:
500 Clown
Chicago Jazz Philharmonic
Collaboraction
DanceWorks Chicago
International Contemporary Ensemble