Prime Time | City in a Garden
July 18, 20257:00 pm - 10:00 pm
This event is 21+
About the Event
It’s time to celebrate with Queen! at the MCA. Smartbar’s legendary LGBTQ+ party—now more than a decade old—takes over the museum for a special evening of DJs, drag queens, dancing, and more in support of the exhibition City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago. Get ready to work your body and your mind as you experience premier Chicago music and art.
In addition to the dance party, Gerber/Hart—whose extraordinary collection of LGBTQ+ holdings is one of the largest in the world—showcases ephemera from historical LGBTQ+ Chicago, bringing queer-themed board games like Gay Monopoly, and is readying other surprises for the night.
Prime Time is an after-hours series that taps into the creative pulse of Chicago with an eclectic mix of live music, performance art, film screenings, and interactive programs that transform the museum in spectacular ways. The series is an electrifying social experience created with artists and key cultural groups in the city.
Access Information
To request accessibility services like ASL interpretation or audio description, please contact us at [email protected] or 312-397-4076.
About the Special Guests
About the DJs
Ralphi Rosario began spinning records in the early 1980s as a member of the world-renowned Chicago-based DJ collective Hot Mix 5 at only 15 years old. Almost a quarter of a century later, he still spins for legions of fans globally. Ralphi has worked/remixed countless mega pop stars including Beyoncé, The Pussycat Dolls, Kylie Minogue, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Rihanna, Depeche Mode, Jennifer Lopez, Cher, and many more. He was also honored and recognized with his own dedicated street sign, Ralphi “The Razz” Rosario Way, on September 14, 2019.
Michael Serafini first got his start in Chicago nightlife in the 1980s working for Berlin nightclub as a video jockey and remixer. Under the mentorship of close friends Terri Bristol and Ralphi Rosario, Michael began deejaying regularly in the early 1990s. Shortly after, he took up a position at one of Chicago house’s most famous institutions, Gramaphone Records. As his experience grew, so did his reputation, later landing a residency at Boom Boom Room—then the city’s longest-running and well-known house night. In 2007, Serafini took over ownership of Gramaphone Records, which he still operates today. His current residency is for Smartbar’s weekly Sunday party, Queen!
About the Hosts
Lucy Stoole, Chicago’s Black Bearded Beauty, is a Windy City–based drag performer, artist, and activist with an international presence. She’s an Out 100 honoree, 7x Drag Queen of The Year, and proud owner of the popular, sex + body positive Stoole Sample adult toy line.
Nico is the rowdy stunning drag queen, chaotic clown, makeup artist, and wrestler serving up pure chaos in everything they do. A staple at Queen! and Chicago scenes for over a decade, they’ve made their mark with a wild mix of high-impact performance and unapologetic energy.
Event Partners
Gerber/Hart is a LGBTQ+ library and archives located in the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago. Founded in 1981, Gerber/Hart is one of the largest repositories of LGBTQ+ content in the world. Gerber/Hart is a 501(c)3 nonprofit and focuses on collecting, preserving, and making accessible the LGBTQ+ history and culture of Chicago and the Midwest. And for a deep dive into some of the amazing collections at Gerber/Hart, listen in to their 2022 podcast Unboxing Queer History!
smartbar is Chicago’s premiere independent nightclub, celebrating 40 years of showcasing the vast and varied offerings of the dance music world, as well as the most cutting-edge DJs from around the globe.
Funding
Program
Community programming for City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago is supported by the Terra Foundation for American Art.
Lead support for Learning programs at the MCA is provided by Jana and Bernardo Hees.
Major support for Learning programs at the MCA is provided by Carol Prins and John Hart/The Jessica Fund and an anonymous donor.
Additional generous support is provided by the Friends of Edwin A. Bergman Fund, the Hulda B. & Maurice L. Rothschild Foundation, Diane Kahan, The Marshall Frankel Foundation, D. Elizabeth Price and Lou Yecies, and The William Randolph Hearst Foundations.
Exhibition
Lead support is provided by the Harris Family Foundation in memory of Bette and Neison Harris, the Zell Family Foundation, Cari and Michael Sacks, and R. H. Defares.
Major support is provided by Laura and Tony Davis, Linden Capital Partners; Robin Loewenberg Tebbe and Mark Tebbe; and Charlotte R. Cramer Wagner and Herbert S. Wagner III of Wagner Foundation.
Generous support is provided by Gary Metzner and Scott Johnson.
This exhibition is supported by the MCA’s Women Artists Initiative, a philanthropic commitment to further equity across gender lines and promote the work and ideas of women artists.
