Various venues

Check out galleries and artistic spaces around Wicker Park and Bucktown during this free monthly event that takes place the first Friday of each month. Venues will keep their doors open until 8pm so guests can meet gallery owners and artists, and explore a range of local art. Participating spots include Jackson Junge Gallery, Tom Robinson Gallery, SoNa Contemporary Art, Torque Ltd., Prism Spaces and more.

This annual festival assembles luminaries from the fields of politics, journalism and the arts for a multi-week series of programming across the city, with events ranging from lectures and discussions to screenings and musical performances. Not sure which events to hit? Some of this season's biggest speakers include Kate McKinnon, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie and Nick Offerman. You can see a full schedule of programming on the Chicago Humanities Festival website.