Announcements this week have brought the opening of the new Chicago Architecture Center and tour sign-ups even closer. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF ISSUES SO PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY:
1.Signing up for Tours/Shifts
As you all know via the members’ email and media coverage (Blair Kamin in the Trib, WTTW, etc.), the official public opening date for the new CAC is Aug. 31, 2018. At the same time, it was announced that tours will begin to run from the CAC as of August 1. That means that on Sunday, when we sign up for August tours, you will be signing up for the newly configured or reconfigured tours.
Walking through the process:
On Sunday, you can sign up for the last few days of July through July 29. Tours departing on July 27, 28 and 29, will depart from 224 S. Michigan; they are the current tours we are now giving. So, if you are nostalgic, need tour hours, just want to do your usual bit, sign up for tours between July 27-29 and give the “last” of whatever tour you love.
There will be NO TOURS will depart from either location on Monday and Tuesday, July 30 and 31. This is to allow the moving that begins late July 29 to be completed. And to ensure, we are being clear, any scheduled building and neighborhood tours will still depart as will the river cruise.
Beginning August 1, all core tours will depart from CAC. Those who are certified on the new tours and those who have a certification date set for June or July should sign up for the new tours, with the exception of the Neighborhood Historic and LaSalle Deco.(see below) When you sign up for a tour in August, it begins at the CAC and is on the new schedule, which you can find on The Bridge or in Volunteer Matters.
2. For those who give the Neighborhood Historic and/or LaSalle Deco
We need to treat the signup for these two tours a bit differently because of the number of spots vs. the number of certified docents. This reiterates what we have already said to those certifying for these tours: Docents will only be able to conduct the tour once or possibly twice a year. Volunteer Matters will open for sign-ups a week from Sunday, on June 24. At that time the ENTIRE season will be available, from August 1-March 31. Each docent will be eligible to sign up for ONE departure. Following that open week, the calendar will be locked and if there are open departures, Caroline will open them on a month-by-month basis.
SO – TO REPEAT AND REITERATE:
On Sunday, if you are already certified for the new tours (thanks), you can sign up as usual. You have the option to sign up for four tours as usual. Those tours will depart from CAC beginning Aug. 1. If you have a certification date for a new tour, you also may sign up. We are trusting that you will certify before August 1.
If you have trained and not made a date to certify, do so NOW. The final date for certifying is July 31. Do not sign up for tours until you get that date for certification.
3. The move is a movable thing.
While we are giving tours from 224. S. Michigan you will notice many changes at that location.
At the end of June, the following spaces will close permanently: Design Studio, Morse/Learning Studio, storage space in the basement. We will continue to operate tours, the Box Office, lecture hall, library and offices stay open.
Mid-July, likely the week of July 16, the retail operation will be closed and packing will begin in earnest (including the library).
As mentioned above, the last tours will leave 224 S. Michigan on July 29. Then we “go dark” on walking and bus tours until we reopen at the CAC on Aug. 1. At that location, it will be the tour operations and the retail store, with construction and installation for the exhibits going on until the formal public opening Aug. 31.
Between now and then a subcommittee of the Move Task Force of staffers (Michael Malak, Erin, Caroline), docent Kathleen Carpenter and Guest Services rep Marge Schillaci will be working on a long-term plan to provide orientations, transition tours, etc. for everyone to get acclimated to the new location. You will be getting more information about that as soon as we have it.
By the numbers, calendar
Just to keep you in the loop, as of now we have 51% of the certifications complete. That does not include the last 35 docents who just began training for Treasures last week. But thus far, 199 certifications have been completed for the training tours, and 293 docents completed the refreshers needed to certify.
Volunteer applications for Exhibit Hosts and Guests Services continue to come in. To date, Erin and Caroline have conducted over 75 interviews and accepted 65 new volunteers. Training dates have yet to be confirmed but will take place in August.
The new schedule – the one that begins Aug. 1 with Historic Treasures of Chicago’s Golden Age stepping off at 10 a.m., can be found on The Bridge or at this link: CAC Tour Schedule.
Once again, and very heartfelt, folks, thanks for all your efforts. We are seeing a large light at the end of the tunnel. Stick with us for the last and the reward is coming up. We can equate those of us participating in all of this training and retraining to the recent Triple Crown win by Justify at the Belmont Stakes. He started out ahead of the crowd, kept the pace to stay in front, and then sprinted at the end to win it all. We’re on the same ride.
If there are questions, please email Ellen Shubart, es******@ao*.com, Move Task Force chair.
Let’s try not to bother Caroline and Erin; they are enormously busy making all of this happen for us. Thanks.