The creators of Proximity and Lumpen are launching another publication this Spring. It's called Mash Tun: A Journal about Craft Beer The Mash Tun is a paean to craft beer. It follows the pleasures and aesthetics of craft beer and how it intersects with food, culture, and society. The Mash Tun will feature interviews and profiles with brewery owners, beer lovers, brewmasters, beer distributors, scientists, industry impresarios, coopers, bottle makers, bar owners,  home brewers and anyone who loves and is part of the process of making beer. There will features about figures in the industry as well as historical narratives. Short and long form entries will be interspersed with recipes, comics and photography featuring participating breweries, bars and restaurants. The  Mash Tun will be a four-color, 120-160 + page, perfect bound publication that takes the from of a journal and it will be published by Public Media Institute (PMI), producer of Lumpen, Proximity, Materiel and other periodicals. PMI is a non profit arts organization that produces publications, festivals and host cultural events in Chicago and sometimes elsewhere. Our home is in Bridgeport. We will launch Volume 1 Issue 1 during Craft Beer Week Chicago (Mid May 2012) If you like writing about beer then you should participate. Send us a one paragraph pitch, a writing sample or two, and email edmarlumpen (at) gmail.com  We have room for a few more pieces. Our deadline for texts on Issue 1 is March 1, 2012.

Small Manufacturing Alliance (SMALL) SMALL is a new organization that promotes companies and individuals who make locally manufactured products. The goal of the organization is to amplify awareness of products made in the Chicago Metropolitan area through events, promotions, media and trade shows. SMALL will emphasize that sustainable businesses are the key to our economic well being.  The organization will assist these local manufacturers with legal aid, seminars, marketing services, incubation services and other resources to help grow their business endeavors. SMALL will be launched this May during Version Festival. We will create a department store like space called the SMALL Showroom at the gallery Co-Prosperity Sphere located at 3219 S Morgan Street in Chicago that will be open for the entire month of May. Think of it as the People's Macy's. Products will be displayed in the showroom for one month. During promotional events at the SMALL Showroom the creators of these local products will be able to demonstrate or present them to the public. If you are interested in being a big part of SMALL please email ed@smallma.org. We are currently focused on identifying manufacturers and producers to create a directory of Made in Chicago products. We will then contact interested parties to join us for the launch of the event at the SMALL Showroom that opens May 1, 2012 at the Co-Prosperity Sphere in Chicago. Product categories featured in SMALL's Directory include: Auto & Bike Apparel Body Products Children & Maternity Contract Manufacturers Food & Beverage Furniture Hospitality/Entertainment Products Home & Garden Jewelry/Accessories Pet Products Print & Media Production Other artisan made and hand crafted items. SMALL is being incubated by Public Media Institute (PMI). PMI is a non-profit 501(c) 3, community based, arts & culture organization located in Chicago, Illinois. Our mission is to create and incubate innovative arts programming and cultural infrastructures to transform people - socially and intellectually – through the production of festivals, art spaces, events, exhibitions, community projects, artifacts and media. Public Media Institute is committed to the region's cultural ecology and is evident through our series of programs, spaces and projects. http://www.publicmediainstitute.com

What happens when you invite cultural workers,community developers, urban entrepreneurs, artists, designers, foodies, public space hackers, urban planners, cultural geographers, and dreamers to swarm a neighborhood and transform it for one month? Version 12: Bridgeport The Community of the Future. This May 2012, we're inviting you to come visit us in Bridgeport, a Chicago neighborhood, and join in on our month-long urban experiment. During the Eleventh Annual Version Festival, we will be opening and remixing twelve temporary spaces, businesses, enterprises and projects, all to celebrate the neighborhood we love and call home. And then we're going to use these places as home bases, networks, and maps, all to energize our local environs for long-term change - but we need your help to make it happen. Version 12 seeks collaborators and partners to help us re-imagine the tactical urbanization of our hood. We will supply the spaces for your project and help coordinate the activities and ideas that you would like to share with our communities. Right now our plans include opening up the following: a used bookstore, a nightly performance space in a church, a home brewing club kitchen, a department store/gallery showcasing all locally manufactured small batch and artisanal products, nomadic collaborative restaurants and community kitchens, parking lot flea markets, a neighborhood tourism bureau, and a rotating exhibition space for artists and designers. And we're still looking! We need groups and individuals to open or manage temporary stores, co-working spaces... any choose-your-own pop-up space endeavor you can imagine. Of course, there are other ways to participate too. You could also create or install public art in the hood, volunteer at a space, bring your food cart or truck to the neighborhood, conduct a public space hack, farm in a local urban garden, perform at one of our venues, or just stop by and dive in. Everyone is welcome! The festival is co-produced by Public Media Institute (PMI) and dozens of our neighbors, friends, and business owners here in Bridgeport. PMI is a non-profit 501(c) 3, community based, arts & culture organization located in Chicago, Illinois. Our mission is to create and incubate innovative arts programming and cultural infrastructures to transform people - socially and intellectually – through the production of festivals, art spaces, events, exhibitions, community projects, artifacts and media. Public Media Institute is committed to the region's cultural ecology and is evident through our series of programs, spaces and projects. http://www.publicmediainstitute.com WANT IN? LET US KNOW HOW YOU'D LIKE TO GET INVOLVED. PLEASE RESPOND BY MARCH 1, 2012 AND EMAIL YOUR RESPONSE TO --> versionfest12@gmail.com PLEASE CHOOSE ONE (OR MORE!) OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS: [ ] opening up a space [ ] performing [ ] making or installing public art [ ] providing a service to the neighborhood [ ] having your product featured in our department store [ ] volunteering [ ] other YOUR NAME: EMAIL: TELEPHONE: WEBSITE (it's OK if you don't have one though): ONE PARAGRAPH PROPOSAL - let us know what you want to do!: PLEASE INCLUDE 3-6 images up to 1,000 pixels wide

The World Finder. Global Cities, Model Worlds is presented concurrently with The World Finder.

We hope you will join us in our volunteer effort! All are welcome! Please send an email to Heather Radke at hradke@uic.edu if you are interested!

We are going to see Scented Illusions: Avon and  Art at S&S Project ( 3147 S Morgan Street ). Then we are off to view Soft Ground: New works by Emily Clayton and Eileen Mueller at Roots & Culture 1034 N Milwaukee Ave. See u there.