The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs is conducting an important survey of Chicago’s creative community that is open to “anyone who is creative” – that probably means you! They want to know what you do, how you do it, and what you need to thrive in this city.  Their results will be published this summer.

The survey’s stated goal is to “paint a useful portrait of the range of creative activity in Chicago, and help us learn more about what the City can do to foster creativity in terms of space, programs and other assistance.” Every person’s  participation helps them to accurately measure the future growth of Chicago’s creative economy and community.

The survey defines creative practices as “any creative or artistic activities or work that you do, for your job or as a hobby, in any discipline. Whether you’re an artist or an architect, a chef or dj, a member of your church choir or a fashion designer,” they want your input.

As this is a time-sensitive survey, please pass the word along to friends and colleagues. Your responses will be kept completely anonymous. The more responses received, the more valuable the findings, and the better the job that the Department of Cultural Affairs can do in serving Chicago’s artists – so please take a few minutes to click on over and fill out their survey. Don’t wait – the survey is only open until Friday, February 25, 2011, so don’t procrastinate – do it now.

Here’s a direct link to  the survey.

Find out more about the survey, and browse findings from other DCA surveys here.

Are re-blogged links the blogger’s version of the sitcom flashback episode? Uh, maybe, but in any case, here’s a partial and purely subjective roundup of the past week in art, culture, etc. in Chicago and beyond, via a whole mess o’ handy links, of course….

*Artists selected for the 53rd Annual Venice Biennale have been announced; find the list here.

*New City art editor Jason Foumberg has a nice recap along with some thoughtful analysis of last week’s “The Invisible Artist: Creators from Chicago’s Southside” panel discussion at the School of the Art Institute. UPDATE 4/4: There is some very interesting, enlightening, and pretty damn sharp back-and-forth going on in the comments section of this article by panel participants and others who strongly disagree with (or have misunderstood) Foumberg’s assessment of the panel and the issues it addressed.

*The mass firings of adjunct fine art faculty at Parsons The New School for Design: blogger Hrag Vartanian’s coverage has been some of the most thorough thus far. Check out his posts here, here and here as a start.

*Time Out Chicago writer Lauren Weinberg has a piece this week on the ways in which Musuems in Chicago and elsewhere are using social media.

*Big yawn: on the Twitter front, an update on @platea’s Twitter happening I blogged about a few weeks ago. UPDATE 4/4: NewCity reported on what happened during the Twitter Island project discussed in that same blog post, here.

*A huge Pose slideshow available on The World’s Best Ever.

*Tyler Green of Modern Art Notes provides an excellent, two-part summary of a rare Robert Frank public talk this week with National Gallery of Art curator Sarah Greenough; part one and two.

*Via C-Monster: The Architecture of the Drug Trade. A fascinating look at  the landscape of weed and the architecture of the grow house. Especially loved the comparison of the latter to Max’s bedroom in Where the Wild Things Are.

*Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City writes for The L Magazine on why Jenny Holzer is not the patron saint of Twitter in her review of Holzer’s Protect Protect Project, which originated at the MCA and is now at The Whitney.

*Via ArchitectureChicago: iTunes offering free download of the first movement of John Cage’s 4’33″.

* Get your art on at Chicago Artist’s Resource (CAR)’s Creative Chicago Expo tomorrow (Saturday) from 10-4. Workshops and Consult-a-thons galore for individuals and arts organizations.

*And finally, the hermeneutics of “pin diplomacy”: via Artnet Magazine, Madeleine Albright’s pin collection to be shown at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York.  Pins weren’t mere jewelry for Albright, they added a subtle layer to her diplomatic efforts.  She wore a bee pin when talks were getting pointed, a balloon pin when she felt hopeful, and a snake pin after Sadaam Hussein’s people called her a serpent. I’m so there!