Arts in the Dark 2025: Ghosts of the Union Stock Yards

Arts in the Dark is a parade that takes place just before Halloween each year in downtown Chicago. It draws an audience of up to 100,000 people and features thousands of performers from the city's diverse cultural community. For the 2025 parade Columbia College was invited to increase the scale of its participation, which was formerly limited to individual student groups. As it happened I was just returning from sabbatical in Spain, where I was studying outdoor festivals and mask-making traditions.

In collaboration with co-teacher and historian Erin McCarthy, I led 55 students in the creation of masks inspired by Chicago's Union Stock Yards. Now closed, these infamous grounds once butchered up to nine million animals a year and inspired Henry Ford to create his assembly line for automobiles. If you'd like to read more on that topic, have a look at my 24/25 sabbatical project How the Sausage Gets Made,

Students were asked to pick a common stock yard animal skull (cow, sheep, or pig) to serve as the basis for their mask. From there they could get creative with paint and accessories. We used a variety of form-building methods including metal mesh forming, paper mache, "glue mache" (thanks Dan the Monster Man!) and tape casting.

Seeing as the parade let out on Columbia's doorstep, hosting an after party was a natural fit. I organized seven student activations, including DJ sets, live experimental video projection, a photo booth, a painting battle, and more. This free event was open to all and brought roughly 560 people to see the excellent variety of creative fields we have on offer.

For more info, see the Columbia College press release on the event.