Chicago has big plans for Chinese New Year

( China Daily USA ) Updated: 2016-01-20 06:21

From left: Melissa Cherry, SVP of marketing and Cultural Tourism, Choose Chicago; David Thurm, chief operating officer, Art Institute of Chicago; Nelson Sum, global sales manager, Asia-Pacific sales, United Airlines; Julie Ma, board president, The Chinese Fine Arts Society; Zhao Weiping, Chinese consul general in Chicago; Steve Koch, Chicago deputy mayor; Ling Markovitz, board member and sponsor of the Chinese New Year Concert, Chicago Symphony Orchestra; and Steve Robinson, general manager, WFMT Radio Network and executive producer of Shanghai Spring Program.

Chicago is lining up the events in its ongoing effort to have the largest Chinese New Year celebration in North America.

The city recently announced a variety of programs in February for its third annual Lunar New Year celebration.

Melissa Cherry, senior vice-president of marketing and cultural tourism for Choose Chicago, said that Mayor Rahm Emanuel set a goal in 2013 for the city’s celebration to be tops on the continent.

“This set forth Choose Chicago’s first collaboration with the Ministry of Culture in China and the Chinese Consulate in Chicago to launch a citywide Spring Festival in 2014,” she said.

This year’s programming includes the first Midwest tour by Jackie Chan’s Long Yun Kung Fu Troupe; a new program at the Art Institute of Chicago; a Chinese New Year concert at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Center; and performances by the Chinese Fine Arts Society.

WFMT Radio and WFMT Radio Network in Chicago will broadcast and distribute a Shanghai Spring series program based on the 2015 Shanghai Spring International Music Festival.

“It’s the first program ever from a music festival in China to be introduced to the West,” said Steve Robinson, general manager of WFMT Radio Network.