Free Speech Documentary in Logan Square

Deanna Isaacs, staff writer for the Chicago Reader, wrote about artist-activist Chris Drew and the documentary by Nancy Bechtol, which details Drew’s struggle for free speech.

Drew’s longtime cause had been what he believed was the constitutional right of artists to sell their work in public, wherever they wish, as long as they’re not blocking the right-of-way. His vision was for a Chicago that, like Paris, would embrace its artists as part of a free, vibrant streetscape.[pullquote]

COMING SOON

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The Chicago we have is pretty much the opposite. The city requires a peddler’s license for vendors to legally sell art on the street; to sell in the most desirable areas downtown, where only a handful of spots are available, also requires a monthly permit and preapproval of the art that’ll be offered.

To try to change that, Drew put himself on the sidewalk, distributing patches of wearable art for free – to avoid breaking the law about selling it – and explaining his cause to anyone who paused to see what this scruffy, bespectacled, pony-tailed character in the knit cap was about.