Springtime in Chicago
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April 2026 events calendar for Chicago

Plan your April in Chicago with our calendar of the best things to do, including concerts, theater and art exhibits.

Christina Izzo
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Get excited, Chicagoans, because spring in Chicago is officially here. (Bye-bye snow!) The warmer temps are perfect for hiking near Chicago or taking a day trip to enjoy a quick getaway but there’ll be plenty of fun in the city, too. For movie lovers, there's the return of Doc10 Fest and MUBI Fest Chicago. Art buffs can get their fill at the annual EXPO Chicago and ART on the MART. There's also plenty to do outside, including the city's much-anticipated cherry blossom viewing and the spring flower show at the Garfield Park Conservatory. So celebrate the spring season—and all the new beginnings that go along with it—with our list of the best things to do in Chicago this April.

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The best events in Chicago this April

  • Things to do
  • Exhibitions
  • Avondale
With soundstage-sized pieces like horned sculptures emitting soap bubbles, inflated spheres bedecked in abstract squiggles and surreal faceless figures hovering in space, “EmotionAir” reimagines the humble balloon as any other artistic medium—a conduit for creativity and emotion. 
  • Things to do
  • Exhibitions
  • River North
Talking Heads frontman, Broadway innovator and all-around creative polymath David Byrne is once again blurring the line between art and science, this time in the middle of downtown Chicago. “Theater of the Mind” is Byrne’s latest experiment in perception, identity and theatrical immersion—and it’s happening inside a real office space. Created with writer and philanthropist Mala Gaonkar, the 15,000-square-foot experience invites audiences of just 16 at a time to explore a series of rooms designed to mess with your senses and make you question, well, yourself.
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  • Art
  • Photography
  • Suburbs
“Living with Modernism: Kelli Connell” presents two series of photographic works by the Chicago artist. The exhibition's first body of work, “Pictures for Charis” finds Connell responding to iconic Edward Weston photographs through a queer, feminist lens. The second major work, “Double Life,” spurs a dialogue with the Mies van der Rohe-designed McCormick House while charting the evolution of nature, identity and relationships. This exhibition marks the largest presentation of Connell’s work in Chicagoland, placing queerness, power structures and shifting ecologies to the forefront.
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