Various venues

Check out galleries and artistic spaces around Wicker Park and Bucktown during this free monthly event that takes place the first Friday of each month. Venues will keep their doors open until 8pm so guests can meet gallery owners and artists, and explore a range of local art. Participating spots include Jackson Junge Gallery, Tom Robinson Gallery, SoNa Contemporary Art, Torque Ltd., Prism Spaces and more.

Doc10, Chicago's only all-documentary film festival, returns to the Davis Theater and Gene Siskel Film Center for its big 10th anniversary. From Friday, April 25 through Sunday, May 4, the festival will screen 10 current documentaries culled from other top festivals around the globe (Sundance, Tribeca), including Elegance Bratton's fiery music feature Move Ya Body: The Birth of House — which will open the 2025 series— and the Closing Night selection Prime Minister from filmmakers Michelle Walshe and Lindsay Utz, centered on New Zealand Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Dame Jacinda Ardern.

In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, more than 50 independent bookstores in the greater Chicago area — including About Time Bookstore, Bookends & Beginnings, Dandelion Bookshop, Exile in Bookville, Harvey's Tales, Pilsen Community Books, The Understudy and more — will come together to host a bookstore crawl on Saturday, April 26. Upon visiting a store, customers will receive a passport and/or a stamp. Those who collect 10 stamps during the day will receive 10% off participating shops for an entire year. If you manage to visit 15 shops, you’ll receive 15% off for a year. After visiting 10 or 15 participating bookstores, you can show your passport at your final bookstore of the day and receive a limited edition sticker to commemorate the lit-loving event. Start making that reading list!