October 9, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contact: C. Drew (day) 773/561-7676
(Evening) 773/973-1863
e-mail umcac (at) art-teez.org

On his 59th birthday, artist C. Drew will protest Chicago's peddlers license law. The peddlers license law places unconstitutional restrictions on artists' ability to sell art in public in Chicago. Mr. Drew says he will offer for sale his art and the art of others for a dollar in front of the Art Institute of Chicago on Michigan Avenue from noon to one o'clock on Friday October 9th in violation of the peddlers license law. Mr. Drew says the City of Chicago should exempt artists and other speech vendors from the peddlers license and write only narrowly tailored laws to regulate speech vendors in Chicago according to current First Amendment case law.

Drew founded the Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center in Uptown and has managed that non-profit agency for over twenty years. He explains, “Artists in New York fought for and won their speech rights in court to sell their art without a license. The homeless in Chicago have won their First Amendment right to ask for money in public. However, because artists have not fought for similar rights in Chicago a homeless artist can ask you for a dollar but he can't sell you a portrait of yourself for a dollar. There are no open-air art scenes in Chicago where artists can survive or make a living selling their art in public. This is an outrageous violation of our First Amendment rights”

Mr. Drew is a full time volunteer at the Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center (UM-CAC) but must work at other low paying jobs to get by because, he says, “City laws and policies make it too difficult for me to sell my art in public in Chicago.”

“When artists gain their full speech rights to sell art in public we will create art scenes that will attract more artists to Chicago and the City's cultural life will expand giving Chicago a healthier economy, greater respect on the world stage and make life in Chicago more interesting,” Drew claims.

His goal is to generate serious discussion about the rights of visual artists, musicians and performing artists and to change the laws that reduce their presence in public. Everyone is encouraged to join the discussion by visiting art-teez.org/free-speech.htm to sign a petition or comment on blog entries at c-drew.com/blog. Mr Drew invites the public to meet him to enjoy the art of local artists during lunch on Friday by coming to cheer free-speech on in Chicago and spend a dollar on the Art Patch Project – a community art initiative of the UM-CAC designed to win artists their full speech rights. Google the “Art Patch Project” for more info.
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