One of the newest hot-ticket engagements in the Chicago arts community this year was a dinner with a community and cultural agency called Gertie. Coinciding with events from EXPO CHICAGO, the city's largest art fair, the invitation-only dinner may include artists like Nick Cave, galleries like Patron Gallery and cultural organizations like Theaster Gates' Rebuild Foundation. Gertie and friends also spearheaded the DNC's public art program, hosted an event at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and were featured in the New York Times and Vanity Fair. Everything is very impressive, since the center was established in 2022.
“I'm always trying to connect things with Gertie or create opportunities for people on our street,” founder Abby Pucker told the Observer. “When I was young, my mother used to ask me to open the envelope.”
There is a secret sauce to Gertie's great success. The 32-year-old man is a scion of the billionaire Pritzker family, which made its fortune through the Hyatt Hotel chain and is one of the ten richest families in the country. The Pritzkers have long supported the art community in Chicago, and big names abound. Jb Pritzker, for example, is a cousin—and the governor of Illinois as of 2019.
Other family notables include Anthony Pritzker, a longtime donor to LA's Hammer Museum, and Jennifer Pritzker, founder of the Pritzker Military Museum and Library and the world's most openly transgender billionaire. Penny Pritzker, former US Secretary of Commerce, also served as chairman of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Gigi Pritzker Pucker (Abby's mother) sits on the board of the Chicago Children's Museum.
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Abby Pucker, however, is part of the new Pritzker team, and her movement provides insight into changing production patterns that continue to drive cultural change as the old guard of patrons, donors and fundraisers. Notably, his unconventional approach landed him on the Observer's 2024 Business of Art Power List.
“I think a lot of institutions are really used to that way of naming a wing, or naming a space or putting your name on something, and I don't think that's the way the next generation wants to interact. for the most part,” Pucker said. “People really want to connect, and they want to be a part of something.”
To that end, Gertie launched a membership network called EarlyWork, which offers access to dinners, networking events and artist studio tours for a monthly fee of $55 (one quarter of a membership at Chicago's SoHo House, by comparison).
“Everyone has the same problem, right? Collectors are aging and people are trying to figure out where is the next generation of patrons? ” Pucker said. “I can be a channel for people who are my generation of community and business leaders.”
One of Pucker and Gertie's first supporters was Monique Meloche, whose gallery called the Monique Meloche Gallery featured artists such as Mickalene Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas and Carrie Mae Weems. Meloche has witnessed the ups and downs of the city's economy since he opened the business in 2000, says Gertie has delivered results.
“The number of people Gertie has included in the gallery when they do these [events]I'm talking from 500 to 800 a day—which is crazy in Chicago,” Meloche told the Observer. “Maybe that's common in New York, but those numbers don't cover the twenty-five-year history of owning my gallery.”
Meloche theorized that part of Gertie's success was down to the outreach efforts of Pucker and Gertie's staff, as their scope grew. “He makes himself known here and focuses on social activities and supports institutions. He can also be seen on the streets so that people know him. And you know, it doesn't hurt that you're associated with the Pritzker family—that's a name people know—but you've worked really hard.”
That approach from Pucker reminds us of Lois Weisberg, the city's former Commissioner of Cultural Affairs. Weisberg was described by Malcolm Gladwell for his ability to connect people across the city, and his legacy includes the renovation of the Harold Washington Library, the development of the Chicago Blues Festival and helping to create the city's iconic Millennium Park (with ideas from Pucker's grandmother. , Cindy Pritzker). For people who know Pucker, the comparison is not unusual.
“[Weisberg] he was an incredible person,” EXPO CHICAGO founder Tony Karman told the Observer. “He was not only a great sense of well-being for our city and cultural community, but he also inspired many new initiatives in Chicago. Both of those things apply to that [Pucker] he did Gertie's other plans.”
Karman, who worked with both Weisberg and Pucker, says that Pucker and Gertie were operating in a different atmosphere than Weisberg experienced in the late 20th Century, but Pucker's unique position is very important in Chicago.
“He belongs to the generation that will shape our city, along with other leading family structures,” added Karman. “He's showing them, I think, ways to work equally and be involved in arts and culture in the community.”
