Cheryl Hughes

Full-time 2003-2004

Cheryl Hughes is the Director of Program Development for the Mayor’s Office of Special Events for the City of Chicago. In this role, she plans, organizes and implements the city’s several major and numerous minor celebrations, festivals, and events every year. Prior to taking on this role, she was the Executive Director of Gallery 37, Chicago’s highly innovative and much replicated job–training program in the arts for youth. This year, she will bring 30 Tall Ships to Chicago, the largest such festival in Chicago’s history, docking many of the vessels on the Chicago River for the first time in 100 years. While at the GSD, Cheryl plans to study urban design and architecture in an effort to improve the dialogue between the designers of great urban spaces and the planners of the activities that will animate those spaces.