We’ll see, but two aspects of the move strike me as ominous for the incredibly valuable DCA Theater program: the apparently permanent departure of longtime director of theatre Claire Geall Sutton (who’s remained tightlipped so far) and the symbolic connotation of the Tourism Fund umbrella. Is vital arts programming a service for Chicago’s citizens, or just a revenue stream for the tourism industry?

And then, in December, with the year almost over, two stories broke of more than usual interest: the virtual dissolution of the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and the barely-announced withdrawal of Frank Galati from the Goodman Theatre .

John Keats in noble verses praised
The buzz he got from Chapman’s Homer;
We’ll start off, if more humbly phrased,
With local genius David Cromer,

Whose Streetcar, with Natasha Lowe,
And Stoltz, and Matt, was very good;
Who in a feat of rare brio,
Led forty-nine in Cherrywood.

In late 2008, just as the mortgage market and the economy took a plunge and American consumers went into panic mode, the leaders of Actors’ Equity calmly saw an opportunity. Real estate had helped them build a nice nest egg. They had owned their building at 165 W. 46th St. in New York. When they sold it a few years ago, they kept the land.

“That has been a very profitable experience,” said Steve DiPaola, Equity’s national director of finance and administration.