After the Velvet Lounge’s closing in 2010, The Birdhouse Inc. collaborated with the Chicago Park District to design a new park that would serve as a lasting home for creative music in the South Loop. Fred Anderson Park was dedicated in 2013 with a concert by Ari Brown and celebrated its grand opening two years later in 2015 with a concert by the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble. The Birdhouse Inc. has sponsored a summer concert series at the park every year since. (In 2020, the series took place online, with recorded performances produced in partnership with City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and the Elastic Arts Foundation.)
The Birdhouse Inc. also presents an annual birthday concert in March, the month when Fred Anderson was born. Notable birthday concerts include a 2015 performance by Roscoe Mitchell, subsequently released by Nessa Records; a 2017 event commemorating the release of the book Message to Our Folks: The Art Ensemble of Chicago, presented in collaboration with the University of Chicago Press; and a 2024 concert of Fred Anderson’s compositions by Greg Ward, co-sponsored by the Experimental Sound Studio.
Additionally, The Birdhouse Inc. collaborated with Roscoe Mitchell, Ensemble Dal Niente, and Harvard University’s Fromm Music Foundation to commission the composition Last Trane to Clover Five, premiered at the 2021 Hyde Park Jazz Festival with saxophone soloist Ken Vandermark. The Birdhouse Inc. also worked with Chicago’s Experimental Sound Studio to create a permanent archive of materials related to Fred Anderson, from rare audio and video recordings to historical documentation of the Velvet Lounge.