School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Welcome to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Located in the heart of Chicago, we are part of a thriving art community with access to world-class resources. As a leader in art education for more than 142 years, SAIC provides the inspiration for those who grasp the complexity of our culture and strive to make a contribution of their own. Our students, faculty, and alumni are the makers of images, words, objects, and sounds that forever shape and alter our world. 

Our mission is to provide excellence in the delivery of a global education in visual, design, media, and related arts, with attendant studies in the history and theory of those disciplines set within a broad-based humanistic curriculum in the liberal arts and sciences. To provide instruction for this education in a range of formats: written, spoken, media, and exhibition-based.

Our objective to assemble a diverse body of intelligent and creative students and faculty in an environment designed to facilitate and encourage the discovery and production of significant ideas and images and to provide for the development of individual excellence in undergraduate and graduate programs in the visual and related arts. 

HISTORY
The School's long excellence in arts production has propelled it from its Chicago origins to world-class status. Founded as the Chicago Academy of Design in 1866 by a collective of studio artists, the institution went through many changes before the turn of the century, some necessitated by the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The collecting arm of the School was founded in 1872, and The Art Institute of Chicago was born in 1882 to accommodate a distinct museum and school. The Art Institute moved to its current iconic location on Michigan Avenue after the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, and it remains the largest museum-school partnership in the country.

The School taught primarily classical fine art and architecture design in the first half of the last century. After WWII, its enrollment increased significantly to make it one of the largest art academies in the country. The post-war years saw an explosion in experimental techniques and new artistic tools for individual expression. During this period, the trans-disciplinary focus was solidified, and liberal arts and design classes expanded to complement the fine arts focus.

WEBSITE
WWW.SAIC.EDU

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