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Former name | Chicago Academy of Design Chicago Academy of Fine Arts |
|---|---|
| Type | Privateart school |
| Established | 1866; 159 years ago (1866) |
Parent institution | Art Institute of Chicago |
| Accreditation | HLC NASAD |
| President | Jiseon Lee Isbara |
| Provost | Martin Berger |
Academic staff | 141 full-time 427 part-time |
| Students | 3,640 (fall 2024)[1] |
| Undergraduates | 2,806 |
| Postgraduates | 589 |
| Location | ,, United States 41°52′46″N87°37′26″W / 41.87944°N 87.62389°W /41.87944; -87.62389 |
| Campus | Urban |
| Affiliations | AICAD |
| Website | saic.edu |
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TheSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is theprivateart school of theArt Institute of Chicago (AIC) inChicago,Illinois.
Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into themuseum and school, SAIC has beenaccredited since 1936 by theHigher Learning Commission and by theNational Association of Schools of Art and Design since 1944 (charter member). It has been a member of theAssociation of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD) since the association's founding in 1991 and is also accredited by theNational Architectural Accrediting Board.
Its downtown Chicago campus consists of seven buildings located in the immediate vicinity of theAIC building. SAIC is in an equal partnership with the AIC and shares many administrative resources such as design, construction, and human resources. The campus, located inthe Loop, comprises chiefly five main buildings: the McLean Center (112 S Michigan Ave), the Michigan building (116 S Michigan Ave), the Sharp (36 S Wabash Ave), Sullivan Center (37 S Wabash Ave), and the Columbus (280 S Columbus Dr). SAIC also holds classes in theSpertus building at 610 S Michigan Ave. SAIC owns additional buildings throughout Chicago that are used as student galleries or investments. There are three dormitory facilities: The Buckingham, Jones Hall, and 162 N State Street residencies.
The institute has its roots in the 1866 founding of theChicago Academy of Design, which local artists established in rented rooms on Clark Street. It was financed by member dues and patron donations. Four years later, the school moved into its own Adams Street building, which was destroyed the following year in theGreat Chicago Fire of 1871.[2]
Because of the school's financial and managerial problems after this loss, business leaders in 1878 formed aboard of trustees and founded theChicago Academy of Fine Arts. They expanded its mission beyond education and exhibitions to include collecting. In 1882, the academy was renamed the Art Institute of Chicago. The bankerCharles L. Hutchinson served as its elected president until his death in 1924.[3] The school grew to become among the "most influential" art schools in the United States.[4]
Walter E. Massey served as president, from 2010 until July 2016.[5] He was succeeded byElissa Tenny, who formerly served as the school's provost.[6] In 2024, Tenny was succeeded by Jiseon Lee Isbara, afiber artist and academic administrator.[7][8]
SAIC offers classes in art and technology; arts administration; art history, theory, and criticism; art education andart therapy; ceramics; fashion design; filmmaking; historic preservation; architecture; interior architecture; designed objects; journalism; painting and drawing; performance; photography; printmaking; sculpture; sound; new media; video; visual communication; visual and critical studies; animation; illustration; fiber; and writing.[9]
SAIC also offers an interdisciplinary Low-Residency MFA for students wishing to study the fine arts and/or writing.[10]
In 2025, the school reported a six-year graduation rate of 67%.[11]
In 1983, the Department of Architecture began theChicago Architects Oral History Project. More than 78 architects have contributed.[12][13]
The Video Data Bank was started at SAIC In 1976, "committed to fostering awareness and scholarship of the history and contemporary practice of video and media art."[14] The Video Data Bank collection includes over 6,000 works of video art by over 600 artists.[15]
As of fall 2025, the school enrolled 3,323 students, 2,737 of which were undergraduate and 586 graduate students. 76% of them were female and 25% were from outside of the United States. 7.8% of students were from Chicago.[1]
Founded in 1868, the Visiting Artists Program (VAP) is one of the oldest public programs of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Formalized in 1951 by Flora Mayer Witkowsky's endowment of a supporting fund, the Visiting Artists Program hosts public presentations by artists, designers, and scholars each year in lectures, symposia, performances, and screenings. It showcases work in all media, including sound, video, performance, poetry, painting, and independent film; in addition to significant curators, critics, and art historians.[16][17]
Recent visiting artists have included composer and artistRaven Chacon, artist working with artificial intelligenceStephanie Dinkins, and sculptor and choreographerGuadalupe Maravilla (2023–24 school year).[18] Visiting artists for the 2022–23 school year includedTorkwase Dyson andWu Tsang, 2021-22 includedShirin Neshat,Hito Steyerl andKatie Paterson, and 2020-21 includedMeg Onli andFred Wilson.[18]
Other visiting artists have includedCatherine Opie,Andi Zeisler,Aaron Koblin,Jean Shin,Sam Lipsyte,Ben Marcus,Marilyn Minter,Pearl Fryar,Tehching Hsieh,Homi K. Bhabha,Bill Fontana,Wolfgang Laib,Suzanne Lee, andAmar Kanwar among others.[19]
Additionally, the Distinguished Alumni Series brings alumni back to the community to present their work and reflect on how their experiences at SAIC have shaped them. Alumni speakers have includedTania Bruguera,Jenni Sorkin,Kori Newkirk,Saya Woolfalk,Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba,Trevor Paglen, andSanford Biggers.[20][citation needed]
ExTV is a student-run time-arts platform that broadcasts online and on campus. Its broadcasts are available via monitors located throughout the 112 S. Michigan building, the 37 S Wabash building, and the 280 S. Columbus building.[25]
F Newsmagazine is SAIC's student-run newspaper. The magazine is a monthly publication with a run of 12,000 copies. Copies are distributed throughout the city, mainly at locations frequented by students such as popular diners and movie theaters.[25]
Free Radio SAIC is the student-run Internet radio station of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Free Radio uses an open programming format and encourage its DJs to explore and experiment with the medium of live radio. Program content and style vary but generally include music from all genres, sound art, narratives, live performances, current events and interviews.[25]
Featured bands and guests on Free Radio SAIC includeNü Sensae,The Black Belles, Thomas Comerford,Kevin Michael Richardson,Jeff Bennett,Carolyn Lawrence, and much more.[26][27][28]
The student government of SAIC, as required by its constitution, has four officers holding equal power and responsibility.[29] Elections are held every year. There are no campaign requirements. Any group of four students may run for office, but there must always be four students.[citation needed]
The student government is responsible for hosting a school-wide student meeting once a month. At these meetings students discuss school concerns of any nature. The predominant topic is funding for the various student organizations. Organizations which desire funding must present a proposal at the meeting by which the students vote whether they should receive monies or not. The student government cannot participate in the vote: only oversee it.[citation needed]
As of 2025,U.S. News & World Report ranks SAIC as the second best overall graduate program for fine arts in the U.S. tied with theYale School of Art and behind theUCLA School of the Arts and Architecture.[30] In their previous rankings done in 2016,U.S. News & World Report's college rankings ranked SAIC the fourth best overall graduate program for fine arts in the U.S. tying with theRhode Island School of Design (RISD), and behind Yale, UCLA, andVirginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts.[31]
In 2021, the university was ranked the seventh globally according to theQS World University Rankings by the subject Art and Design.[32]
In January 2013, theGlobal Language Monitor ranked SAIC as the #5 college in the U.S., the highest ever for an art or design school in a general college ranking.[33]
In a 2002 survey conducted by the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University, SAIC was named the "most influential art school" by art critics at general interest news publications from across the United States.[34]
Notable professors at SAIC includeNick Cave,[35]James Elkins,[36]Lisa Wainwright,[37]Stephanie Brooks,[38]Mary Jane Jacob,[39]Frank Piatek,[40]Edra Soto,Michelle Grabner,Jefferson Pinder,Adrian Wong, andCandida Alvarez.[citation needed]
Notable alumni includeIvan Albright,[41]Thomas Hart Benton,[42]Sanford Biggers,[43]Sonya Clark,[44]Amanda Crowe,[45]Megan Elizabeth Euker,Richard Hunt,[46]Rashid Johnson,[47]Jeff Koons,[46]Joan Mitchell,[48]Georgia O'Keefe,[49]Trevor Paglen,[50]Sterling Ruby,[51]Dread Scott,[52]Belle Silveira,[53]Charles W. White,[54] andGrant Wood.[55]
On May 11, 1988, a student painting depictingHarold Washington, the first black mayor of Chicago, was taken down by three of the city's African-Americanaldermen based on its content.[56] The painting by David Nelson,Mirth & Girth, was of Washington clad only in women's underwear.[57]
Police SuperintendentLeRoy Martin ordered the removal of the painting,[56] which was returned the following day. TheAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a lawsuit against theChicago Police Department and the aldermen on the grounds that they had violated Nelson'sFirst,Fourth, andFourteenth Amendment rights. In 1992, a federal court affirmed his constitutional rights had been violated.[52] In 1994, the city agreed to a settlement: the money would go toward attorneys' fees for the ACLU. The three aldermen agreed not to appeal the 1992 ruling, and the police department established procedures over seizure of materials protected by the First Amendment.[56]
In February 1989, as part of a piece entitledWhat Is the Proper Way to Display a U.S. Flag?, student"Dread" Scott Tyler spread aFlag of the United States on the floor of the institute. The piece consisted of a podium, set upon the flag, and containing a notebook for viewers to express how they felt about the exhibit. In order for viewers to write in the notebook, they would have to walk on the flag, which is a violation of customary practice and code. While the exhibit faced protests from veterans and bomb threats, the school stood by the student's art.[52] That year, the school's state funding was cut from $70,000 to $1, and the piece was publicly condemned by PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush.[58] Scott would go on to be one of the defendants inUnited States v. Eichman, aSupreme Court case in which it was eventually decided that federal laws banning flag desecration were unconstitutional.[59]
In 2018, thenDean of Faculty Martin Berger, an art historian, gave an academic lecture on the civil rights movement in which he read a quote that employed then-word. This part of his presentation caused controversy among faculty and staff, some thought it appropriate in the academic setting in which it was used, while others did not.[60]
In 2017, a controversy arose after Michael Bonesteel, anadjunct professor specializing inoutsider art, and comics, resigned after actions taken by the institute following twoTitle IX complaints bytransgender students being filed against him in which each criticized his comments and class discussion. The institute initiated an investigation and took certain actions. Bonesteel described the SAIC investigation as a "Kafkaesque trial", in which he was never shown copies of the complaints. He claimed he was assumed to be "guilty until proven innocent" and that SAIC "feels more like apolice state than a place where academic freedom and the open exchange of ideas is valued".[61]
Laura Kipnis, author ofa book on Title IX cases in which she argues that universities follow reckless and capricious approaches, argued that SAIC was displaying "jawdropping cowardice".[62] She said, "The idea that students are trying to censor or curb a professor's opinions or thinking is appalling".[62][63] The school said the claims made against it were "problematic" and "misleading", and that it supportsacademic freedom.[61]
This is a list of property in order of acquisition:
SAIC also owns these properties outside of the immediate vicinity of the Chicago Loop:
SAIC leases:
The American Civil Liberties Union threatened to sue Chicago police because of the seizure of a painting depicting the late Mayor Harold Washington wearing women's underwear.
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