School of the Art Institute of Chicago

The institute has its roots in the 1866 founding of the Chicago 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 the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 . [ 2 ] Because of the school's financial and managerial problems after this loss, business leaders in 1878 formed a board of trustees and founded the Chicago 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 banker Charles 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 by Elissa Tenny , who formerly served as the school's provost. [ 6 ] In 2024, Tenny was succeeded by Jiseon Lee Isbara, a fiber artist and academic administrator. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]

Then faculty member Barbara Rossi leading a critique of student work in 2006. SAIC offers classes in art and technology; arts administration; art history, theory, and criticism; art education and art 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 the Chicago 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 ]