SAIC has been at the forefront of art education for more than a century and a half, fostering critical thinking, rigorous investigation, and playful creativity. The School was among the first to embrace self-directed study across disciplines.

This has always been a school that pairs rigor with risk-taking, serious critique with play, and a commitment to individual creative vision with the belief that artists’ and designers’ work can help drive social change. Our alumni lead not just in the fields of art and design, but across a wide range of industries.

The School offers more than 1,000 courses across disciplines, so the academic experience is unique to each of our 3,300+ students. From how artists and designers learn, to our community’s deep involvement with today’s issues, to the fact that we're one of the only museum schools in America—there is no one “something" that makes SAIC stand out. 

To visitors, the Art Institute of Chicago is one of the world’s great galleries. To our students, it is an extension of the classroom. Encompassing more than 5,000 years of human expression from cultures around the world, the museum contains more than 300,000 works of art. 

Chicago's richness, complexity, and contradictions are the perfect environment for our own diverse community. SAIC alums settle here to make work, open galleries and studios, and power Chicago’s creative industries. The city grounds and inspires the School’s artists and designers. In turn, their impact reverberates throughout Chicago and beyond.