Facilities & Resources

Performance Facilities

Students have access to an 80’ x 40’ x 14’ multi-use performance space, as well as a dedicated Graduate performance studio and installation space, both with a programmable LCD lighting system, and a wide range of audio visual equipment at students disposal. Students also have exclusive access to a dedicated performance department video edit suite. These spaces are managed by a performance technician who works closely with students to help realize their projects from inception to completion.

While at SAIC, many performance students work collaboratively or individually in the galleries and spaces in Chicago’s performance community, including a network of experimental, non-traditional, and artist-initiated spaces. In many cases, the city itself becomes an urban classroom as students engage with numerous communities through projects and performances. Our students are challenged to think of themselves not simply as individual artists, but as active participants in the shaping of contemporary culture.

Chicago is renowned for its experimental, nontraditional artist-initiated spaces and its many performance artists and groups. Spaces like Links Hall, Chicago Cultural Center, Hyde Park Arts Center, Threewalls, 6018North, Gallery 400, and the Museum of Contemporary Art showcase international performance artists. Many graduate students work collaboratively or collectively, or perform individually in the various galleries and spaces in Chicago’s performance community while completing their Master of Fine Arts. Recent collaborations for graduate and undergraduate students and alumni have included Defibrillator Performance Art Gallery, Links Hall, Hyde Park Art Center, Threewalls, Grace Exhibition Space, Brooklyn, and the IN>TIME Performance Series at the Chicago Cultural Center.