Art Degree Programs in Chicago, IL

School of the Art Institute of Chicago:
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is proud to have provided a world-class art and design education since its founding in 1866. The partnership between the School and the museum makes the Art Institute of Chicago one of the premier fine arts educational facilities in the world. The School stimulates in young artists art and design production that surpasses ordinary boundaries. SAIC offers a wide range of undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees, as well as post-baccalaureate certificates and continuing studies programs.

Undergraduate Degree Programs:
Undergraduate studies in art and design at SAIC offer students the opportunity to pursue an individualized course of study following the First Year Program. The undergraduate curriculum can be understood as a sustained, structured dialogue between making and thinking.

The ability to explore ideas—by painting, making prints, creating performances, making photographs, videos, and films, or by combining media—requires that students develop both technical and critical competencies. Students develop the ability to respond with sophistication to visual phenomena and learn to organize perceptions and conceptualizations both rationally and intuitively.

Undergraduate options:
- Bachelor of Interior Architecture
- BFA with emphasis in Art Education
- BFA with emphasis in Art History, Theory and Criticism
- BFA with emphasis in Writing
- BFA and BA in Visual and Critical Studies

Graduate Degree Programs:
Fluency with media is expected at the graduate level, and study at the School instills a sense of advanced competency in art making and art practice. SAIC provides an extraordinary range and diversity of curricular offerings through studio and academic departments, and students are encouraged to work as multidisciplinary arts practitioners. The School prepares the graduate student for entry into institutions, organizations, and workplaces through the integration of theory and practice and by stressing the importance of access and agency within the world at large. The excellence of the School's graduate degree programs resides in its faculty of practicing artists and scholars, and their ability to transmit their areas of expertise.

Graduate options:
- Master of Architecture
- Master of Architecture with Emphasis in Interior Architecture
- Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy
- Master of Arts in Art Education
- Master of Arts in Art Therapy
- Master of Arts in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism
- Master of Arts in New Arts Journalism
- Master of Arts in Teaching
- Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies
- Master of Design in Designed Objects
- Master of Design in Fashion, Body and Garment
- Master of Fine Arts in Studio
- Master of Fine Arts in Writing
- Master of Science in Historic Preservation Dual degrees
- MA Modern Art History, Theory & Criticism
- MA Arts Admin & Policy 

Post-Baccalaureate (PBC) and Professional (PC) Certificate Programs:
It is exciting to contemplate the serious concentrated time graduate school affords. It is a chance for students to further develop a sense of purpose in their work and in their lives, a time when professional friendships and mentor relationships are formed—relationships that often continue to influence a person's development for decades to come. 

Programs:
- PBC in Fashion, Body, And Garment
- PBC in Studio
- PC In Historic Preservation

Adult Continuing Education
SAIC is a prestigious leader in Adult Continuing Education in the Chicago area, offering personal and professional enrichment courses to hundreds of adults each semester. Adults not currently matriculated into any of the School's degree programs may still enroll in Continuing Studies Adult Program and/or degree program courses as an Adult Continuing Education (ACE) student. Because this is not a degree program, there are no admittance policies or procedures. Adults must be at least 18 years of age and have received a high school diploma or its equivalent.