Creative Citizenship
Creative citizenship promotes the idea that everyone who participates in our programs—students, faculty, and community members—gains a deeper understanding of the essential role creativity plays in individual and collective life. This understanding could enable participants to apply these capacities in their professional and community roles. As makers, audiences, or advocates for the arts, participants also recognize that arts and cultural organizations are fundamental to civic vitality. Participating in the arts builds empathy and broadens perspectives, even for those who do not identify as artists.
Mission and Impact
UChicago Arts connects the University with Chicago’s vibrant cultural communities and beyond—creating opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and community members to experience and participate in the arts. We also connect our local communities, in turn, with projects of national and international scope.
Our primary mission is to educate and inspire students through the arts—fostering creative citizenship and cultivating thoughtful, empathetic leaders ready to tackle complex social, environmental, and cultural challenges.
How UChicago Arts Engages on Campus and Throughout the City
At UChicago Arts, we are driven by the core values of collaboration, experimentation, engagement, and inspiration. Our commitment to education, creativity, and public impact positions students and scholars at the center of vibrant artistic and cultural activities across campus and the city.
We build long-term partnerships in the form of residencies, public programs, and initiatives that support the growth of students, local artists, entrepreneurs, and critics.
Our work promotes thoughtful cultural stewardship and increases access to the arts for all Chicagoans, rich opportunities created for academic inquiry, creative experimentation, and meaningful community engagement.
Features curriculum that ensures all College students engage with arts courses, offering a foundation in creative practice, historical context, and critical thinking. This requirement introduces new forms of artistic inquiry, fosters experimentation, and encourages engagement with faculty, visiting artists, and fellow students across disciplines.
Student experiences extend beyond the classroom, with opportunities to participate in hands-on apprenticeships, internships, artistic productions, research, and campus organizations; for example, in the Smart Scholars program, part of the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry, which supports research opportunities at the Smart Museum of Art that result in an original creative work, program, or scholarly essay.
An initiative of the Smart Museum, Art to Live With offers UChicago students living in residence halls the unique opportunity to borrow original works of art to display in their dorm rooms. Students choose from specially selected artworks that are loaned at no cost for the duration of the academic year.
Students gain free and discounted access to over 20 museums and renowned cultural institutions including the Art Institute, Field Museum, and Joffrey Ballet as well as discounted tickets to performances at over 25 cinemas, theaters, and music venues. Arts Pass offers exclusive behind-the-scenes events each quarter, including artist conversations, receptions, and transportation.
- Participate in hands-on apprenticeships through Arts + Public Life’s Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP), which connects university students and youth in collaborative learning.
- Experience student matinees and class trips featuring programs and exhibitions across campus and beyond, complementing academic learning with creative examination.
- Get involved in residencies in local schools, including Court Theatre’s Artists in the Schools (AIS) program, where students and teachers experiment with new forms of creative expression.
- Enjoy summer programming designed for teenagers to inspire the next generation of makers and thinkers.
- Join monthly Family Saturdays at Logan Center or Family Days at the Smart Museum to share music, creativity, and community across generations
- Discover South Side Fireflies at Arts + Public Life—a joyful early childhood music program that introduces toddlers and preschoolers to sound and play through the Earth, Wind & Fire songbook.
- Attend free screenings of new and classic films at the Logan Center Screening Room, often curated or discussed by faculty and students.
- Experience classic theatre and other performances on our stages and engage with thought-provoking literary events that foster academic-community dialogue.
- Participate in programs such as Court Theatre’s Agora Series, where thinkers, creatives, and activists—including students and scholars—share bold ideas and highlight the lived experiences of Chicagoans.
- Benefit from residencies and fellowships like the ones at the Gray Center, which connect artists in collaborative experimentation with students, staff, and faculty.
- Fuel growth and innovation for South Side visionaries and provide research opportunities for students and academics, through programs such as the Chicago Critic’s Table at Arts + Public Life.
- Explore ever-changing art at the Smart Museum, Logan Center, Arts + Public Life, the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, and the Neubauer Collegium—all free to visit and deeply integrated with academic study and creative practice.
Supporting Local Artists - Access affordable rehearsal and exhibition space, production assistance, and lively vendor markets.
Perform and showcase your talents with support from the community of creative professionals and university mentors at UChicago.
- Access affordable rehearsal and exhibition space, production assistance, and lively vendor markets.
- Perform and showcase your talents with support from the community of creative professionals and university mentors at UChicago.
- Benefit from collaborations with world-class organizations such as Old Town School of Music, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Hyde Park Jazz Festival, and the Chicago Architecture Biennial, partnering with faculty and students to strengthen the arts ecosystem throughout Chicago.
- Advance your career through enriching courses, hands-on internships, and teacher resources that connect classroom learning with artistic practice.
- Equip university students and K-12 educators for continued success as creative citizens and leaders.
- Take part in accessible workshops in mural making, filmmaking, dance, and other art forms—often guided by faculty, visiting artists, or advanced students.
- Learn, practice, and grow through collaborative experimentation and mentorship.
- Develop meaningful relationships between faculty, students, and community members.
- Foster collaboration, creativity, and lasting connections across the South Side and within the campus community, inspiring new ideas, partnerships, and academic inquiry, for example in the Arts + Public Life’s Cultural Stewardship program.
Contact us or view news and events page to find out ways you can experience art at UChicago.