At the University of Chicago, we paint and perform the same way we test and interpret—with an intellectual passion that enhances understanding and expands horizons. Creative expression with theoretical underpinnings characterizes the arts at UChicago as they move through independent work, classrooms, student groups, presenting organizations, and the city. Whether students or faculty, artists or audiences, across all media, we're thoroughly engaged. The result? Really smart art.

This is UChicago
UChicago Breakthrough

UChicago Breakthrough
In a Hyde Park tavern in 1955, combining theater games and theories of Bertolt Brecht, a group of mostly UChicago students and alumni created a new form of comedic theater, widely known today as "improv."
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The Smart Museum of Art, a leading academic museum, collaborates with art scholars and serves as a rich resource for the campus and art communities. At the opening of Feast: Radical Hospitality in Contemporary Art, performers bring artist Sonja Alhäuser's Flying Buffet to life.
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Court Theatre

A professional theater company in residence at the University, Court Theatre was named "the most consistently excellent theater company in America" by the Wall Street Journal.
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Adama Wiltshire

Student artists find outlets for experimentation through courses and UChicago opportunities. In the College, Adama Wiltshire, AB'10, (pictured) received the $1,500 Arts Council Summer Fellowship to explore an independent creative project.
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Tony Kushner

The Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry promotes education, collaboration, and creative innovation at the intersection of academic inquiry and artistic practice. In doing so, the center brings artists to campus, including renowned playwright Tony Kushner (pictured), one of the center's first Mellon Residential Fellows.
Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry »

eighth blackbird

One of Chicago's oldest and most distinguished concert series, the University of Chicago Presents brings world-renowned classical and jazz musicians to campus and the city, including Grammy-winning ensembles in residence Pacifica Quartet and eighth blackbird (pictured).
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  • By the
    Numbers

  • Nearly 20,000 volumes on view at the Film Studies Center

    Nearly 20,000 volumes on view at the Film Studies Center

    The Film Studies Center presents screenings and lectures with influential filmmakers and scholars and has a rich catalog of films available for viewing and scholarship.

  • 100 tons of bronze in Rockefeller Chapel's carillon

    100 tons of bronze in Rockefeller Chapel's carillon

    Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon

    With 72 bells weighing in at 100 tons, the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Carillon is the largest musical instrument ever built. Rockefeller Chapel also boasts an impressive Skinner organ consisting of 8,565 pipes in 132 ranks.

  • 100+ concerts each year by the Department of Music

    100+ concerts each year by the Department of Music

    Concert

    The Department of Music's performance program encompasses four choirs, two orchestras, two jazz ensembles, a middle east music ensemble, a gamelan, an early music ensemble, a large wind ensemble, and programs in chamber music and piano.

  • 500+ students participate in University Theater each year

    500+ students participate in University Theater each year

    University Theater

    The largest student-run organization at the University, University Theater mounts more than 35 productions a year.

  • 1,000 square feet of gallery space at DOVA Temporary

    1,000 square feet of gallery space at DOVA Temporary

    DOVA Temporary gallery

    The storefront DOVA Temporary gallery displays art produced by students and faculty of the Department of Visual Arts.

  • Nearly 300 films screened at Doc each year

    Nearly 300 films screened at Doc each year

    Doc Films

    The country's oldest student-run film society, Doc Films screens films almost every night of the year and has hosted such luminary directors as Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen, and John Ford.

  • 100+ UChicago arts organizations

    100+ UChicago arts organizations

    Arts

    From professional art events to student-run productions to unique collaborations with city arts entities, there are many ways to engage.

  • Art from 7 ancient cultures at the Oriental Institute Museum

    Art from 7 ancient cultures at the Oriental Institute Museum

    Oriental Institute

    A research organization devoted to studying the ancient Near East, the Oriental Institute includes a world-renowned museum that displays objects recovered by its researchers' excavations. Permanent galleries showcase ancient Egypt, Nubia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Anatolia, and the ancient site of Megiddo.

  • 3 writer-in-residence programs

    3 writer-in-residence programs

    Jhumpa Lahiri

    The Committee on Creative Writing has brought many accomplished authors to the University through the Dedmon, Care, and Kestnbaum Writer-in-Residence programs. Past writers have included James Fallows, Walter Kirn, Jhumpa Lahiri (pictured), George Saunders, Stuart Dybek, and Art Spiegelman.