1866

A group of Chicago artists run across in a block edifice on the southwest corner of Dearborn Avenue and Madison Street to discuss the formation of an establish of art; the artists intend to run a school with its own art gallery, laying the foundation for the Chicago Academy of Design.

Chicago 1866

1867

Led past local artists Charles Peck, Walter Shirlaw, and Seldon Woodman, the founders hold a festival on behalf of the new University at Crosby's Opera House and their first exhibition at a gallery at 152 Due south Clark Street; sculptor Leonard W. Volk is named President of the Academy.

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1868

The Academy holds classes every day of the twelvemonth and charges a tuition fee of $10 per calendar month; the basic curriculum comprises 3 classes: Outline Cartoon and Shading from the Apartment (lithograph copies); Drawing from the Antique (busts, architectural ornaments); Drawing and Painting from Life (landscape, effigy, and still lifes).

1869

The Chicago Academy of Design is granted a charter from the State of Illinois.

1870

An exhibition is held to mark the opening of a new building for the Academy at 66 W Adams Street.

1871

The Great Chicago Fire destroys the Academy's building.

1872

A teaching collection is established, consisting primarily of plaster casts to instruct students also as Egyptian and Classical material.

1879

The Academy is reorganized by a group of local business leaders who apply for another lease and contain their new art arrangement as the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts; William M.R. French is named Managing director of the University.

1882

Name is changed to the Art Institute of Chicago to accommodate a singled-out museum and schoolhouse, which is afterwards known as as the Schoolhouse of the Art Institute of Chicago; Charles Hutchinson is elected President.

1886

359 students are enrolled at SAIC.

1886

Renowned sculptor Lorado Taft establishes SAIC's Sculpture department.

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1887

Children'south programming and the Junior School (Saturday classes) begin.

Children surrounding model drawing at tables

1889

Solar day and evening classes in architecture are offered.

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1891

Starting time diplomas are awarded.

1893

The Fine art Institute of Chicago school and museum motility into its iconic building on Michigan Avenue congenital for the World's Columbian Exposition; 929 students enrolled at SAIC.

1894

A form in fine art history is offered for the first fourth dimension.

1910

Ox-Bow Summertime School of Painting is started in Saugatuck, Michigan.

1913

SAIC students protest the Armory Testify, an international exhibition that introduces the European avant-garde to Chicago.

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1918

Offset SAIC alumni exhibition is held in the museum.

1922

SAIC is now the largest art schoolhouse in the world, with an enrollment of 4,520 students.

1925

The Goodman Theatre is built on the northeast corner of the museum in memory of an SAIC alum who died in Earth War I; SAIC'southward Section of Dramatic Arts is established.

1928

SAIC transitions from a 3-year program to a four-yr program; tuition is $134 per twelvemonth.

1929

The School of Industrial Art, headed by Emil Zettler, is founded as a separate branch of SAIC.

1934

Students begin taking liberal arts courses at Academy of Chicago, subsequently enabling SAIC to begin application Available of Fine Arts degrees in 1936.

1934

Bachelor of Arts in Education is offered.

1935

The first student fashion show is held in the midst of the Great Depression—the show is an annual event that continues to this day.

1936

SAIC is the first art school to be accredited past a regional accrediting association.

1940

First Master of Fine Arts degrees are awarded.

SAIC offers its first form in abstract painting, initiating a shift toward forwards-looking art production and training.

1948

SAIC students hold the testify, Exhibition Momentum, in protestation of their exclusion from the museum's Chicago and Vicinity Testify; the exhibition brings recognition to Monster Roster artists.

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1969

SAIC's interdisciplinary approach to art pedagogy is established, allowing students to cantankerous areas of study and determine their own pathways through the curricula with kinesthesia consultation.

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1972

The Generative Systems programme is launched, which evolves into the Department of Art and Technology Studies—the kickoff section of its kind in the land.

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The Midwest Regional Picture show Center of the Schoolhouse of the Fine art Institute of Chicago is established—now the Gene Siskel Film Centre.

1978

Cooperative Instruction Internship Program (Co-op) is launched, enabling students to gain professional experience while earning form credit.

1982

The Early College Programme for high schoolhouse students is established.

1988

At a student exhibition, David K. Nelson, Jr. (SAIC 1987) displays his painting, Mirth & Girth, which depicts Chicago'south first black mayor, Harold Washington, wearing women's lingerie while holding a pencil. The work incites a vicious contend between anti-censorship advocates and a grouping of black aldermen from around the city.

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1989

Dread Scott's (BFA 1989) piece of work, What is the Proper Way to Display the US Flag?, is presented at an SAIC pupil exhibition. The installation sparks a national controversy that results in federal legislature to "protect the flag".

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1993

Showtime residence hall is synthetic to business firm a growing student population, resulting in a truly urban campus by 2000.

1995

Graduate programs diversified, with the introduction of the MA in Arts Administration; MS in Historic Preservation; and MFA in Writing.

1997

U.S. News and World Report ranks SAIC #1 fine arts plan in their annual All-time Graduate Schools edition. SAIC has been consistently ranked in the summit 3 ever since.

2001

SAIC faculty, students, and alumni develop the applied science and production techniques for Millennium Park's Crown Fountain, which increases SAIC's focus on external and civic collaborations.

2002

SAIC is named the "most influential fine art school in the United States" in a survey of art critics conducted past the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University.

2002–06

Undergraduate programs diversified, with the introduction of the BFA with an emphasis in Art History, Theory, and Criticism; BFA with an emphasis in Art Education; BFA with an emphasis in Writing; and BA in Visual and Critical Studies.

2004

SAIC initiates a laptop program for all incoming commencement-yr students, the kickoff program of its kind in a major arts school.

2006

Introduction of new graduate degrees in architecture and design, including the Principal of Architecture; Chief of Blueprint in Designed Objects; and Primary of Architecture with an Accent in Interior Architecture.

2009

SAIC produces the well-nigh Fulbright Scholars among all art and design schools.

2012

The LeRoy Neiman Center opens, providing SAIC with its first campus center.

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2013

SAIC establishes its first Scientist-in-Residence; the schoolhouse also partners with Northwestern University to offer the fine art and science course, Data Viz Collaborative.

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2013

SAIC introduces a three-twelvemonth Depression-Residency Chief of Fine Arts program.

2014

Master of Architecture program is granted an eight-year accreditation.

2014

The Section of Manner Blueprint celebrates its 80th anniversary.

2015

SAIC partners with the Homan Foursquare Foundation in Chicago'south North Lawndale neighborhood to offer art and pattern classes to the West Side community.