About the Arts at Chicago
A Message from Larry Norman, Deputy Provost for the Arts
Driven by the creative experimentation and intellectual fearlessness of our students, faculty, and professional organizations, the arts are central to the life of the University of Chicago.
Larry Norman, Deputy Provost for the Arts
(Photo by Dan Dry)
From the University’s earliest days, the faculty considered the arts a crucial aspect of a modern liberal education; students found in the arts a passionate form of individual exploration and civic engagement; and professional galleries, museums, and performing organizations were created to bring leading international artists, exhibitions, and performers to our campus and its broader community. Study, practice, and enjoyment of the arts now flourish at Chicago through their ideals and efforts.
The University of Chicago is in a process of reflecting on its fundamental values and the particular role it plays within the academy and in society. The creative and performing arts—together with the sciences and medicine, among other disciplines—are being reexamined as part of a growing convergence of theory and application, of thinking and doing. Because our arts scholarship and teaching find immediate public expression through performances, exhibitions, festivals, readings, and community education, they play a unique role in advancing the University’s mission and connecting it to the city and world beyond.
As the University prepares for the 2012 opening of the interdisciplinary Reva and David Logan Center for Creative and Performing Arts, this website gives a taste of the vibrancy of our academic arts departments and committees, of our cocurricular, student-run activities, and of such vital campus institutions as the Smart Museum of Art, the Renaissance Society, Court Theatre, and University of Chicago Presents. Collectively borderless, they nurture a creative conversation among the arts and other disciplines, enriching and transforming the life of the campus, its neighboring communities, and the city of Chicago.
