The first of these moments came in the first few decades after the University’s opening in 1892. In 1898, students initiated the tradition of presenting productions that continues today with University Theater. In 1903, the University inaugurated Mandel Hall with a concert by the ensemble that became the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1909, sculptor Lorado Taft moved into the complex known as Midway Studios, near the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, and in the 1920s he began sharing the space with art students. University faculty were instrumental in the founding of Poetry magazine in 1912 and, in 1915, of The Renaissance Society, which first presented the work of such major artists as Alexander Calder in the United States. 

The second great moment in the arts at Chicago occurred from World War II through the mid-1960s. An extraordinary number of the University’s most distinguished arts alumni were students during this period, including composer Philip Glass, director Mike Nichols, and writer Susan Sontag. In 1943, the University of Chicago Presents chamber music series was formed; one of its first performances was by 24-year-old violinist Isaac Stern. In 1955, Richard Stern joined the Department of English Language & Literature as its first faculty member in the area of creative writing, and he facilitated campus visits by Saul Bellow (who later taught at the University for three decades), Bernard Malamud, and others. In 1959, a student improv group called the Compass Players reconstituted itself as The Second City under the direction of cofounder and Chicago alumnus Bernie Sahlins. In 1964, faculty member and renowned composer Ralph Shapey formed the Contemporary Chamber Players, which continues today under the artistic direction of Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Shulamit Ran and a new name, Contempo. 

Our arts faculty members and lecturers represent the best that contemporary practices have to offer. In addition, we have a flourishing artist-in-residence program and more than two dozen scholars in such related areas as performance studies, contemporary art criticism, and film history. The University has offered a doctorate in music composition since 1933 and in cinema & media studies since 2000, a master of fine arts in visual arts (early 1970s), and a master of arts in the humanities with a creative writing track (2000). It has well-established bachelor’s degree programs in visual arts, music, and art history, and, more recently, cinema & media studies (1996) and theater & performance studies (2002). The College’s general education core includes a “dramatic, music, and visual arts” requirement, inviting students to study the history of the arts, stage desire, or begin working with sculpture. Several thousand major and non-major undergraduates enroll annually in creative and performing arts classes.

Alongside these programs, co-curricular student activities flourish. The number of student organizations dedicated to the arts has grown rapidly in recent years. Almost half of the College’s undergraduates and a large percentage of graduate students participate in over 60 student organizations, exploring music, visual arts, theater, filmmaking, dance, and other forms of performance.

To read more about the unique history of the Performing Arts at the University of Chicago, please visit the Regenstein Library Centennial Catalogues.