Students and faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) explore transformative, interdisciplinary ideas across art, design, science, business, social welfare, and cultural sustainability. Their research often involves guesswork, incomplete data, conflicting theories, and failure, but it is always about discovering and creating new knowledge.
Art Institute of Chicago Trustee Brenda Shapiro recognizes the importance of research at an art and design school. The Earl and Brenda Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration has provided SAIC with a platform for the advancement of ideas and the potential to inspire change.
Through external partnerships, sponsored classes, incubator grants, and fellowships, the Shapiro Center cultivates a research environment at SAIC. Shapiro Center courses foster collaborative classroom experiences and connect students to external organizations, such as CB2 and Northwestern University. A new partnership with the Foundation for Homan Square in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood o ers art and design courses to residents of the West Side community.
The Shapiro Center provides students and faculty with the opportunity to create new ideas, make new knowledge, and produce the Beautiful/Work that impacts Chicago and the world.
