Office of Engagement
The Office of Engagement is the conduit through which SAIC is connected to the world and experiences beyond campus enter the studio. We connect students, faculty, and alumni with communities, opportunities, and partnerships in Chicago and around the world.
As artists, we serve our vision and creativity to produce work that inspires emotion, reflection, and action. As activists, we serve our community to build paths to positive change. As community members, we care for our neighbors and work together to improve our neighborhood.
With hyperlocal projects like Palas Por Pistolas and Homan Square, experience how SAIC engages social practice with community engagement, working through conflicting priorities of creative placemaking
SAIC students are not only engaged in their immediate community in Chicago’s Loop, but also interact with the city and world at large. The school’s facility in Homan Square on Chicago’s west side offers courses in Architectural Design, Art Education, Fashion Design, and other studio disciplines that allow students to understand the role of designers and artists as agents for social change. Students partner with local youth on projects dealing with subjects such as housing solutions. Other courses in Sculpture, Film, Video, New Media, and Animation, Art Education, Art Therapy and Counseling, Visual and Critical Studies, and other departments take students on the CTA, to local prisons, and other communities to explore homelessness, incarceration, food resources, access to education, and other areas of social justice.
