the Study of Ancient Cultures, the Smart Museum of Art, and the Renaissance Society. The university offers graduate degrees in music, cinema and media studies, visual arts, and the humanities, among other subjects. It also offers bachelor's degree programs in visual arts, music, art history, cinema and media studies, and theater and performance studies. Several thousand major and non-major undergraduates enroll annually in creative and performing arts classes.
The university was home to the improvisational Compass Players student comedy troupe, which evolved into The Second City in 1959. The university has an artist-in-residence program, which has supported over 32 individual artists as of May 2025. The Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts opened in 2012. It was financed by a $35 million gift from alumnus David Logan and his wife Reva, the single largest cash gift to the arts in the city of Chicago as of 2025. The center includes spaces for exhibitions, performances, classes, and media production.
=== Reputation …
