• the Art Institute of Chicago
  Art Institute of Chicago
  The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
  
  , Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
  
  , Lyric Opera of Chicago
  Lyric Opera of Chicago
  Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
  
  , Goodman Theater, Joffrey Ballet
  Joffrey Ballet
  The Joffrey Ballet is a dance company in Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1956. From 1995 to 2004, the company was known as The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago. The company regularly performs classical ballets including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, while balancing those classics with pioneering modern...
  
  , Central Public Harold Washington Library
  Harold Washington Library
  The Harold Washington Library Center is the central library for the Chicago Public Library System. It is named for former Mayor Harold Washington. It is located just south of the Loop 'L', at 400 S. State Street in Chicago. It is a full service library and ADA compliant. As with all libraries in...
  
  , and the Chicago Cultural Center
  Chicago Cultural Center
  The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed Presidents and royalty, diplomats and community leaders. It is located in the Loop, across Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park...
  
  , all in the Loop;
• Lincoln Park
  Lincoln Park, Chicago
  Lincoln Park, is one of the 77 community areas on Chicago, Illinois North Side, USA. Named after Lincoln Park, a vast park bordering Lake Michigan, the community area is anchored by the Lincoln Park Zoo and DePaul University...
  
  's Lincoln Park Zoo
  Lincoln Park Zoo
  Lincoln Park Zoo is a free zoo located in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The zoo was founded in 1868, making it one of the oldest zoos in the nation. The zoo is an accredited member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums ....
  
  , Lincoln Park Conservatory
  Lincoln Park Conservatory
  The Lincoln Park Conservatory is a conservatory and botanical garden in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The conservatory is situated at 2391 North Stockton Drive just south of Fullerton Avenue, west of Lake Shore Drive, and part of the Lincoln Park, Chicago community area. Positioned near the...
  
  , Chicago History Museum, Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
  Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
  The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum - The Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences is a nature museum located in Chicago, Illinois. The museum, which opened in a new facility in October 1999, is located at the intersection of Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive in Lincoln Park. The museum focuses on...
  
   and Steppenwolf Theatre;
• the Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium
  Shedd Aquarium
  The John G. Shedd Aquarium is an indoor public aquarium in Chicago, Illinois in the United States that opened on May 30, 1930. The aquarium contains over 25,000 fish, and was for some time the largest indoor aquarium in the world with of water. The Shedd Aquarium was the first inland aquarium with...
  
  , and Adler Planetarium
  Adler Planetarium
  The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chicago, Illinois was the first planetarium built in the Western Hemisphere and is the oldest in existence today. Adler was founded and built in 1930 by the philanthropist Max Adler, with the assistance of the first director of the planetarium, Philip Fox...
  
   in the Near South Side's
  Near South Side, Chicago
  The Near South Side is a community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located just south of the downtown central business district, the Loop, which is itself a community area...
  
   Museum Campus;
• the Museum of Science and Industry
  Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
  The Museum of Science and Industry is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood adjacent to Lake Michigan. It is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
  
  , Oriental Institute and DuSable Museum
  DuSable Museum
  The DuSable Museum of African American History is the first and oldest museum dedicated to the study and conservation of African American history, culture, and art. It was founded in 1961 by Dr. Margaret Taylor-Burroughs , her husband Charles Burroughs, Gerard Lew, and others. Dr...
  
   in Hyde Park
  Hyde Park, Chicago
  Hyde Park, located on the South Side of the City of Chicago, in Cook County, Illinois, United States and seven miles south of the Chicago Loop, is a Chicago neighborhood and one of 77 Chicago community areas. It is home to the University of Chicago, the Hyde Park Art Center, the Museum of Science...
  
  ;
• the Museum of Contemporary Art
  Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
  The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
  
  , The Second City
  The Second City
  The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
  
   comedy troupe, and the Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Near North Side, Chicago
  Near North Side, Chicago
  The Near North Side is one of 77 well-defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located north and east of the Chicago River, just north of the central business district . To its east is Lake Michigan and its northern boundary is the 19th-century city limit of Chicago,...
  
  ;
• the Garfield Park Conservatory
  Garfield Park Conservatory
  Garfield Park is a site located in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. It was designed as a pleasure ground by William LeBaron Jenney and is the oldest of the three great original Chicago West Side parks .It is home to the Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest and...
  
  ;
• and Pilsen's National Museum of Mexican Art;
• as well as, the Brookfield Zoo
  Brookfield Zoo
  The Brookfield Zoo is zoo located in the Chicago suburb of Brookfield, Illinois. The zoo covers an area of and houses around 450 species of animals....
  
  , Chicago Botanic Gardens, and Morton Arboretum
  Morton Arboretum
  The Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois, covers 1,700 acres and is made up of gardens of various plant types and collections of trees from specific taxonomical and geographical areas. It includes native woodlands and a restored Illinois prairie. The Arboretum has over 4,100 different species of...
  
   in nearby suburbs.

Museums

Art (encyclopedic collection)

• Art Institute of Chicago
  Art Institute of Chicago
  The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
  
   is the 2nd largest Art Museum in the United States.

Art

• Chicago Cultural Center
  Chicago Cultural Center
  The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed Presidents and royalty, diplomats and community leaders. It is located in the Loop, across Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park...
  
  
• DePaul University Art Museum
• David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art (University of Chicago
  University of Chicago
  The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
  
  )
• Loyola University Museum of Art
• Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art
  Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art
  The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art is an art museum located on the campus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. The Block Museum was established in 1980 by Chicago art collectors Mary and Leigh B. Block...
  
   (Northwestern University
  Northwestern University
  Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
  
  )
• Museum of Contemporary Art
  Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
  The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
  
  
• Museum of Contemporary Photography
  Museum of Contemporary Photography
  The Museum of Contemporary Photography was founded in 1984 by Columbia College Chicago. It is well known for an active program and curating which discovers many emerging and mid-career artists...
  
  
• Museum of Holography
• National Museum of Mexican Art
• National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum
  National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum
  The National Veterans Art Museum, formerly the National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum, located at 1801 S. Indiana Avenue in Chicago's South Loop is dedicated to displaying and studying art produced by veterans from the Vietnam War and other wars and conflicts. Originally a traveling exhibition, while...
  
  
• The Arts Club of Chicago
• The Smith Museum of Stained Glass Windows
• Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art
  Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art
  The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art is a modern art museum serving the greater Chicago area with an ongoing program of cultural exhibitions, literary events, film screenings and music recitals. UIMA was founded in 1971 by Dr. Achilles Chreptowsky in the heart of Chicago's Ukrainian Village,...
  
  

Architecture

• Chicago Architecture Foundation
  Chicago Architecture Foundation
  The Chicago Architecture Foundation is a nonprofit group in Chicago, Illinois, USA, dedicated to increasing the public's understanding of architecture and design...
  
  
• Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design
• Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
  Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
  The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio at 951 Chicago Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois, has been restored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust to its appearance in 1909, the last year Frank Lloyd Wright lived there with his family. Frank Lloyd Wright purchased the property and built the home in...
  
  
• Frank Lloyd Wright Frederick C. Robie House
  Robie House
  The Frederick C. Robie House is a U.S. National Historic Landmark in the Chicago, Illinois neighborhood of Hyde Park at 5757 S. Woodlawn Avenue on the South Side. It was designed and built between 1908 and 1910 by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and is renowned as the greatest example of his Prairie...
  
  
• Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
  Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts
  The Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, based in Chicago, supports the arts, architecture, and institutions through public programs, and grants for projects....
  
  

Botanic Conservatory

• Chicago Botanic Garden
  Chicago Botanic Garden
  Located at 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, Illinois, USA, the Chicago Botanic Garden is a living plant museum situated on nine islands featuring 24 display gardens and surrounded by four natural habitats: McDonald Woods, Dixon Prairie, Skokie River Corridor, and Lakes and Shores. The Garden is open...
  
  
• Garfield Park Conservatory
  Garfield Park Conservatory
  Garfield Park is a site located in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicago's West Side. It was designed as a pleasure ground by William LeBaron Jenney and is the oldest of the three great original Chicago West Side parks .It is home to the Garfield Park Conservatory, one of the largest and...
  
  
• Lincoln Park Conservatory
  Lincoln Park Conservatory
  The Lincoln Park Conservatory is a conservatory and botanical garden in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The conservatory is situated at 2391 North Stockton Drive just south of Fullerton Avenue, west of Lake Shore Drive, and part of the Lincoln Park, Chicago community area. Positioned near the...
  
  
• Morton Arboretum
  Morton Arboretum
  The Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois, covers 1,700 acres and is made up of gardens of various plant types and collections of trees from specific taxonomical and geographical areas. It includes native woodlands and a restored Illinois prairie. The Arboretum has over 4,100 different species of...
  
  

Children's

• Bronzeville Children's Museum
  Bronzeville Children's Museum
  Bronzeville Children's Museum is a museum in the Calumet Heights community area of the South Side of Chicago. It is the first and only African American children's museum in the United States...
  
  
• Chicago Children's Museum
  Chicago Children's Museum
  The Chicago Children's Museum is located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1982 by The Junior League of Chicago who were responding to programming cutbacks in the Chicago Public Schools...
  
  
• Swedish American Museum and Children's Museum of Immigration

Cultural

• American Indian Community Center of Chicago
• Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture
  Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture
  The Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture is located at 6500 S. Pulaski Rd. in Chicago's West Lawn neighborhood, not far from Chicago Midway International Airport...
  
  
• Chinese-American Museum of Chicago
• Copernicus Foundation
  Copernicus Foundation
  The Copernicus Foundation is a 501 not for profit organization based in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by Poles in Chicago in 1971 in order to raise funds towards raising a monument for the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus to be set in front of the Adler...
  
  
• DuSable Museum of African American History
• Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center
• Irish American Heritage Center
• Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
  Mitchell Museum of the American Indian
  The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian is a museum in Evanston, Illinois that focuses exclusively on the history, culture and arts of North American native peoples. Its a Core Member of the Chicago Cultural Alliance, a consortium of 25 ethnic museums and cultural centres in Chicago.The Museum's...
  
  
• National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame
  National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame
  The National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame is a nonprofit institution honoring exceptional U.S. athletes of Italian descent. Since its founding in 1977, more than 200 Italian Americans have been inducted into this hall of fame....
  
  
• Polish Museum of America
  Polish Museum of America
  The Polish Museum of America is located in West Town, in what had been the historical Polish Downtown neighborhood of Chicago. It is home to a plethora of Polish artifacts, artwork, and embroidered folk costumes among its growing collection...
  
  
• Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies
• Swedish American Museum Center
• Ukrainian National Museum
  Ukrainian National Museum
  Ukrainian National Museum is located in the historical Ukrainian Village neighborhood of Chicago, USA. It is home to a plethora of Ukrainian artifacts, artwork, musical instruments, and embroidered folk costumes among its growing collection....
  
  

Specialized/historical

• A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum
• ABA Museum of Law
  ABA Museum of Law
  The ABA Museum of Law, opened in November 1996 in Chicago, Illinois by the American Bar Association, is the only national museum that focuses on the role of law and the legal profession in America and throughout the world. Its goal is to engage the public in the legal system and make it relevant in...
  
  
• Clarke House Museum
  Henry B. Clarke House
  The Henry B. Clarke House is a Greek Revival style house in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The house was built in circa 1836 by a local contractor, probably John Rye, who later married the Clarkes' housemaid, Betsy. Clarke House may have been modeled on the home of William B. Ogden. The Clarke...
  
  
• Edgewater Historical Society & Museum
• Evanston Historical Society/Charles Gates Dawes House
• Holocaust Memorial Foundation of Illinois
• Glessner House Museum
  John J. Glessner House
  The John J. Glessner House, operated as the Glessner House Museum, is an important 19th-century residence located at 1800 S. Prairie Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. It was designed in 1885-1886 by architect Henry Hobson Richardson and completed in late 1887. The property was designated a Chicago...
  
  
• Leather Archives and Museum
  Leather Archives and Museum
  The Leather Archives & Museum , based in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, USA, has much information and details on the beginning of the leather subculture and BDSM community...
  
  
• McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum
  McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum
  The McCormick Freedom Museum was the first museum in the United States dedicated to the First Amendment by the McCormick Foundation. It was open from April 11, 2006 until March 1, 2009. The museum offered visitors an interactive experience focused on first amendment rights which include freedom...
  
  
• Money Museum
• Museum of Broadcast Communications
  Museum of Broadcast Communications
  The Museum of Broadcast Communications is an American museum that currently exists exclusively on the Internet and not in any physical capacity. Its stated mission is "to collect, preserve, and present historic and contemporary radio and television content as well as educate, inform and entertain...
  
  
• Norwood Park Historical Society Museum
• The Peace Museum
  The Peace Museum
  The Peace Museum in Chicago was founded in 1981 by Mark Rogovin and Marjorie Craig Benton, a former US UNICEF representative. It was one of two peace museums in the US. The other is the Dayton International Peace Museum...
  
  
• The Richard H. Driehaus Museum
• Rock N Roll McDonald's
  Rock N Roll McDonald's
  The Rock N Roll McDonald's is a flagship McDonald's restaurant located in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the most famous McDonald's locations in the world and was once the busiest in the United States...
  
  

Science, Archeology, and Natural History

• Adler Planetarium
  Adler Planetarium
  The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chicago, Illinois was the first planetarium built in the Western Hemisphere and is the oldest in existence today. Adler was founded and built in 1930 by the philanthropist Max Adler, with the assistance of the first director of the planetarium, Philip Fox...
  
  
• Field Museum of Natural History
  Field Museum of Natural History
  The Field Museum of Natural History is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It sits on Lake Shore Drive next to Lake Michigan, part of a scenic complex known as the Museum Campus Chicago...
  
  
• International Museum of Surgical Science
  International Museum of Surgical Science
  The International Museum of Surgical Science is a museum located in the Gold Coast neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It is operated by the and features exhibits dealing with various aspects of Eastern and Western medicine. It was founded by Dr. Max Thorek in 1954.- External links :*...
  
  
• Museum of Science and Industry
  Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)
  The Museum of Science and Industry is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA in Jackson Park, in the Hyde Park neighborhood adjacent to Lake Michigan. It is housed in the former Palace of Fine Arts from the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition...
  
  
• Oriental Institute Museum
  Oriental Institute, Chicago
  The Oriental Institute , established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's archeology museum and research center for ancient Near Eastern studies.- History and purpose:James Henry Breasted built up the collection of the Haskell Oriental Museum...
  
  
• Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences
  Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum
  The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum - The Museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences is a nature museum located in Chicago, Illinois. The museum, which opened in a new facility in October 1999, is located at the intersection of Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive in Lincoln Park. The museum focuses on...
  
  
• SciTech Hands On Museum in Aurora

Libraries

• Chicago Public Library
  Chicago Public Library
  The Chicago Public Library is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 79 branches, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the city....
  
  
• Newberry Library
  Newberry Library
  The Newberry Library is a privately endowed, independent research library for the humanities and social sciences in Chicago, Illinois. Although it is private, non-circulating library, the Newberry Library is free and open to the public...
  
  
• Poetry Center

Festivals and fairs

• Around the Coyote
• Art Chicago
  Art Chicago
  Art Chicago is an international contemporary art exhibition held each year in Chicago, Illinois. It is Chicago's longest-running and only remaining major contemporary art exposition.-History:...
  
  
• Bridge Art Fair
• Celtic Festival Chicago
• Chicago Artists' Month
• Chicago Blues Festival
  Chicago Blues Festival
  The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the City of Chicago Mayor's Office of Special Events, and always occurs in early June...
  
  
• Chicago Country Music Festival
• Chicago Gospel Festival
• Chicago Humanities Festival
  Chicago Humanities Festival
  The Chicago Humanities Festival is a foundation which organizes an annual series of lectures, concerts, and films in Chicago. The main festival takes place in the first and second weeks of November. The festival was started in 1990 by the Illinois Humanities Council and became an independent...
  
  
• Chicago International Film Festival
  Chicago International Film Festival
  The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America....
  
  
• Chicago Jazz Festival
  Chicago Jazz Festival
  The Chicago Jazz Festival is a popular and well-known four day free celebration of jazz at Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park in downtown Chicago. It is run by the Jazz Institute of Chicago during Labor Day weekend, integrating both world-famous and local artists...
  
  
• 57th Street Art Fair
  57th Street Art Fair
  The 57th Street Art Fair is Chicago's oldest juried art fair. Founded in 1948, it is held the first weekend in June every year on 57th Street between Kimbark and Kenwood Avenues, in the Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park, directly north of the University of Chicago campus...
  
  
• The Intuit Show of Folk and Outsider Art
• International Exposition of Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art (SOFA)
• Pier Walk
• Printers Row Book Fair
• Ravinia Festival
• The Stray Show
• Taste of Chicago
  Taste of Chicago
  The Taste of Chicago is the world's largest food festival, held annually for ten days in Grant Park, in Chicago starting the Friday before the 4th of July and ending the Sunday after . The event is the largest festival in Chicago...
  
  
• Taste of Polonia
  Taste of Polonia
  The Taste of Polonia is a Chicago festival held at the Copernicus Cultural and Civic Center in the Jefferson Park community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States every Labor Day weekend since 1979. It is the Copernicus Foundation's major fundraiser and a four-day celebration of...
  
  
• Viva Chicago
• World Music Fest Chicago

Music, theater and performing arts

Dance

• Joffrey Ballet of Chicago
• Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
  Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
  Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is an American dance company based in Chicago. HSDC performs in downtown Chicago and its metropolitan area and tours nationally and internationally throughout the year....
  
  
• Ruth Page Center for the Arts
• Civic Ballet of Chicago
• Chicago Festival Ballet
  Chicago Festival Ballet
  Chicago Festival Ballet is a professional ballet company performing a repertoire of classical, romantic and neoclassical works in venues around the United States. Chicago Festival Ballet is also known as Von Heidecke’s Chicago Festival Ballet...
  
  
• Joel Hall Dancers

Opera

• Chicago Opera Theater
  Chicago Opera Theater
  The Chicago Opera Theater is an opera company that was founded as the Chicago Opera Studio in 1974 by Alan Stone to give vocal students performance experience, although it has grown into a professional opera company...
  
  
• Lyric Opera of Chicago
  Lyric Opera of Chicago
  Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
  
  
• Civic Opera House
• Chamber Opera Chicago
• DuPage Opera Theatre
  DuPage Opera Theatre
  The DuPage Opera Theatre is one of three professional opera companies located in the Chicago area, along with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Opera Theater...
  
  

Symphony

• Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival...
  
  
• Symphony Center
  Symphony Center
  Symphony Center is a music complex located at 220 South Michigan Avenue in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Chicago Sinfonietta, Symphony Center includes the 2,522-seat Orchestra Hall, which dates from 1904; Buntrock Hall, a rehearsal and...
  
  
• Chicago Sinfonietta
  Chicago Sinfonietta
  The Chicago Sinfonietta is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. The stated mission of the orchestra is to "serve as a national model for inclusiveness and innovation in classical music" and to "help America become a true cultural democracy, in which everyone can share fully in its...
  
  
• Grant Park Symphony Orchestra
  Grant Park Symphony Orchestra
  The Grant Park Symphony Orchestra or simply the Grant Park Orchestra is a publicly sponsored symphony orchestra that provides free performances in the Grant Park Music Festival during the summer months in Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois. Its sister organization is the Grant Park Chorus; the...
  
  

Theater

• Arie Crown Theatre
• Beacon Street Gallery and Performance Company
• Chicago Shakespeare Theater
  Chicago Shakespeare Theater
  Chicago Shakespeare Theater is a non-profit, professional theater company located at Navy Pier in Chicago, Illinois. Its more than six hundred annual performances performed 48 weeks of the year include its critically acclaimed Shakespeare series, its World's Stage touring productions, and youth...
  
  
• Chicago Theatre
  Chicago Theatre
  The Chicago Theatre, originally known as the Balaban and Katz Chicago Theatre, is a landmark theater located on North State Street in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Built in 1921, the Chicago Theatre was the flagship for the Balaban and Katz group of theaters run by A. J. Balaban, his brother...
  
  
• Drury Lane Theatre
  Drury Lane Theatre (Chicago)
  The Drury Lane Theatres were a group of six theatres in the Chicago area founded by Tony DeSantis. The playhouses were named after the historic Theatre Royal Drury Lane, built in London in the 17th century...
  
  
• Ford Center for Performing Arts
• Goodman Theatre
  Goodman Theatre
  The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
  
  
• Hedwig Dances
• HotHouse The Center for International Performance and Exhibition
• LaSalle Bank Theatre
  LaSalle Bank Theatre
  The Bank of America Theatre is a theater operated by Broadway In Chicago, a Nederlander Presentation. Formerly known as the LaSalle Bank Theatre, the Sam Shubert Theatre and the Majestic Theatre, it is located at 18 West Monroe Street in the Loop area of downtown Chicago, Illinois...
  
   (formerly the Shubert Theatre)
• Marriott Theatre
  Marriott Theatre
  The Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire, Illinois, USA is a respected Chicago area regional theatre. Attached to the Marriott Lincolnshire Resort, the theatre produces an average of five musicals each year, presented in the round, as well as productions aimed at younger audiences...
  
   in Lincolnshire, Illinois
  Lincolnshire, Illinois
  Lincolnshire is a village in the Vernon Township region of Lake County, in the U.S. state of Illinois. The village is a suburb of Chicago, a city in the adjacent Cook County. Its population was 6,108 at the time of the 2000 census. Lincolnshire was incorporated on August 5, 1957, from the...
  
  
• Old Town School of Folk Music
  Old Town School of Folk Music
  The Old Town School of Folk Music is a Chicago teaching and performing institution that launched the careers of many notable folk music artists...
  
  
• Redmoon Theater
  Redmoon Theater
  Redmoon Theater is a Chicago based not-for-profit theatrical company under the direction of Jim Lasko and Frank Maugeri that specializes in site-specific productions, emphasizing visual spectacle, pageantry, elaborate sets, live music, puppetry, and physical theater. Productions are often out of...
  
  
• River North Chicago
  River North Gallery District, Near North Side, Chicago
  The River North Gallery District, in Chicago, is in the Near North Side, Chicago. It hosts the largest concentration of art galleries in the United States, outside of Manhattan. A common definition puts the District in the area north of the Merchandise Mart, south of Chicago Avenue, east of...
  
  
• Second City Theater
  The Second City
  The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...
  
  
• Steppenwolf Theatre Company
  Steppenwolf Theatre Company
  Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...
  
  
• Woodstock Opera House
  Woodstock Opera House
  The Woodstock Opera House is a historical venue for performing arts and receptions located in Woodstock, Illinois. It was designed as a multi-use facility including City Hall, and the police and fire departments by architect Smith Hoag and built by contractor Simon Brink in 1889 for a cost of...
  
  

Not-for-profit and university galleries

• David Adler Cultural Center
• American Academy of Art
  American Academy of Art
  The American Academy of Art is a professional, accredited fine arts school located in downtown Chicago, Illinois. It was founded in 1923 for the education of both fine and commercial arts students. The school has a tradition of top art education with exceptional students being awarded the academy's...
  
  
• Anchor Graphics @ Columbia College
• The Art Center Highland Park
• Arts and Business Council of Chicago
• The Arts Club of Chicago
• Aurora Public Art Commission Gallery
• Betty Rymer Gallery (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
• Beverly Art Center
• Brickton Art Center
• Chicago Architecture Foundation
  Chicago Architecture Foundation
  The Chicago Architecture Foundation is a nonprofit group in Chicago, Illinois, USA, dedicated to increasing the public's understanding of architecture and design...
  
  
• Chicago Art Deco Society
• Chicago Public Art Group
• The Chicago Women's Caucus for Art (CWCA)
• City Gallery at the Historic Water Tower
• Columbia College Chicago
  Columbia College Chicago
  Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs...
  
   Center for Book and Paper Arts
• Columbia College Chicago Glass Curtain Gallery
• Columbia College Chicago Hokin Gallery and Annex
• Copernicus Foundation
  Copernicus Foundation
  The Copernicus Foundation is a 501 not for profit organization based in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. It was founded by Poles in Chicago in 1971 in order to raise funds towards raising a monument for the famous astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus to be set in front of the Adler...
  
  
• Cuneo Museum
  Cuneo Museum
  Cuneo Mansion and Gardens is a historic home, art collection and gardens in Vernon Hills, Illinois built in 1914 and designed by architect Benjamin Marshall of Marshall & Fox. The mansion's first owner was Samuel Insull, founder of the Commonwealth Edison company. John Cuneo, Sr. purchased the...
  
  
• DePaul University Art Museum
• Dittmar Memorial Gallery (Northwestern University
  Northwestern University
  Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
  
  )
• DuPage Art League School and Gallery
• Evanston Art Center
• Gallery 2 and Project Space (School of the Art Institute of Chicago)
• Gallery 400 at the University of Illinois at Chicago
• Goethe Institute
• Hinsdale Center for the Arts
• Hyde Park Art Center
  Hyde Park Art Center
  The Hyde Park Art Center is a visual arts organization and the oldest alternative exhibition space in the city of Chicago. Since 2006, HPAC has been located just north of Hyde Park Boulevard, at 5020 S.Cornell Avenue, in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.-Beginnings:The Hyde Park Art...
  
  
• Illinois Institute of Technology, art@IIT Gallery
• ISM Chicago Gallery
  Illinois State Museum
  The Illinois State Museum is the official museum of the natural history of the U.S. state of Illinois. The headquarters museum is located on Spring and Edwards Streets, one block southwest of the Illinois State Capitol, in Springfield, the state capital...
  
  
• Instituto Cervantes
  Instituto Cervantes
  The Cervantes Institute is a worldwide non-profit organization created by the Spanish government in 1991. It is named after Miguel de Cervantes , the author of Don Quixote and perhaps the most important figure in the history of Spanish literature...
  
  
• Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
  Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
  Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding of and appreciation for intuitive and outsider art through a program of education and exhibition. Since its founding in 1991, Intuit has emerged as an international...
  
  
• Lill Street Art Center
• Lill Street Learning Center
• Little Black Pearl Art and Design Center
• Loyola University's Crown Center Gallery
• Loyola University Museum of Art
• Marwen
• John David Mooney Foundation International Currents Gallery
• Navy Pier Walk
• Northern Illinois University Art Gallery/Chicago
• North Lakeside Cultural Center
• Northeastern Illinois University Fine Arts Center Gallery
• Northwest Cultural Council
• Noyes Cultural Art Center Gallery
• Oak Park Area Arts Council
• Oak Park Art League
• O'Connor Gallery of Art (Dominican University
  Dominican University (Illinois)
  Dominican University is a coeducational, comprehensive, Catholic institution of higher education and research in River Forest, Illinois. Affiliated with the Sinsinawa Dominican Sisters, it offers bachelor's and master's degrees and certificate programs...
  
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• Old Town Art Center
• Palatine/Inverness Arts Council
• The Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts
• Park West Ceramics
• The Poetry Center of Chicago
• Pritzker Military Library
  Pritzker Military Library
  The Pritzker Military Library is a research library for the study of military history in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded in 2003 by COL James N. Pritzker, IL ARNG to be a non-partisan institution for the study of "the citizen soldier as an essential element for the preservation of...
  
  
• The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago
  The Renaissance Society
  The Renaissance Society is a non-collecting contemporary art museum in Chicago, Illinois. It is located on the campus of the University of Chicago, although it is a fully separate entity.-Overview:...
  
  
• Riverside Arts Center
• Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center
• Skokie Northshore Sculpture Park
• Skokie Public Library Gallery
• Society for the Arts
• South Side Community Art Center
  South Side Community Art Center
  The South Side Community Art Center is a community art center in Chicago that opened in 1940 with support from the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project in Illinois. It was the first black art museum in the United States and has been an important center for the development Chicago's...
  
  
• South Shore Cultural Center
  South Shore Cultural Center
  The South Shore Cultural Center, in Chicago, Illinois, is a cultural facility located at 71st Street and South Shore Drive, in the city's South Shore neighborhood. It encompasses the grounds of the former South Shore Country Club....
  
  
• SXU Gallery (Saint Xavier University)

Organizations

• Art Dealers Association of Chicago
• Chicago Artists' Coalition
  Chicago Artists' Coalition
  Chicago Artists' Coalition is a non-profit arts advocacy and career organization based in Chicago and open to artists and non-artists alike. Its stated mission is to educate the public as to the value of the visual arts, be an advocate for arts issues, provide professional and educational...
  
  
• Chicago Artists International Program
• Chicago Dance and Music Alliance
• Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
• Chicago Percent for Art
• Chicago Public Art Program
• Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts‎
• Illinois Artisans Program
• Illinois Arts Council
  Illinois Arts Council
  The Illinois Arts Council is a government agency of the state of Illinois formed to encourage development of the arts throughout Illinois. Founded in 1965 by the Illinois General Assembly, the Illinois Arts Council provides financial and technical assistance to artists, arts organizations, and...
  
  
• Jazz Institute of Chicago
  Jazz Institute of Chicago
  The Jazz Institute of Chicago was founded in 1969 by a small band of jazz fans, writers, club owners and musicians who came together to preserve the historical roots of the Chicago's music and to ensure that opportunities for the music to be heard would not be lost in a time when rock was subsuming...
  
  
• Lawyers for the Creative Arts
• League of Chicago Theatres
  League of Chicago Theatres
  The League of Chicago Theatres is an alliance of theaters in Chicago. It was founded in 1979....
  
  
• River North Association
• Wicker Park/Bucktown Gallery Association

External links

• A Guide to Chicago's Museums and Their Free Admission Days