Art Institute of Chicago

Purpose: Supporting Lifelong Learning When it was founded in 1879, the Art Institute of Chicago was a simple, two-story Beaux-Arts structure. It is now a large complex of eight interconnected, multilevel buildings, filled with world-class permanent collections in 10 curatorial departments. The museum campus spans more than 100 years of planning and construction and includes 151 permanent collection galleries. A new wing, slated for completion in 2007, will add 60,000 square feet of gallery space to showcase important new holdings in modern and contemporary art, objects from the architecture collection, and one of the nation's finest collections of Himalayan works. This building will serve as a second major entrance to the museum and will include a large educational suite where many visitors will begin their tours. In focus groups and visitor surveys, a large percentage of respondents have reported getting lost or feeling overwhelmed at the Art Institute, a feeling that presents a major barrier to their use and enjoyment of a collection of encyclopedic scope and quality. This grant will support the museum's Navigation Master Planning Project, which will create a plan for a fully integrated and coherent navigation system that will reduce wayfinding confusion for the Art Institute's 1.3 million annual visitors and substantially improve the overall visitor experience.