The Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts ®) develops the next generation of diverse, artistically promising scholar-artists through intensive pre-professional training in the arts, combined with a comprehensive college preparatory curriculum.
ChiArts is Chicago’s first public high school for the arts. Scholar-artists attend academic courses in the morning and conservatory training in the afternoon. This includes, five hours of academic classes, three hours of arts training in their major area, and one to four hours of rehearsal/practice per day. With disciplines in creative writing, dance, music, theatre, and visual arts, scholar-artists participate in a rigorous, but rewarding program. ChiArts opened its doors in 2009 and has graduated 12 classes of scholar-artists at a rate between 92-100% each year.
While Chicago Public Schools provides per-pupil support for the academic program, the arts conservatories at ChiArts are wholly funded by individual, corporate, and foundation donors through the ChiArts Foundation, established in January 2021.