History

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Cleveland Institute of Art

Every year the Cleveland Institute of Art builds on an internationally recognized heritage of excellence and innovation that dates back to 1882. That year the school was chartered as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women. The school’s first name reflects the forward-thinking views of founder Sarah Kimball, who opened her home for the first class meetings, attended by just one teacher and one student. Open to male and female students alike, the Cleveland School of Art, as the school soon became known, blossomed under the influence of a dedicated and talented faculty, whose prize-winning art and award-winning commercial designs are known collectively, even today, as “the Cleveland School.”

Over time the school’s success prompted changes in facilities—from Mrs. Kimball’s sitting room to the attic of Old Cleveland City Hall, and then to the late Horace Kelley’s mansion on present-day E. 55^th. In 1905 CIA built a brick Italianate building in University Circle (razed as part of a 1960s site redevelopment), which boasted a grand exhibition gallery predating the Cleveland Museum of Art by a decade.

In 1949 the school became officially known as the Cleveland Institute of Art, and in 1956, classes moved into their new building at 11141 East Boulevard, named for George Gund, who served as CIA Board President for 24 years.

In 1981 the Institute purchased a former Ford automobile assembly factory, now listed on the National Register of Historical Places in Ohio. In 2010 the building was renovated for classroom and studio use, and named the Joseph McCullough Center for the Visual Arts (JMC) after an artist and CIA alumnus who also served as CIA president for 33 years. As part of the college’s Campus Unification Project, CIA has completed a new renovation of the JMC and will soon break ground on a new building that will be interconnected with the JMC and house classroom and studio space along with a new Cinematheque theater.

CIA Mission

To nurture the intellectual, artistic, and professional development of students and community members through rigorous visual arts and design education.

CIA Vision

To advance culture, community and global quality of life.