Arrival & Check-in, Registration, Welcome Reception, Orientation, Light Dinner

Afternoon: HOTEL CHECK-IN: Available from 3:00pm. (If you arrive early and your guest room is not available, you are welcome to leave your luggage in the secure storage facility while you explore until 3:00pm.) Upon receiving your room key card, the front desk staff will inform you of the location for the 4:30pm Road Scholar Orientation, where you will be greeted by your Road Scholar Program Coordinator from the Art Institute.

PROGRAM REGISTRATION & RECEPTION: Please join us at 4:30pm in our designated meeting room to register with the program staff. We will then and enjoy a brief reception with your Art Institute Program Coordinate and fellow participants.

ORIENTATION & OVERVIEW: After introductions, we will review the up-to-date schedule, cover responsibilities, safety guidelines, emergency procedures, and answer any questions you may have, followed by an overview of the program, the Palmer House, the Art Institute, Chicago, and free-time opportunities. Your Art Institute Program Coordinate will also provide you with meal vouchers for the Palmer House. Please bring the appropriate voucher for each meal.

Depending on time, we may also view an introductory video on the Art Institute's collection and history.

Please be aware that program activities and scheduled times could change due to local circumstances. In the event of changes, we will alert you as quickly as possible. Thank you for your understanding.

Dinner: Unless indicated otherwise, dinner will be at the Lockwood Restaurant in the Palmer House lobby. (Be sure to bring the appropriate meal voucher.) The Lockwood is a renowned downtown dining destination with a menu featuring American cuisine enhanced by herbs, vegetables, and urban honey harvested from its very own rooftop garden and apiary. The Lockwood is a proud supporter of local, sustainable, artisan producers and suppliers.

Lodging: Palmer House Hilton Hotel

Meals Included: Dinner

Early Entry to the Art Institute of Chicago, Introduction to the Buildings & Collections, Gallery Talks, Free Evening to Explore On Your Own

Breakfast: Greet your fellow participants each morning at the hotel’s deluxe continental breakfast buffet. The hot and cold breakfast buffet served in Lockwood Restaurant features some or all of the following items: toast, pastries, fruit, yogurt, cereal, deli meats and cheeses, oatmeal, sausage, bacon, potatoes, freshly prepared eggs to order, omelet, French toast, pancakes or waffles, coffee, tea, milk and juice.

Morning: INTRODUCTION TO THE ART INSTITUTE: Introduction and Orientation to the Collections. Meet your fellow participants and an Art Institute representative at 9:30am to walk to the Art Institute for early entry before the general public. Enjoy an introductory gallery walk explaining the history and architecture of the Museum and School of the Art Institute, as well as an orientation to the collections.

We will also explore the Art Institute's new addition, the magnificent Modern Wing, with an exclusive look at the state-of-the-art Ryan Education Center. Weather permitting, we will visit the rooftop Bluhm Family Sculpture Terrace for breathtaking views of Chicago's historic architectural legacy, contemporary skyscrapers, Millennium Park, and Lake Michigan.

Lunch: Lunch is in the Art Institute's Museum Café, offering a broad range of selections with sustainable, local, and seasonal ingredients. The café features a deli station with a variety of sandwiches, salads, and soups; a full grill for burgers; entrée specials; an Italian pizza station; and a dessert station with a full array of tasty treats. Dine at your own pace with your fellow Road Scholar companions and enjoy some free time after lunch to browse the museum galleries on your own.

Afternoon: GALLERY TALKS: Led by Art Institute educational staff, the gallery talks throughout the program explore the art and artists of the world's mighty civilizations from ancient through modern times. The specific itinerary and arrangement of gallery talks may vary, but the stage is usually set with the ancient traditions of Egypt and Greece. How does Ancient Egyptian art reflect the ancient culture's faith, values, and world-view? What stories do the Art Institute's glittering golden masks and linen-wrapped mummies tell?

Get an insider's look at the Art Institute's galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, which are newly renovated and quadruple in size. See how artists of the emerging Ancient Greek civilization readily adopted and adapted Egyptian and Near Eastern subjects for its own cultural context, and discuss the imperial aspirations of Classical Athens in the wake of the Persian War.

We conclude the afternoon in the dazzling Roman and Byzantine galleries. Explore the bold and the beautiful in Imperial Roman portraiture and traces the evolution and convolution of pagan and Christian art, symbols, and ideas during the Byzantine Empire.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel in Lockwood Restaurant. The chef's philosophy is “cooking by hand” with as much made in house from scratch as possible. A choice of entree is offered nightly with your plated and served three-course meal.

Evening: FREE EVENING: Take this opportunity to explore the many cultural and historic attractions Chicago has to offers. The city has an outstanding reputation for blues and jazz. You can stroll through Millennium Park to admire the lights and art, or simply relax with the many amenities at the hotel.

Lodging: Palmer House Hilton Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Breakfast: Deluxe continental breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: GALLERY TALKS: Meet your fellow participants and an Art Institute representative at 9:30 to walk to the Art Institute for early entry. Continue our exploration of artwork from mighty civilizations in the Art Institute's collection this morning with a gallery talk led by the Art Institute lecturing staff. The specific itinerary and arrangement of gallery talks may vary.

We begin this morning with the greatness, tenderness, and playfulness of Hindu and Buddhist art of India and the Himalayas. Gilded gods and sacred scenes of South Asia express traditions as ancient as civilization itself. A rich language of symbolism, iconography, and belief is expressed in the fine contours of stone and bronze and the soft fabric of painted textiles in the Art Institute’s collection.

Journey along the Silk Road at the crossroads of faith and civilization and follow the spread of Buddhism into China. One of the world's most ancient extant civilizations, China has continuously sought to define itself through artistic expression. Survey Chinese art from the early dynasties to contemporary traditional practices exploring a variety of media and traditions from throughout China's history, including jade carving, cast bronze, sacred and secular sculpture, ceramics, and painting.

The Art Institute of Chicago has been a leading collector of Asian art since the Art Institute's inception over a century ago, with pivotal contributors the collection's growth, such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Mr. and Mrs. Potter Palmer, Martin Ryerson, and Charles Buckingham. The collection continues to grow today with new acquisitions of ancient, antique, and contemporary Asian art.

Lunch: Get to know your fellow Road Scholar participants and Art Institute staff and volunteer representatives better over lunch in the Art Institute's Museum Café.

Afternoon: FREE AFTERNOON: Build on what you've learned and explore the museum on your own. You may wish to enjoy the Art Institute's 12:00 and 2:00 public gallery talks, visit the many special exhibitions, marvel at Thorne Miniature Rooms, or research your passion in the Art Institute's world-class art history library. Take advantage of your complimentary Art Institute audio guide ticket (or save it for later).

Or, enjoy this opportunity to visit one of Chicago's many cultural venues, historic neighborhoods, and other museums. Information on Chicago's attractions is provided at orientation on Day 1 and included in your preparatory materials.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel in Lockwood Restaurant. Enjoy a different dessert with dinner each night and keep a lookout for "Bertha's Brownie." The Palmer House invented the brownie, introducing this all-American favorite treat at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Bertha Palmer, President of the Board of Lady Managers of the World's Columbian Exposition and Palmer House owner, asked the chef of the Palmer House to create a confection for ladies attending the Women's Pavilion at the fair. It should be, she said, smaller than a piece of cake, though still retaining cake-like characteristics and easily eaten from boxed lunches.

Evening: FREE EVENING: Take advantage of what this great city has to offer. You may wish to attend a performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, a Millennium Park outdoor concert, theater, the Museum of Contemporary Art, or any of a multitude of other choices.

Lodging: Palmer House Hilton Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Early Entry/Gallery Talk/Chicago Architecture Tour/Evening Free-time Excursion

Breakfast: Deluxe continental breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: GALLERY TALKS: Meet your fellow participants and an Art Institute representative at 9:30am to walk to the Art Institute for early entry. Begin this morning with the art of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era. Explore the impact of Napoleon's imperial aspirations and how it was expressed through artists' eyes. See the foundation laid for the Academic tradition of the art of the French Salon and discover the Impressionist revolution as a rebellion against artistic tradition.

Lunch: Lunch in the Art Institute's Museum Café

Afternoon: SPECIAL EXHIBITION: An Art Institute lecturer leads us on a private tour of the blockbuster special exhibition Impressionism and Fashion. Were the Impressionists the fashionistas of their day? At a time in France during the emergence of the modern fashion industry, artists were using fashion to communicate modernity as an idea. Impressionism and Fashion covers this period between the 1860s and 1880s that saw not only the rise of the department store and the proliferation of fashion magazines, but also serious interests among an artistic and literary elite in fashion as a new means of visual and verbal expression.

The exhibition includes about 90 major figure paintings by Gustave Caillebotte, Edgar Degas, Édouard Manet, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Georges Seurat. Also included are photographs, fashion plates, advertisements, and other printed materials, as well as a judicious selection of contemporary costumes that bring to life the period in which Monet and his colleagues created some of their most innovative compositions.

Dinner: Dinner at the hotel in Lockwood Restaurant.

Evening: FREE EVENING: You have many options in this world class city.

Lodging: Palmer House Hilton Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Early Entry/Gallery Talks and Exhibition Exploration/Public Lecture at the Art Institute

Breakfast: Deluxe continental breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: GALLERY TALKS: Meet your fellow participants and an Art Institute representative at 9:30am to walk to the Art Institute for early entry. This full day inside the Art Institute begins with the art of the British Empire. Explore the various interpretations of British expansion and colonialism as seen in the art of this period. As "the sun never sets on the British Empire," how are romantic notions of the indigenous peoples of the world interpreted in art? From the ashes of defeated Napoleonic France in the early 19th century, we also explore Romantic movement as a reaction to the encroaching confines of the Industrial Revolution and an escape from the scientific rationalization of the Age of Enlightenment.

Lunch: A late lunch in the Art Institute's Museum Café

Afternoon: GALLERY TALKS: After lunch, enjoy some free time to explore the Art Institute and its special exhibitions. We will then regroup for a private gallery talk on the ancient art of the Americas and kingdoms of Africa.

For thousands of years, the southwestern portion of what is now the United States and the Mesoamerican and Andean regions had been inhabited by great civilizations preceded only by the cultures of the ancient Middle East and China. The Art Institute’s holdings of ancient American art from 2000 BCE to 1492 CE are widely recognized for their exceptional quality. The collection includes sculpture, ceramics, metalwork, and textiles created by Native Americans, the inhabitants of Teotihuacan, and the Olmec, Maya, and Aztecs of ancient Mesoamerica.

Following our exploration of the ancient Americas, feel the contemplative galleries of African art come to life in a whirl of dance, costume, song, and community. The Art Institute’s African art collection, widely recognized for its fine quality, features noteworthy examples of wood sculpture, masks, ceramics, furniture, textiles, and beadwork from ancient civilizations and contemporary cultures. Among the African continent’s most acclaimed artistic heritage, and prominently represented in the Art Institute's collection, are the spectacular brass and sophisticated ivory royal sculptures and regalia from the West African Kingdom of Benin.

Dinner: Dinner on your own. Enjoy this opportunity to explore Chicago's many excellent and historic eateries. Some of the most popular are Rick Bayless's Frontera Grill, Russian Tea Time, Ada's Famous Deli, 17/west at the Berghoff, the Art Institute's new Modern Wing rooftop restaurant Terzo Piano, and more; recommendations provided. Eat on your own time and pace to take advantage of the evening programs at the Art Institute.

Evening: 6:00 PM Return to the Art Institute for the public lecture or gallery talk. Museum is open until 8:00 PM. Additional free time excursion may include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Lodging: Palmer House Hilton Hotel

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch

Breakfast: Deluxe continental breakfast buffet at the hotel.

Morning: GALLERY TALKS: Conclude a fulfilling week of discovering Ancient Worlds and Empires through the Ages with American aspirations for expansion and conquest. View interpretations of the vanishing frontier through the eyes of artists such as Frederick Remington, Elbridge Ayer Burbank, William Victor Higgins, and Ralph Albert Blakelock. Discover the American response to the Age of Enlightenment and Romanticism, and interpretations of the Industrial Revolution, Manifest Destiny, and America's history of conflict and slavery in the works of artists such as Winslow Homer, Childe Hassam, Frederic Edwin Church, George Inness, Thomas Cole, and John Quincy Adams Ward.

The program concludes at approximately 11:15am. You are welcome to remain at the Art Institute to enjoy the 12:00 Noon and 2:00pm public gallery talks, revisit your favorite galleries, or explore on your own.

We trust you have enjoyed this exciting new program and will return for other rewarding learning adventures in the future. Best wishes for all your journeys!

Meals Included: Breakfast