Welcome to the Art Academy of Cincinnati. After more than
130 years of existence, Cincinnati's oldest independent
college of art and design currently serves approximately
two hundred undergraduate students and twenty graduate
students. While celebrating our rich history and maintaining
our strengths in studio art and design, the Art Academy has
recently made one of its most significant steps in the past
century: the move to a new campus in 2005.

This move doubled the size of our facilities and allowed
us to consolidate into one location, just north of the Central
Business District in Cincinnati's historic Over-the-Rhine
neighborhood. This area is already home to Music Hall,
the Ensemble Theatre Company, the School for the
Creative and Performing Arts, Uptown Arts, and the Main
Street art galleries. It is an easy walk to the Contemporary
Arts Center, the Aronoff Center for the Arts, and the Main
Library.

As part of this historic step, the Art Academy vacated its
Mt. Adams Building and the Eden Park Building, to which it
moved in 1887 from Downtown. The new facility has
been constructed to contemporary stan-dards providing
accessibility to persons with disabilities, air conditioning
throughout, improved ventilation, better integration of
computer technology into the fine arts, and other standard
building amenities. The architectural design, produced by
the Design Collective Inc. from Baltimore, Maryland, and
their team assembled in Cincinnati, is visually exciting, in
tune with principles of environmentally-friendly design, and
practical for a college of art and design.

Driven largely by current needs of art and design students,
the new campus represents an investment of 13 million
dollars. The new facility provides studios for every junior,
senior and graduate student, doubles our computer labs,
and includes a Commons with light food service, suggested
by current students. We hope that consolidating into one
building and increasing the operational hours (24 hours
a day, seven days a week) will create stronger student
life and sense of community in the coming years.

However, the key characteristics of the Art Academy are not
changing. By remaining a small school, the faculty of artists,
designers, and other creative people continue to teach, advise,
and mentor students in ways that cannot be done in a large
university setting. Staff members continue to focus on supporting
students, whether in the registration, financial aid, or counseling
offices. Individual attention to each student, to help him or her
on their own pathway, remains the defining characteristic of
the school.

If you are looking for a college of art and design with these
qualities and an exciting new future, I hope you will contact our
Admissions Office for a visit and tour. The Art Academy of
Cincinnati continues to be a very special place. On behalf of
our Board of Trustees, Faculty and Staff, I am pleased to say
that we look forward to the new facilities and to having you as
a student with us in the future.

Sincerely,

Gregory Allgire Smith,
President