On October 18, the University of Chicago will host its annual Arts & Humanities Day, marking the event’s 45th year. The celebration will include more than two dozen lectures, symposia, and exhibitions held across campus venues from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
This year, UChicago is partnering with Chicago Humanities to broaden the range of speakers and events. This collaboration aims to add new dialogues between university scholars and writers, artists, actors, and public intellectuals from various fields while maintaining the tradition of faculty-led lectures and tours that are free and open to all.
“Arts & Humanities Day will create even more opportunities for the public to engage with the innovative and capacious research and teaching of UChicago’s faculty in humanistic fields,” said Deborah Nelson, dean of the Division of the Arts & Humanities.
“We're especially excited to partner with Chicago Humanities to showcase the ways in which scholars and practitioners in the arts and humanities have such a profound influence on our individual and collective lives,” Nelson added.
Since its start in 1980, Humanities Day has allowed audiences to experience firsthand research by UChicago faculty. Each year, topics span philosophy, visual art, linguistics, literature, music, and more. Faculty share classroom questions and materials with public audiences to demonstrate how humanities disciplines shed light on subjects ranging from ancient thought to social media.
The 2025 program features both new collaborations and ongoing traditions. Among ticketed events organized with Chicago Humanities are:
- Artist Sally Mann will discuss creativity with UChicago professor Laura Letinsky at Ida Noyes Hall.
- Dean Deborah Nelson will join Stephen J. Dubner—co-author of "Freakonomics"—to talk about making academic knowledge accessible at Mandel Hall.
- Assistant Professor Paula Clare Harper teams up with Harvard’s Stephanie Burt for a conversation on pop stardom at Ida Noyes Hall.
- Actor Nick Offerman will speak about craft with Leslie Bauxbaum before offering a woodworking demonstration at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel.
Additionally, free lectures and exhibitions by university faculty include:
- Associate Professor Steven Rings analyzing Bob Dylan’s use of harmonica.
- An exhibition featuring artist Theaster Gates at Smart Museum of Art alongside guided campus tours.
- Professor Jacqueline Stewart discussing her work preserving home movies from Chicago's South Side through the South Side Home Movie Project.
These activities underscore UChicago’s commitment as a leader in humanistic research as well as its engagement within both local communities and broader cultural conversations. The day coincides with other campus events such as Theaster Gates’s exhibition opening, the Year of Games symposium launch, and Open House Chicago.