Evanston Art Center

For more than eighty years the Evanston Art Center has been a major force in bringing together people, art and ideas. One of the oldest and largest visual art centers in Illinois, the Evanston Art Center's mission is to make the visual arts an integral and accessible part of the lives of the diverse audiences in the surrounding communities. The Art Center fulfills this mission through an extensive offering of visual arts classes, public lectures, changing exhibitions, youth outreach activities, and publications, all of which are designed to engage and enrich the individual and the community.

The Art Center was established in 1929 by a group of civic and cultural leaders from the Evanston community. Alice C. Riley was the guiding light of this group of culturally minded citizens. Under her guidance, the Art Center was established and it thrived. Ms. Riley felt the true worth of a community could not be measured by economic success alone, but also had to take into consideration a rich cultural life.