Program areas at CAC
Tours are the hallmark of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and offer insights into Chicago's buildings, neighborhoods, and environments. Due to the effects of covid-19, attendance decreased from 411,000 visitors in 2019 to 47,122 in 2020. Cac tours are given by 400 trained volunteer docents who also write and conceptualize the tour offerings for boat, bus, walking and el.cac opened a 20,000 square foot Architecture center and simultaneously rebranded as the Chicago Architecture center (cac) in late summer 2018. The center offers a skyscraper gallery, rotating exhibits and a large-scale interactive model of the city of Chicago.
Cac offers exhibitions and public programs on the subject of Architecture and the built environment. In 2020, attendance for the cac decreased by 88% to 10,500 people who participated in our exhibitions. Because public programs were virtual, we were able to grow our audience to 15,000 people who attended talks on subjects such as sustainability, preservation, planning and design. Open house Chicago was extended to a 17-day festival and attracted new audiences to cac who explored neighborhoods and trails throughout the city by using a new interactive app in addition to participating in dynamic virtual community programs. More than 120,000 people participated.
The cac youth initiatives and cac teen programs provide programming and tours about Architecture and the built environment, covering "stem" curriculum subjects of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, for k-12 students and teachers. Cac directly served over 30,000 students, family and teachers through field trips, workshops, competitions, camps, internships and classroom programs. 2020 was the 38th year of the newhouse Architecture and design competition and took on an all-virtual format. Core programs, including girls build!, teen fellows and summer camps continued, and new options, such as cac for the family (video and hands-on activity series) served new and existing audiences in Chicago and beyond.