FAA
Wanna get ahead this summer? Take a Gen Ed course in the arts!
We`ve got topics like intro to art, contemporary dance, and theatre arts, as well as urban sustainability and the history of rock music 🎶🎸
Check out more course info ➡️ link in bio!
🎉 Huge congratulations to Professor Akima Brackeen from the Illinois School of Architecture, recipient of the 2025–26 Lily Auchincloss Rome Prize in Architecture! 🏛️
Awarded by the American Academy in Rome, this prestigious fellowship supports visionary artists and scholars through an immersive residency in the heart of Rome. Professor Brackeen is one of 35 recipients selected from nearly 1,000 applicants worldwide.
This fall, she will join an interdisciplinary community on the Academy’s campus in Rome to continue her transformative work in architecture. @amacademyrome
Congrats, Professor Brackeen! @helloakima @archatillinois
Read more with the link in bio 🔗
#RomePrize #AmericanAcademyInRome #IllinoisArchitecture #WeDesign
🎭“Let yourself be the beginner again.” — Gianna Casanova, Lyric Theatre major
Why Gianna chose @lyrictheatreillinois?
✔️ Classical and contemporary training
✔️ Opportunities to perform in operas and musicals
✔️ A tight-knit, supportive cohort and faculty
✔️ World-class practice and performance spaces
Her days are packed with rehearsals, dance classes, studio sessions, and learning from peers and professors who truly care.
Advice to future majors: Come ready to learn, be curious, and soak it all in 🧡
@illinoismusic @krannertcenter
Video by @ad1tik
Today is the last day of our I ❤️ the Arts student philanthropy month of giving. Join us INSIDE the Architecture Building from 11am-1pm for food and FAA swag to celebrate the close of our initiative. Together, we can make a difference and help support a student in need. Show your love for the arts now by making a gift at go.illinois.edu/heart-the-arts!
Happy International Dance Day 🎉
Today we honor the universal language of movement alongside @danceatillinois.
On International Dance Day, we celebrate the power of dance to connect cultures, express emotion, and inspire change.
To our dancers, teachers, alumni, and friends:
Thank you for making our community vibrant, creative, and fearless. Today, we celebrate YOU!
#InternationalDanceDay #danceunitesus
Photo by Natalie Fiol
From "Khazan (Autumn)" by Banafsheh Amiri
🌿 New research led by landscape architecture professors William Sullivan and Bin Jiang reveals a powerful connection between green spaces and public safety. Their study—the first of its kind—shows that communities with more greenery experience significantly fewer fatal police shootings, especially in areas facing social and economic challenges. Read how thoughtful landscape design can shape safer, healthier neighborhoods.
@illinoislandarch
Learn more at the🔗 link in bio!
#LandscapeArchitecture #UrbanGreening #PublicSafety #CommunityDesign
Dance at Illinois alumna Leslie Cuyjet (BFA ’03) has been selected as a 2025 Guggenheim Fellow as part of the Foundation`s 100th year anniversary. This competitive honor was only presented to 198 exceptional individuals across 53 disciplines—selected from nearly 3,500 applicants.
Cuyjet, who is based out of Brooklyn, NY, has been choreographing and dancing in New York since 2004, collaborating and performing with other creators “on rooftops, good and bad floors, and alleyways; on stage, in film, art, on tour, and on the fly.” She is also the recipient of two Bessie Awards for her work, a top honor in the world of dance.
The Fellowship provides support for recipients to pursue independent work under what the Foundation calls “the freest possible conditions.” It empowers choreographers to explore bold ideas, push creative boundaries, and make meaningful contributions to the field of dance—something Cuyjet has been doing already for over a decade —without commercial or institutional constraints.
A huge congratulations to Leslie! We can`t wait to see what comes of this remarkable opportunity!
Read more in the link in bio! @danceatillinois @guggfellows
Are you the recipient of a financial need-based scholarship? Over a third of Illinois students are here because they were provided with some form of need-based aid. Your gift can help make the difference between a student attending FAA at Illinois or having to decline enrollment due to financial constraints. Every gift counts. Will you make a gift today? go.illinois.edu/heart-the-arts
BSSD
BSSD students, don’t forget to register for a portfolio review! Director Karin Hodgin Jones or Program Coordinator Tali Weinberg are here to provide personalized feedback and support in preparing your portfolio for career fairs and grad school applications.
Students at any stage of portfolio development are welcome to sign up for these 20-minute one-on-ones!
⭐️Advanced registration is required.⭐️
When: Fridays, December 5th &12th, 9:30am-2:00pm.
Link in bio or visit https://go.illinois.edu/PortfolioReviews
Dec 5th & 12th- BSSD Portfolio Reviews ⭐️Advanced registration required⭐️
Getting ready for career fairs? Thinking about graduate school? Sign-up for a 20-minute, one-on-one meeting with Director Karin Hodgin Jones or Program Coordinator Tali Weinberg to receive personalized feedback and support in preparing your portfolio. Students at any stage of portfolio development are welcome! Please plan to arrive a few minutes before your appointment with materials ready to review, either on your computer or printed.
When: Fridays, December 5th and 12th, 9:30am-2:00pm.
Link in bio or visit https://go.illinois.edu/PortfolioReviews
Dec 10- Last Day of Instruction
Dec 11- Reading Day (No classes) Take advantage of Reading Day resources all over campus!! ☕📖
Dec 12-18- Finals Week - Good Luck!! 📘✏️
The BSSD offices are closed this week for fall break. We look forward to seeing you back here in December!
Getting ready for career fairs? Thinking about graduate school? Sign-up for a 20-minute, one-on-one meeting with Director Karin Hodgin Jones or Program Coordinator Tali Weinberg to receive personalized feedback and support in preparing your portfolio.
Students at any stage of portfolio development are welcome! Please plan to arrive a few minutes before your appointment with materials ready to review, either on your computer or printed.
When: Fridays, December 5th and 12th, 9:30am-2:00pm.
⭐️Advanced registration is required.⭐️
Link in bio or visit https://go.illinois.edu/PortfolioReviews
👀 Our first exhibition in the new sustainable design gallery space is now on view! Have you seen it?
🌎 The show features documentation, reflections, and design interventions conceived by BSSD students who participated in a community-based sustainable design study abroad course to Puerto Rico. While there, students met with local academics, artists, activists, and communities working with Casa Pueblo in the Altos de Cuba neighborhood of Adjuntas. They were then tasked with documenting and sharing Casa Pueblo’s achievements as well as actively contributing to the improvement of Altos de Cuba through sustainable design interventions. We invite you to learn about their experiences engaging with Casa Pueblo’s energy independence and economic development work, as well as the designs students conceived for a meaningful, sustainable, community gathering space. ✏️
📍Now on view in the Sustainable Design Corridor on the 2nd floor of the Architecture Building. Stop by anytime!
🏆 Nov 18 - S’mores & Gourd Games | Join Sustainable Design and Epsilon Eta Epsilon @treee_uiuc for a fun-filled friendly competition! Work in teams to build s’mores structures and paint gourds to make a delicious scene. The winning teams will come away with FAA / BSSD swag. No team, no problem — join a team when you arrive. Bring a friend (BSSD or otherwise)! Join us on the bottom floor of Siebel Center for Design in the annex outside of The Shop.
🍂 Nov 22-30- Fall Break!! Enjoy a week of no classes and relaxation. We look forward to seeing you back here on December 1st!
👗Dec 1- Deadline to register for Study Abroad Fashion in Italy ARTS 391. This is an approved elective for BSSD students. Learn more. https://go.illinois.edu/FashionAbroad
🖼️ Ongoing- Casa Pueblo Exhibition | Our first exhibition is on view on the 2nd floor of the Architecture Building, near the BSSD offices. Stop by to learn more
Sarah Bingham received a BSSD opportunity scholarship last year to support LEED certification. Swipe to learn about the scholarship’s impact and read her advice to fellow students.
How did you use the opportunity scholarship?
I used the BSSD opportunity scholarship to pay for the Leading Green LEED study prep material and the LEED GA exam. I learned so much about LEED and how to work towards certifying a building over the summer in my internship, but the test prep material was essential in knowing the format and wording of questions that would be on the exam. Having LEED GA accreditation has furthered my knowledge of sustainability of the built environment and will hopefully make me more competitive as a job applicant.
How did BSSD help prepare you?
LEED credits are multidisciplinary and include sustainability of materials, location, design, HVAC systems, water usage, construction processes, etc. similar to this multidisciplinary approach BSSD has in their curriculum. BSSD prepared me with a lot of baseline knowledge and vocabulary needed to understand the sustainability factors within these processes.
Swipe to read more
Check out these great projects by BSSD students in Professor Eric Benson’s ART 451: Ethics of a Designer in a Global Economy (EDGE) course this fall 🔥🤩
The class presents complex problems of ethics within the graphic design practice. They hosted an open house on November 3rd featuring many projects. Here are photos of just a few!
This was the assignment: “Locate a design field that interests you (landscape architecture, architecture, packaging, UIUX, fashion, etc.) and collect 5-10 examples of the best ethical design in that area to serve as case studies. Develop a list of what makes them ethical and good. Use your ethics manifesto and propose something better. You can also take (recommended) what you proposed as an unethical design and make it the best it can be.”
