SACI Studio Art Centers International, Florence, Italy, was founded by artist and director emeritus Jules Maidoff in Tuscany in 1975 and incorporated in 1976 as a U.S. non-profit 501 c (3) educational institution for undergraduate and graduate university-level students seeking fully accredited studio art, design, and liberal arts instruction.
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SACI offers five different programs of study to meet the diverse needs of students: Academic Year Abroad, Academic Semester Abroad, Post-Baccalaureate Program, MFA Program, and Summer Studies (including summer term non-credit study programs).
Currently the school's president is Mary Beckinsale.
Studio Art Centers International is accredited as an institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) . Additionally, SACI is accredited for undergraduate and graduate US university-level study through its affiliation with Bowling Green State University (BGSU), which is a US degree-granting institution accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools.
Palazzo dei Cartelloni, SACI's home, is a 29,000-square-foot (2,700 m2) air-conditioned palazzo, located at Via Sant'Antonino 11. It has a beautiful gallery/exhibition space, classrooms, a library, offices, an art conservation laboratory, media facilities and studios surrounding a large, traditional Italian garden. The spacious and light-filled interiors, have been restored to their original Baroque magnificence, with painted ceilings, frescoed walls and marble floors. This location places SACI students in the vicinity of the Duomo, the churches of San Lorenzo and Santa Maria Novella, and is just steps away from the central market and the new Alinari photography museum.The Palazzo was remodeled as a residence in the 17th century for the mathematician Vincenzo Viviani, who had been a pupil of the astronomer and scientist Galileo Galilei. Viviani dedicated his home to his esteemed teacher and placed two large scrolls on the building's façade that describe the extraordinary work and achievements of his master. One notices the Palazzo immediately by the bust of Galileo that crowns the palatial entranceway. Viviani created this monument to Galileo in defiance of the papal ban that forbade honoring the work of Galileo partly because of Galileo's assertion that, "The truth of nature is more important than traditional dogma." SACI's home is, therefore, a unique monument to a man who is considered "one of the two greatest sons of Florence" (along with Michelangelo Buonarroti), an accolade inscribed on the buildings scrolls.
The SACI Gallery provides a professional, non-commercial exhibition space for the SACI Artists Council members, instructors, and students as well as other local, national, and internationally renowned artists. Contemporary art exhibitions of works in all media are featured. The SACI Gallery aims to utilize its educational environment by supplementing the exhibitions with visiting artist presentations and artist lectures. It is a goal of the SACI Gallery to act as a catalyst between the cross-cultural American university environment and the local Italian community by collaborating with other cultural institutions and participating in outside creative projects.
The SACI Gallery was designed by Architect Paolo Bulletti and its renovation was made possible in part through a generous donation by artist Roger Phillips. The SACI Gallery is approximately 675 square feet (62.7 m2), has high vaulted ceilings, movable partition walls, and is adjacent to our interior courtyard garden.