Columbia College Chicago's main campus in the South Loop includes several galleries and cultural facilities accessible to the public. The Museum of Contemporary Photography on Michigan Avenue (free admission) has one of the strongest photography collections in the Midwest and programmes serious curatorial exhibitions. The Glass Curtain Gallery on Wabash shows student and emerging professional work.
The college's presence in the South Loop has been one of the factors in the neighbourhood's cultural development since the 1990s — Columbia enrolls approximately 7,000 students in arts and media disciplines, and their presence maintains a younger demographic in the residential blocks around Michigan and Wabash. The museum is open Tuesday–Saturday; free.