Chico College Connection Museums Theaters Arts

On Display: Arts and Culture at Chico State

January 08, 2024 (Originally published February 03, 2021)
headly-gallery-exterior-museum-chico-state-butte-county-ca
Jason Halley

Chico State Uni­ver­si­ty is the cre­ative train­ing ground for artists and per­form­ers across Butte Coun­ty, mak­ing it home to unique muse­ums and gal­leries you won’t find any­where else — and you don’t have to be a stu­dent to visit!

Gate­way Sci­ence Museum

A half-mile from cam­pus, the best-known of Chico State’s muse­ums is the Gate­way Sci­ence Muse­um. While it’s ded­i­cat­ed to inspir­ing a fas­ci­na­tion with sci­ence in kids, it nev­er fails to bring out the inner explor­er of adven­tur­ous adults as well.

Lax­son Auditorium

Back on cam­pus, just steps from the bus­tle of Down­town Chico, Lax­son Audi­to­ri­um is a cen­tral part of both the uni­ver­si­ty and the larg­er Chico com­mu­ni­ty. With 1,200 seats, it is the largest the­ater in Butte Coun­ty, so it hosts tour­ing groups, spe­cial guests, con­certs, and more, includ­ing stu­dent-pro­duced per­for­mances, through­out the year, mak­ing it a pop­u­lar date-night des­ti­na­tion on any giv­en weekend.

Valene L. Smith Muse­um of Anthropology 

Walk­ing fur­ther into cam­pus, you’ll dis­cov­er both pro­fes­sion­al exhibits and ful­ly stu­dent-cre­at­ed and curat­ed spaces. At the Valene L. Smith Muse­um of Anthro­pol­o­gy in the Meri­am Library com­plex, you’ll always find an unbeat­en stu­dent-led show­case, where Muse­um Stud­ies stu­dents research, design, and install three new exhi­bi­tions each year.

Janet Turn­er Print Museum

At the near­by Arts and Human­i­ties build­ing, three art-focused muse­ums and gal­leries share the first floor, just steps from each oth­er. The Janet Turn­er Print Muse­um hous­es a per­ma­nent col­lec­tion of more than 3,500 fine art prints from 40 coun­tries span­ning six cen­turies, with pub­lic exhi­bi­tions through­out the year.

MFA Gal­leries

Stu­dents pur­su­ing their Mas­ter of Fine arts (MFA) show­case their work at the Mas­ter of Fine Arts Gallery with rotat­ing exhi­bi­tions, while the Jac­ki Headley Uni­ver­si­ty Art Gallery hosts exhibits from region­al, nation­al, and inter­na­tion­al artists in addi­tion to the MFA cul­mi­nat­ing exhi­bi­tions and Annu­al Juried Stu­dent exhi­bi­tion. It’s impos­si­ble not to be inspired!

Under­grad­u­ate Gallery

For under­grad­u­ate art stu­dents, the B‑So Space is a stu­dent-cen­tered area pri­mar­i­ly used for Bach­e­lor of Fine Arts stu­dents to show­case their cul­mi­nat­ing solo exhi­bi­tions as well as fea­ture work from var­i­ous art class­es and stu­dent clubs, where you can see raw tal­ent in the making.

So dur­ing your next vis­it to Butte Coun­ty, make sure to catch a show and explore a gallery at Chico State — no stu­dent ID needed.