The Cliff Dwellers is a private club of less than 300 members who enjoy engaging with the arts and the company of like-minded others.

Many members are, or have been, actively engaged in music, painting, writing, acting, architecture, design, and related categories or are involved in arts education. Other members support the arts through regular attendance at concerts, theater events, art exhibitions, or humanities lectures, or through financial sponsorship.

In accordance with The Club’s long tradition of acceptance, there is no dress code and casual attire mixes with business dress. On special occasions, formal attire may be suggested, but your attire is up to you.

PHOTO BY TOM ROSSITER

Membership

The Cliff Dwellers Club welcomes all those who are either involved in, or supportive of, the arts, aged 25 year or over. We have low initiation fees, and our monthly dues (based on membership classification) are affordable and significantly less than those of other Chicago social clubs.

We’d love to get to know you, and give you the chance to see if the Cliff Dwellers is a good fit for you! We offer a three-month trial membership for a one-time fee of $250. During that time you can join us for all of our dining, and cultural events just like members with full priveleges. At the end of that time you can decide whether you’d like to apply for full-time membership!

Membership Benefits

Members and their guests can take advantage of the following offerings:

  • Programs and Events, including speakers (such as recently-published authors), music programs, timely lectures on museum exhibition, architectural presentations, and other topics of interest to club members.
  • Special interest groups, like the Sketch Club, which meets monthly for fun and non-judgemental sketching sessions, the Theatre Club which organizes outings to Chicagoland theatres with followup discussions, the Poetry Society, which reads and discusses poetry in an informal setting, and more!
  • Club gallery showings, which rotate every four to six weeks. The works most often are by a single artist who typically is introduced to members with a reception shortly after the exhibit is mounted.
  • Reduced parking for a number of local garages, which allow up to 12-hour stays (whether or not you visit the Club)!
  • Low ititation fees, and affordable monthly dues.  (See the Club Dues Schedule below,)
  • Event space rental for members’ special events such as weddings, receptions or other events or meetings.
  • Reciprocal clubs access to over 30 clubs in other U.S. cities and countries such as the Cosmos Club, Washington, D.C. and the City University Club, London, England.

Please send other questions to membership@cliff-chicago.org or check out the contents of other pages included in this website. We do appreciate your interest in The Cliff Dwellers, now in its second century of service!