The Academic Culture Association Institute of Art was founded in 1997. Its founding members were professors of Krakow universities, students and celebrities from the cultural milieu.

Institute of Art at the Cracow University of Economics is one of the largest non-governmental organizations in Poland. The Institute's mission is to create new cultural events, to support young talented artists, to initiate charity actions and to work out and implement a program of an effective co-operation between culture and business.

The Academic Culture Association Institute of Art has been the organizer of many prestigious cultural events in Poland, as for example The Student Song Festival and The International Competition of Contemporary Chamber Music. The Institute supports the promotion of its laureates in many countries of the world, and the concerts organized abroad are respected by both the critics and the public.

Since 2001 the Association has been managing the Pod Jaszczurami Club, the oldest student club in Poland. Currently, the Club is again the centre of academic culture, visited every year by thousands of students, famous writers, musicians, critics, painters, eminent representatives of the Polish government.

In January 2003 The Institute of Art obtained from the governor in Malopolska region the honourable badge for the significant merits to Cracow province. The Association was also nominated to Nike 2003 statuette (Allianz Prizes) for important artistic initiatives and supporting young talented artists. In December 2003 Institute of Art was honoured by the prestigious Prize of Royal City of Cracow in the field of culture activity and promotion of Cracow culture in Poland and abroad.