The
American Conservatory of Music (
ACM) was a major
American school of music founded in 1886 by
John James Hattstaedt (1851–1931). The conservatory was incorporated as an Illinois non-profit corporation. It was located in Chicago until 1991 when its Board of Trustees — chaired by Frederic Wilbur Hickman (b. 1927) — voted to close the institution, file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, liquidate the assets, and dissolve the corporation. An organization in
Hammond, Indiana and
Belize, currently uses the name "
American Conservatory of Music" and identifies itself as the reorganized continuation of the Chicago institution.