IAEOU

Pros: Artsy space, free coffee, relatively inexpensive to rent
Cons: Terribly inconsiderate and two-​faced staff, agree with other posters here that the owner of the space is rude and predatory, website is shoddy and always had issues (need to rent space on the website to use the space), had to reach out to Paypal to force a stop payment because no knew how to cancel my monthly payment (the person I booked with left because of similar reasons)
Conclusion: Not worth the headache or maliciousness, look elsewhere

I’ve been debating for awhile whether I should review this place, and finally decided that people should know NOT to get involved with this program.
I agree with another reviewer that the owner, Lisa, is not a fair or rational businesswoman. I used to be a member and I attended the school. The space itself and the idea of this shared artist’s space is great, but I was treated completely unfairly by Lisa as well. Just as the other reviewer said, at first she wanted to be my best friend, but once I went to her about some issues I was having with the program, she terminated and dismissed me, insulted me over several emails, and said I was not teachable or coachable, and said I was poorly collaborating with the group because I did not discuss my decision to discontinue the program with the rest of the class first. (Who on Earth does that?). I met several great brilliant students here and it’s a shame I can no longer associate myself with the space. I know several students are treated like this, and the ones who are not will tell you they have seen Lisa treat many students this way. I don’t see that this place can sustain itself too long while in operation by this woman.

Caveat Emptor … these incubators have been springing up all over. I went to a presentation last year and really liked the space, edgy area of Chicago. This impressed me enough to register … and pay for … a 12 week Saturday AM course to get my project up to speed.
PREDATORY BUSINESS PRACTICES
After being told
(1) if I followed her (Lisa Canning) instructions, my astrologically based name tag (a compatibility device) would be brought to a successful market launch; this first class consisted of Lisa signifying her creds — believing that an online success selling flutes qualified her to incubate creative projects to market, that her success was transferable;
(2) second Saturday, Lisa said that I would be a big success if I could write like Susan Miller — Susan is writes a monthly column for Vogue; I actually wanted Michael Lutin’s column at Vanity Fair however …
by week (3) after asking me if I wanted to join iaeou and pay a monthly fee to use the space at will and the facilities. I said the location made transportation logistically daunting and I couldn’t do it. Then Lisa told me my project sucked and I would be best advised to burn it all. Plus, I was unteachable. I dismissed myself and left, and later asked for my lunch money back. She said it was not their policy. I said in that case I would write a Unilocal review in April with the eclipse (which affects her horoscope)
I can add that this was followed up by an emailed plea to return and talk strategy.
Also adding that in 2 of the 3 sessions (of the 12 I paid for) … Lisa Canning spent the first 10 minutes of the ‘class’ redressing her tech assistant for tardiness, stressing on how unprofessional it was to be late and unreliable. I mean, she tore her a new one. not realizing I presume in her poor little rich girl arrogance, that yelling at your professional assistants in front of clients is not highly rated as adept professional behavior.
Well Caveat Emptor, the space is cute and could be workable if you can avoid Ms. Canning who is kind of whack

I have been really impressed with IAEOU so far. I went to the Open House last night and I met a lot of interesting people working on a lot of different things — photography, theater production, opera, board game development, fashion design, up-​cycling, dance instruction, life coaching, and who knows what else, all in the same room. I think IAEOU has a unique premise — that creative entrepreneurs can be successful if given the right tools, connections, and skills. Then they built a space to do all those things, natch. There is a lot of potential here, I am excited to watch them grow!