T.J. Brescia, a 19-year-old DePaul University sophomore, convinced three of his friends to attend a silent demonstration on the Lincoln Park campus Thursday.
He was among more than 130 students, faculty, staff, arts leaders and Lincoln Park neighbors who lined up from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. just outside the DePaul Art Museum, 935 W. Fullerton Ave., to send a message to university leadership: They want the museum, which closed on June 30, to reopen.
The art museum ceased operations “to ensure long-term financial sustainability for our university,” university leadership said in a statement. Days after the initial announcement, university staff, faculty, students, alumni and notable Chicago arts leaders added their names to a letter of opposition to the closure. As of publication time, the letter has nearly 4,000 signatures.
“This has justifiably p – – – – – everyone I know off,” said Brescia’s friend, DePaul sophomore Theo Tran, 20.
Brescia said he never got to visit the museum, but as an art lover, he is disappointed. “I’m here today because I would love to eventually see it reopen,” he said.
Campus security was not present, but nearly a dozen uniformed police officers kept watch from underneath the nearby CTA tracks. A few school administrators were also keeping an eye on things.
The demonstration was organized anonymously, as word circulated online with the hashtag “#waitingatDPAM.” A flyer described the event as “an open call to the public to gather in line at the closed doors” of the museum.
Though closed to the public, it still holds the majority of the university’s collection of more than 4,000 objects.
“It is strange to be in a building where two of the floors are kind of remnants of the past,” said Laura-Caroline de Lara, the museum’s director and only full-time employee. She has served as director since January 2022.
“The galleries are empty. The lights are turned off,” de Lara said. “It’s strange for a place that had been so lively and warm.”
But the museum is receiving plenty of loan requests, de Lara said. “I think it’s been one of the largest years on record for other institutions requesting works from us, which is incredible, and means that the collection still has a life,” she said.
De Lara said she’s even working on several multi-year loan agreements for specific artworks. And plenty of DePaul professors still use the museum’s collections for their syllabi, especially the museum studies department.
Though she had no hand in organizing the demonstration, de Lara attended with her family. “My charge is still caring for an incredible collection, and for ensuring that that incredible collection gets some play outside of storage,” she said.
Cynthia Noble, executive director of Art on the Mart, also attended the protest.
“I want to support the students and the faculty here at a Catholic college because I am a Catholic,” Noble said. “Pope [Leo XIV] actually just came out and said incredible things about the importance of human creation versus AI creation. I think there’s a great irony to a Catholic university closing down its visual arts museum at this time.”
DePaul issued a statement to the Sun-Times and WBEZ Thursday, saying the university “welcomes this peaceful demonstration in support of the arts in Chicago. The decision to stop operations at the DePaul Art Museum was a difficult one, as many institutions around the country are facing budgetary constraints.”
The statement confirmed DePaul still has zero plans to sell the art collection or building. A task force including several faculty members has been formed, and it’s working closely with the university’s president and provost to reimagine the future of the art museum and its collections.
The museum was considered an important local venue for underrepresented artists. Its collection also includes photography by artists including Andy Warhol and Chicagoans Dawoud Bey and Paul D’Amato. The museum also boasts a significant collection of West African objects and Latino art.
“All of us want to see DPAM open again as soon as possible,” said Brother Mark Elder, a muralist and art professor. He was the first person in line Thursday.
Members of the art museum task force, which includes faculty members such as Elder and Mark DeLancey, an art history professor, said they’ve been meeting nearly every week.
“This is a question about what we want the character of this museum to be going forward,” DeLancey said. The task force is scheduled to present a report at a faculty council meeting Dec. 2, he said.
“We’re not out to protest anything beyond the closure of the DePaul Art Museum,” DeLancey said. “We hope that the image of people lining up before doors that are closed to them will make the point.”