Closure of DePaul Art Museum leaves collection in limbo

DePaul University announced on 26 February that it will close the DePaul Art Museum (DPAM) in Lincoln Park, with the museum set to shut on 30 June, prompting an open letter from students and faculty that quickly gathered more than 3,000 signatures. Founded in 1985, DPAM moved in 2011 into a new $7.8 million, 15,350-square-foot, three-storey LEED-certified building that signaled the university’s investment in the arts. The closure follows DePaul’s projected 2026 budget deficit and a plan to cut spending by $27.4 million, after 114 staff were laid off last December; director Laura-Caroline de Lara raised funds to keep staff and fulfill contractually obligated exhibitions through June. Former director Julie Rodrigues Widholm, now at UC Berkeley’s Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, questioned how closing the museum addresses higher education’s financial challenges and emphasized DPAM’s training role for students, including those in museum studies.

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