DePaul Art Museum closing Lincoln Park site in June

After nearly 15 years of serving as a venue for underrepresented artists in Chicago and beyond, DePaul University announced Thursday that its art museum will close its doors for good on June 30.

The DePaul Art Museum announcement comes two months after the university laid off 114 full-time and part-time staff in December. Administrators cited financial troubles due to a significant drop in international graduate student enrollment, increased demand for financial aid and the rising costs of benefits.

“As part of our responsibility to ensure long-term financial sustainability for our university, we are continuing to engage in ongoing budget planning discussions,” said university leadership in a statement on Thursday about the museum closure.

In 2025, DePaul’s museum lost an expected $500,000 in funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. That funding supported a partnership with Chicago Public Schools, said Laura-Caroline de Lara, the museum’s director.

A November 2025 survey from the American Alliance of Museums found that one-third of U.S. museums (34%) have struggled in the wake of the cancellation of government grants and contracts after a series of Trump executive orders that impact the arts.

The funds cut for museums came primarily from the IMLS, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

De Lara said the museum’s closure is a “deep loss” for DePaul and the greater Chicago arts scene.

“It means that there are so many students and professors that have lost a really important resource for their teaching and learning,” she said. “I think we were a place that became known for our transparency and for our care for our audiences and the artists that we work with. … It feels like a real great cultural loss for the city.”

Last year, the museum opened “Tengo Lincoln Park en mi Corazón: Young Lords in Chicago,” which takes a look at the Puerto Rican civil rights organization that got its start in the same neighborhood the museum and university call home.

Besides de Lara, only one other full-time employee remains. Ionit Behar, a former curator, left the museum earlier this month for a job at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

The closure announcement comes after months of museum leadership working closely with the university to find common ground and keep the museum open through the end of the academic year.

“I worked to fundraise to be able to keep all of our positions through the end of the year,” de Lara said. Student workers also will keep their positions through June.

In its full statement on Thursday, the university said it would not sell the building at 935 W. Fullerton nor leave it empty. But the future of more than 4,000 objects in the museum’s collection is unclear for now.

The collection includes more than 1,000 photographs by artists including Andy Warhol and Chicagoans Dawoud Bey and Paul D’Amato. The museum also has a considerable holding of West African objects and Latino art.

“We're working now to put together options for the university in terms of the collection so that we can ensure that the collection continues to be cared for,” de Lara said.

Two final exhibitions featuring the work of painters Barbara Nessim and Alice Tippit are set to open at DPAM on March 5 and run through the museum’s closure.

“Artists are the key to what we do, in addition to the students,” de Lara said. “I don't want their opening and the celebration of their work to get lost amidst all of this.”