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Please Don’t Close Our Pathway [1]
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Date: 2025-05-10 04:00:15+00:00
What is a pathway? In the brain, it’s a series of connected nerves. In a city, it’s a route that gets you from one place to another. A pathway indicates connection and access; it’s how we journey from here to there.
At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the 280 pathway was the bridge between two titanic institutions: the school and the museum. Through galleries of priceless artifacts and past the beautiful stained glass Chagall windows, students had their own corridor of the museum, a reminder that it was part of our campus.
But this pathway is now halted by two giant metal gates that have not been raised for the entirety of the past academic year. It’s now no more functional than a brick wall. This is troublingly emblematic of the museum becoming more separated from the student body.
“Over the past year, we have implemented new security protocols at each visitor entrance and we are not currently able to implement them at the indoor walkway between the buildings. Students are welcome to use our main entrances at the Modern Wing and Michigan Avenue,” said the public affairs office of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Founded in 1879, the museum was a collection of works for students at SAIC, initially called the Chicago Academy of Design, to study. The school predates the museum by 13 years.
Now, the school and the museum are two separate entities that work together. Bree Witt, interim vice president for marketing and communications at SAIC, said, “While the museum and school have a shared mission of promoting the arts and art education, our operations are separate and each has its own president who reports directly to the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees oversees the institution as a whole.”
Today, well over a century later, the resources of the AIC are promoted as a reason to enroll in the school. However, in recent years those promised resources are less available to students.
Students are actively encouraged to utilize the AIC. But the current bag policy and art supply policy limits students’ ability to make art in the AIC.
The bag policy at the AIC is: “Bags and backpacks larger than 13 x 17 x 4 inches are not allowed in the galleries and must be checked. Smaller backpacks should be carried on the front of the body or in your hand.” While this has been the official policy for years, when students were able to use the pathway, they were often allowed to walk through with backpacks and large totes. Without that pathway, students can no longer enter the museum with bags that don’t comply with the existing bag policy.
The official art-making policy for the AIC’s website is: “Sketching is welcome. Sketching with pencils only is allowed in all galleries, including special exhibitions, provided there are no restrictions by lenders.” However, the policy stipulates, “Officers have the discretion to disallow sketching if the galleries are crowded or if sketching is creating a disturbance. Paper and pads must be no larger than 13 x 17 inches. Easels, stools, or anything that interferes with movement in the gallery are not permitted.”
Not allowing easels or stools of any kind is directly stopping disabled students from art making in the museum. In respect to disallow sketching, the website never defines what constitutes a crowd or disturbance. Though the policy does not directly disallow students from art making, the vagueness makes art-making less accessible to students.
While the pathway isn’t the only point of accessibility for students to the AIC, it was one of the last remaining aspects of the museum itself dedicated to the students of SAIC. It was a useful point of entry for students looking to use the work in the AIC to study.
Another important space for the community is the AIC’s North Garden. It’s typically open from spring to fall and closed for the winter. It’s one of the few green spaces at AIC. After the May 4, 2024 student encampment in solidarity with Palestine, the garden was closed and didn’t reopen for its usual use in the summer and fall until this April.
“The museum gardens are open [now]. They usually open in mid-April and close in October and are accessible during museum hours. Throughout the season, the gardens regularly close for major special events that bring increased crowds downtown,” said Salina Tsegai, manager of public affairs for the AIC.
There are still museum resources for students, such as the archives of the Ryerson library, free access to the museum with a student ID, and free tickets for guests.
Student ambassadors would often walk their tour groups of students and parents through the pathway, showcasing the connection between the museum and the school. The pathway closing is symbolic of a larger shift in the community. Students would spend lunch breaks walking through the collections, studying the works even outside of class time. There is something magical and inspiring about being able to spend an afternoon looking at Monets, Félix González-Torres’ “Portrait of Ross in L.A.,” the Thorne Miniature Rooms, or O’Keeffes.
While nothing official has changed, aside from the pathway, things are not the same as they were a year ago. The policies are the same, but the presence is different. The AIC no longer feels like a welcoming place for SAIC students.
The pathway itself wasn’t monumental. It wasn’t an integral part of the school, but it was a part of our lives as students. Its subdued removal was indicative of years of small changes that have more than severed the “School” from the “Art Institute of Chicago.”
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