sponsor a duck, help the academy restore a gallery
The Water
Water is a lifegiving, nourishing substance. Water has the ability to transform. Without water, no life can thrive.
Water can also take from us.
Unfortunately, the latter was recently the case for some of The Academy’s spaces. In the early hours of January 11, 2026, a water main between the church and The Academy burst and caused considerable damage to our Visual Arts Lower Gallery and Studio, the Media Arts Photography Lab, and some equipment and records storage areas.
The Bad
The water caused damage to the floors, carpets, walls, and equipment in all these spaces. The damage to these teaching, creative, and exhibition spaces – while challenging – is temporary. The gallery and classroom spaces can be cleaned, repaired, and restored. In fact, considerable good is to come from the situation – restoration of these spaces is an opportunity for revisioning. Through repair, we have the opportunity to refresh these spaces.
More challenging is the damage to student artworks that were being installed in the Lower Gallery as part of the Visual Arts Department’s Winter Juried Exhibition. These students poured their souls into work for the exhibition, and the water washed away their efforts in a matter of hours.
Hanae Meniooh (‘27) and Dionne Eskridge (‘27) are two Visual Arts students whose work was most impacted by the water. Both Hanae and Dionne had elements of their respective artworks destroyed by the water, while other elements were able to be restored.
You will hear directly from Hanae and Dionne in the following weeks. Their stories of loss and recovery are powerful and represent important lessons rarely taught as an emerging artists’ training.
The Good
Cleanup and restoration is underway. Students are reimagining their pieces. Academy life is slowly getting back to normal. The story could be one of loss – we are choosing to tell the story as one of resilience.
The Academy is a resilient community – we have confronted and overcome many challenges in our almost 50 year history. Water damage to our Lower Gallery, Visual Arts Studio, and Media Arts Photography Lab is among our current challenges, but our community has resilience and resourcefulness in our DNA.
Artists are uniquely positioned to be resilient people. Confronting challenges and recovering from their impacts are what art is often about. The Academy community will learn much from this latest challenge and emerge as a better, stronger, more resilient community for the experience.
The Ask
Recovery and restoration will require two elements: the first, grit to see the work through; and the second, support from the community. The Academy’s students, faculty, and staff have plenty of grit. We now need your support!
Taking a cue from the famous Chicago River Duck Derby, The Academy is having its own version of a duck derby!
Your participation in The Academy’s duck derby provides support for recovery efforts currently underway, as well as amplifies support for educational outcomes in all our classrooms, studios, and theaters.
How the derby works:
“Supporter Duck” – $10
A donation-only option to help support recovery.
“Rubber Duck” – $25
Receive one general raffle entry for a chance to win one of these exciting prizes:
Gift certificate to Mino’s in Winnetka (FMV $250)
Immersive tour of the Sanfilippo Estate in Barrington Hills (FMV invaluable)
Fisher Nuts gift basket (FMV $100)
Dessert basket from S.K.Y.’s pastry chef (FMV $50)
Nora Fleming platter and a selection of “Minis” (FMV $100)
Gift basket from Tails in the City pet store (FMV $300)
Two general admission tickets to this year’s All-School Showcase (FMV $100)
Four tickets to an Academy production of your choice (FMV $100)
“Academy Duck” – $100
Receive 15 general raffle entries and a custom-made duck created by an Academy student. (FMV invaluable)
“Dancing Duck” – $250
Receive 30 general raffle entries, a custom-made student duck, and a chance to win two tickets and backstage passes to the Joffrey’s production of Eugene Onegin. (FMV $400)
“Grand Prize Duck” – $500
Receive 75 general raffle entries, a custom-made student duck, and a chance to win a dinner with our Head of School, Dr. Mindy Ronayne, at Charlie Martin’s. (FMV invaluable)
While there’s no actual duck race – because the affected spaces have been drained and going downtown to the river seems like a chore – every duck you “adopt” helps paddle us closer to fully restoring our spaces.
Our duck derby starts today and runs through Monday, February 23, with winners announced throughout the following week. All proceeds will support the clean-up and restoration of the Lower Gallery, Visual Arts Studio, and Media Arts Photography Lab, helping bring it back to life for our students and community.
Thank you for jumping in the deep end with us and supporting our community.
