Monday, October 26, 2026 · 2 p.m. · Philadelphia City Hall

City Council hearing on the closure

Be in the room. 🦖🏛️

Drexel University and the Academy’s board closed the museum on September 27. On Monday, October 26, City Council’s Committee on Legislative Oversight holds its hearing on that decision, with the power to subpoena testimony. This is where the people who decided answer questions on the public record. We need the biggest turnout yet.

Add to calendar Details

WhenMonday, Oct. 262 p.m. Plan on about three hours.
WhereCity Hall1400 John F. Kennedy Boulevard. The room is not published yet; we will add it here.
WhoEveryone.Come, and bring someone who misses the museum.

What this hearing is

On September 17, Councilmembers Nina Ahmad and Jeffery Young Jr. introduced a resolution calling for public hearings on the museum’s closure, with the power to subpoena testimony, and Council adopted it. The hearing, first set for October 7, was postponed to Monday, October 26, at 2 p.m., Councilmember Young announced on October 5. The coalition’s October 8 statement says what we expect from it: the witnesses and documents needed to make a complete public record.

What to expect

Council’s committee runs the hearing and calls the witnesses. Our ask is simple: fill the room. A full room tells Council that Philadelphia is watching, and the hearing’s time should go to putting Drexel’s and the Academy’s leadership on the record, not to us. You do not need to sign up to speak to attend.

Written comment goes into the public record. Council has not yet published how to submit it for this session; when it does, the instructions will be here and in our email. Join the email list so you get them.

Getting there

City Hall sits at Broad and Market Streets, on top of the City Hall station (Broad Street Line) and next to 15th Street station (Market-Frankford Line) and Suburban Station. Everyone goes through security at the public entrance; City Council’s plan-your-visit page has the entrances and the rules: small handheld signs are welcome, nothing mounted on a stick or pole, and no large banners. Arrive early; the room fills.

Before the hearing

Call your Council member and the members who hold the levers right now. What to ask for, and what to say to each of them, is on our who to call on City Council page.

Who to call on City Council

Share this page: save-the-academy.org/council-hearing

Sources: the September 17 resolution on Legistar; Councilmember Young’s October 5 announcement of the new date; City Council’s plan-your-visit page.