Saint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) will close its doors in May 2026 after 33 years on campus.
MOCRA, which exhibits contemporary art with interfaith themes, will continue operations until the end of the 2025-26 academic year. The museum displays art that expresses issues, themes and reflections of differing religious or spiritual beliefs. According to a SLU news release published on March 19, the closing is part “of ongoing efforts to align resources with strategic priorities and ensure Saint Louis University’s long-term financial sustainability.”
David Brinker, has served the museum for 30 years and has been its director since 2019. As director, he is responsible for the museum’s operations which he said face financial concerns despite university funding.
“The real challenge is that funding has been basically stagnant for a number of years, whereas costs and expenses keep going up,” Brinker said.
As one of three museums in SLU’s Museums and Libraries department, MOCRA has been funded by the university. In addition, MOCRA receives money from donors and grants such as the Regional Arts Council of St. Louis to support events, exhibitions and operational costs.
It is one of the latest departments to face cuts as a result of the university’s $20 million budget deficit announced last September.
“We recognize that the difficult decision to close MOCRA next year will bring a range of emotions for many in our community who have been moved and inspired by its exhibitions, collections and educational programs and the conversations they sparked,” said Jennifer Nutefall, dean of University Libraries and Museums, in the March 19 statement.
When asked about the museum’s operational costs, Brinker declined to provide details, deferring the question to Nutefall, who could not be reached for comment.
Established in 1993 by Terrence Dempsey, S.J., MOCRA showcases religious multimedia contemporary art by an international community of artists and hosts class visits, lectures, symposiums and performances. The MOCRA blog and MOCRA Voices — the museum’s podcast — facilitate conversations with contemporary artists and provide context for displayed art pieces. The museum has displayed permanent works and exhibitions, such as Andy Warhol’s Silver Clouds, over the past 46 years.
Some students and faculty in SLU’s visual and performing arts department did not expect the museum to close. Skye Gabbard, a senior studying studio art, was not aware of the closing and described how her art classes do not regularly visit MOCRA.
“There are already so few things at SLU that represent the arts,” Gabbard said. “It’s disheartening to see the arts at SLU decrease in scope while we have to continue paying for our own art supplies and fees on top of paying for tuition.”
Olubukola (Bukky) Gbadegesin, an associate professor with joint appointments in the department of African American studies and the department of visual and performing arts, visits MOCRA with her students and for her own scholarship purposes. Gbadegesin was also surprised to learn of MOCRA’s closing, especially because she said the decision came without consulting stakeholders within SLU and the St. Louis community.
“This museum contributes so much to what makes SLU unique in the arts and among other Jesuit universities and colleges,” Gbadegesin said. “Its loss would be a huge disservice for the arts at SLU and for SLU’s unique place in the St. Louis art community.”
The museum’s permanent pieces will join Saint Louis University Museum of Art’s (SLUMA) collections, although the exact way is unclear. Currently on display are works such as “Triptych: Eleventh, Twelfth, and Thirteenth Stations of the Cross for Latin America – La Pasin” by Michael Tracy and “Mother and Child” by Romare Bearden.
“There are major moves in contemporary art that are exploring spirituality,” Brinker said. “As a vital aspect of contemporary artistic practice, it is my hope that what MOCRA has done will be available in many ways so others can take inspiration and build upon these themes.”
In the next 15 months, Brinker said MOCRA plans to continue its mission of sharing visual, artistic explorations of religion. “Continuum (Continued): Figuration and Abstraction in the MOCRA collection,” an exhibition displaying spiritual dimensions through the human body and abstraction, will be open to the public until May 15.
MOCRA is also hosting a public conversation on May 3 titled “Meditations: Black Expression, Creativity, and the Spirit — Live!” that invites artists around the country to discuss the intersection of spirituality, abstraction and the artistic practices of Black artists.
An exhibition titled “To See this Place: Awakening to Our Common Home,” will open in the fall semester.
Brinker said MOCRA has a unique thematic focus that opens the floor for artists to discuss spirituality through art. For over 30 years, he said the museum has offered an important way to showcase the “diverse, challenging and vital ways that artists are engaging with spirituality and religion.”
“MOCRA is one of the first contemporary art museums with an interfaith focus,” Brinker said. “There are preconceptions with how contemporary artists engage with spirituality and religion in their work, causing contemporary religious art to go unnoticed.”
Brinker indicated SLU’s other museum’s, SLUMA, McNamee Gallery in the Samuel Cupples House museum and SLU’s VPA department as other resources that also explore interfaith in contemporary art. The MOCRA website also lists other museums, galleries and university art programs that showcase spiritual themes.
“I’ll always treasure my interactions with visitors, whether that be a class visit or individual conversation,” Brinker said. “There’s moments where I can see when someone’s connecting with a work of art, and I can see a spark in their eye, and I can tell that they are beginning to engage with the work. That’s been a really rewarding part of my job here.”
A previous version of this article misstated the name of MOCRA’s director. He is David Brinker, not Daniel.
