Trinity Christian College announced early Tuesday, Nov. 4, that the 2025-2026 school year will be its last. In addition to the students, staff and faculty affected by the closure, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra could have to find a new home.

Trinity’s Ozinga Chapel in Palos Heights has been IPO’s primary concert venue since 2017, according to Ken Churilla, IPO marketing and communications director. However, the orchestra has had other homes and has performed at a number of venues throughout the region.

Executive Director Christina Salerno said the news of the college’s closure next spring came as a surprise.

“We are very sad to see this happen,” she said. “Trinity’s been a great partner for us.” 

Salerno said the organization is committed to staying in the region. The many partnerships IPO has forged over the years will be helpful if the college’s closure forces it to relocate its concert home, she said.

“We’ve developed a lot of partnerships with a lot of the area venues and a lot of the other community groups,” she said. “All options are viable for us right now. IPO’s really in a great position.”

She said relocating an orchestra does have challenges. There are a number of specific criteria, from acoustic properties necessary to convey the orchestra’s unamplified sound to a large enough stage for as many as 90 musicians. The need for comfortable seating, adequate parking and other audience amenities also come into play.

She said the IPO’s audience and its visibility in the region have been growing in the past year.

Although the closure could be disruptive, Salerno said it could also present new opportunities for IPO. 

One opportunity she wanted to take is to use the situation as an opportunity to remind communities how important it is to support all arts organizations.

“The number one thing is that people should really look at all their arts organizations that are in their community as a resource to bringing people together,” she said. “Partaking of what we’re doing enables us to go through these challenges and know that we’re relevant. I would hope that people are doing that for all their arts organizations and community groups.”