Three friends, one storefront

Daniel Silva, muralist Mr. Pintamuro and Julio Anaya of Little Village Local set out to open Te-Qu, an exhibition space and cultural hub on 26th Street, in time for Chicago's fall art season.

The party was set for July 30

The grand opening was supposed to be a full block celebration: local dignitaries, a DJ, catering, and a crowd of neighbors.

One day out, it collapsed

The Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection told Te-Qu it could not issue a business license. The reason: the property sits in a residential zone.

Not asking for a seat

Chicago Exhibition Week runs mostly through the West Loop and Near West Side. Silva and his partners are not trying to join that table. They want to build their own on the South Side.

A building with many lives

Te-Qu took over a vacant storefront at 3126 W. 26th St., steps from the Little Village Arch. It has been a botanica, a COVID-19 testing site, a barbershop, and in the 1950s, a gas station.

The zoning story wobbles

The Little Village Chamber of Commerce flagged the residential zoning. But Cook County Assessor data lists the address as commercial, straddling the line between residential and mixed-use.

The old Little Village method

Barred from selling or exhibiting inside, the team did what vendors and street artists on 26th have done for decades. They took the work outside.

“We had to do the old Little Village method.”

Racks from Wal-Mart

Anaya bought clothing racks, hung T-shirts and art on the sidewalk, and ordered pizza. Dozens came from across the city. The Foundation of Little Village and State Rep. Edgar González stopped by.

No paper, but a crowd

Standing in that sidewalk turnout, Anaya said the whole point of the project clicked into place.

“Okay, well, we don't have the piece of paper, but we have our community here.”

They would not move

City officials kept asking why the team couldn't just find a different storefront. They stood their ground and started a rezoning push through Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez, Mayor Brandon Johnson and the rezoning committee.

Public money is already in

The project runs on grants from the same Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection that denied the license, plus a storefront grant from the Little Village Chamber of Commerce.

The murals never stopped

While the license stalled, Mr. Pintamuro and other local artists painted the walls inside and outside the building.

“The license is good and all, but I think ultimately building and bridging that connection that brings people here is just as important, if not more.”

A pole became a cactus

They repainted an ugly pole outside the space to look like a cactus and invited locals to add their own stickers. The video went viral and their following jumped.

What the name means

Te-Qu comes from the Nahuatl word tequieo, collective work or service inside a community. Silva wants the space to run on helping each other out.

Leave it beautiful

Mr. Pintamuro returns to a Nahuatl proverb when he describes the mission, and reads it as a duty. Te-Qu sits at the entry point of the neighborhood.

“You always want to make sure that the temple, or place where you receive the knowledge or medicine, is always as beautiful as you found it.”

It started with T-shirts

Te-Qu began as a merch platform selling shirts designed by local artists. Walking down 26th Street one day, Silva realized the neighborhood needed the physical space more.

Orbit's first mural

Arturo Anguiano III, a 19-year-old artist who goes by Orbit, painted his first Little Village mural through Te-Qu. It anchors the rotating series you can see from the street.

Artists were showing elsewhere

Talking with Orbit, Silva realized most local artists were making and hanging work in Pilsen or on the North Side. Almost nobody was doing it in Little Village.

Everyone wanted the space

The moment the opening was cancelled, inquiries flooded in, including someone angling to put a car wash in the building. That pressure hardened the team's resolve.

“Because of all the opportunity around the Little Village space, we have to defend this.”

Talent, not inheritance

Pintamuro grew up here and says North Side galleries can feel elitist. He wants a room where every age group can find a voice, built by the neighborhood for the neighborhood.

“I don't have any access to generational wealth, but I do have a lot of talent.”