On July 3, many lives were altered forever on July 3 when a mass shooting took place outside the River North spot Artis Restaurant & Lounge—a POC-, women- and queer-owned BYOB spot whose owners, married couple Brandi and Brittany Artis, were on a mission to make it a safe space. Four people were killed with another 14 injured at the event, which was an album release party for local rapper Mello Buckzz.
On July 15, the owners announced on Instagram that they were closing Artis permanently, stating, “We are still processing, still grieving, and still holding one another close. Thank you to everyone who reached out with love and support. Please continue to hold space for our staff, our families, the victims, and this entire community. We will not be defined by this violence, but we will never forget.
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In part, the actual message read, “The rising pressure, coded policies, and attempted public persecution have sent a clear message: We are not welcome here. Still, we leave with our heads high and hearts full. … To our community: Please know this was never just a business—this was a beacon”
The couple recently talked with Windy City Times about that fateful night—and also delivered a message to the public about their present and future.
Note: This conversation was edited for clarity and length.
Artis. Photo by Andrew Davis
Windy City Times: How are you in this moment?
Brandi Artis: I’m worse than sad—I’m devastated, I’m traumatized. We’re many things, to say the least.WCT: My understanding is that you were there during the incident. Can you walk me through it?
Brandi: Yes, we were there all night. I was running around in the kitchen, getting product for the event. We were there the entire time; I’m always in my establishment.
I was standing in the middle of the bar [when I first heard the shots] and I couldn’t move; I was frozen. I could see the bullets flying across the door.
Brittany Artis: I saw and heard the shots first because I was standing in the bar; it was me, Brandi and our bartender, Paris. I heard the shots—but I wasn’t alarmed until I saw the bullets flying by. I said, “Brandi, get down.” She turned around and saw the same bullets flying by, and she finally got down. We ran into the basement. From there, we were making sure our staff was okay, secure and in a safe place; we were also trying to make sure that nobody was trying to enter through the front or the back.
The media did not say that my staff was [employing] life-saving measures and administering care. They were applying pressure, using tourniquets and doing all the things people could to save someone’s life. My staff was doing that before emergency services arrived.
Brandy: We have some military-trained staffers on our team and my wife is EMS-trained so we tried to do everything we could to take care of people. .I’m also [trained in] first aid but they would not let us back upstairs to take care of anyone; they wanted us to stay safe downstairs because none of us knew what was happening at the time.
WCT: What do you have to say to those who have disparaging things about what happened? Some people have said that they’re genuinely sad but others have stated things like “Of course, this was going to happen.’
Brandi: I would say, “Shame on you for saying anything like that.”
Brittany: This was an act of violence; you can’t point the finger at anything. My biggest issue is that things like this happen all over Chicago and all over the world, and there’s never anyone who says, “Hey, alder—this is your fault.” [Note: Ald. Brendan Reilly, of the city’s 42nd Ward, was among those saying Artis should be shut down for good, asking the city to permanently revoke the lounge’s license.] I’m a Chicago native; I grew up on the South Side in the ‘90s. There’s no way that a finger can be pointed toward an establishment or business owner.
These are issues that our country has: violence, lack of access, people doing things because of systemic oppression—not because someone had an event. That is so absurd. It’s not a way an event like this should be [seen]; people, including the media, tend to see the smaller thing and not the bigger thing. This was a tragic event that ruined a lot of lives, including ours. While I don’t have any physical marks, I have trauma—to the point where I damn near have PTSD—and stress, of course. It was a very unfortunate event that is not isolated in Chicago—and people are not going below the surface to see the [true] causes of why events like this happen.
WCT: What are you two focused on right now?
Brandi: We focus on healing. We focus on getting some type of business going for ourselves. We lost about $100,000, if not more. I haven’t even been able to sit down and do the math. We try to recuperate and adjust, and we try to decide what’s best for us and our family. [The couple have two children.] But we want to continue. We want to create, but we’re not exactly sure what that will look like. We’re going to go back to catering and do pop-ups and, hopefully, we’ll be able to use some amazing spaces. Eli Tea [Bar] reached out to me, and Chef B with [a pizzeria] has reached out to me as well. So we’re going to see what we can do in other spaces.
I have not been back to the space and I don’t want to be there because that’s not the space we created—a space of love, creation and safety. I have not been back because of the violation I feel from that night.
WCT: There are so many sad components, obviously—but one of the sadness is that this incident was so [opposite] to your expressed mission of establishing a safe space for all. But speaking of you two forging ahead, you have a GoFundMe page, correct?
Brandi: Yes. It was started by some friends of ours who knew how hard we worked for the things we have, and that we are self-funded who have worked so hard to get where we are. We closed one restaurant right before opening [Artis] because we couldn’t focus on three—especially with us opening something so large in Chicago. Now, we are trying to see what kind of support we can get so we can see what’s next for us.
Our food, sauces and seasonings will be available soon. We’re working on our seasonings being available as soon as next week, and we’re working on our sauces as well. We will also be doing our catering and hosting pop-ups, so people will have to keep up with our Instagram page and just see what we’re doing from there.WCT: Is there anything either one of you wanted to say to the public, to the victims’ families or anyone else?
Brittany: From a community standpoint, our stance is that we tried to open a space that was open and welcoming, and we did just that. Unfortunately, it was taken advantage of. We send all of our thoughts, prayers and condolences to those who were physically and/or emotionally impacted, from the people who are no longer here to the people who were injured to the people on our staff and the security staff. It is a very tragic thing to the families who lost individuals. For us, life is so very precious that it’s unfortunate when a life is lost, period. Even in our home, we try to have a healing space; people come into our space to get loved on, to feel good, to be seen and heard.
Brandi: We just send love, light and prayers to those who have been affected. We’re also thankful for all the support that we’ve received from everyone. We just want to move and create in love and joy.
Brittany: We want to spread positivity.
Brandi: I saw a Black woman who was an artist who wanted to use my space, and I was honored that someone wanted to use it. We’re at a loss for words, quite honestly.
The GoFundMe page “Stand with Artis: Aid for Brandi and Brittany” can be accessedhere.
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