The problems and promises of Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts’ new direction

When the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts announced in January that it would be phasing out its undergraduate and graduate degree programs, the move was a public sign that change was afoot at one of America’s great art schools.

More quietly, though, PAFA has been pursuing a series of shifts beyond the school. The elimination of the college degree program is part of a rethinking of the entire institution — a retooling of ambitions that will require raising tens of millions of dollars — and promises to alter the kind of student PAFA aims to attract.

In a series of recent interviews with The Inquirer, Academy leaders described initiatives extending across the school, museum, and its two Broad Street buildings just north of City Hall, including:

The changes are coming in tandem with the prospective return of PAFA’s venerable certificate program. Officials say it will be similar to the sequential, comprehensive program that trained many of PAFA’s famed alumni in core artistic skills for more than a century prior to its cancellation in 2017, though at this point they are not able to describe any specifics.

“If we can shift to looking forward basically to what we want to be, I think people will realize that actually where we’re going is more rooted in the development of future artists than we are now,” says PAFA president and CEO Eric G. Pryor of the combined effect of changes coming and already underway.

At stake is the future of a two-century-old artistic tradition perhaps unmatched in America.

“It is the unique strength of the curriculum, intertwined with the extraordinary Furness building, one of the greatest buildings of industrial American modernism, and the collection of art — again, one of America’s greatest collections — that in my mind makes for such extraordinary opportunity,” says William Valerio, director and CEO of the Woodmere Art Museum.

The future hinges on a new business model that is sorely needed, says Pryor. With enrollment down, PAFA has been experiencing budget deficits even while taking more from its already-small endowment than is considered prudent.

“We’re thinking this is a five-year plan and we expect to be into the black, if not well into the black, by fiscal year 2028,” says Anne E. McCollum, PAFA’s board chair.

The financial picture for the museum and school is severe enough that it is planning to sell the naming rights to its historic Furness building.

“We can’t just keep running deficits year after year and dipping into the endowment. That can’t work,” says Pryor. “I wouldn’t describe it as dire, but I think we have to approach it with urgency.”

The financial pressures are not compelling PAFA to sell off art at the moment.

No art will be sold to cover operating costs or deficits, says Pryor. “At this point, we are not looking at utilizing the collection in that way.”

But the Academy has not ruled out selling work for other reasons, as it has done in the past. In 2010, it sold a group of works by William Merritt Chase, Maurice Prendergast, Childe Hassam, John Henry Twachtman, and others. In 2013, it auctioned off East Wind Over Weehawken by Edward Hopper at Christie’s, reaping an impressive $36 million for the Academy.

The proceeds were used to fund acquisitions — as was the case when PAFA sold Thomas Eakins’ The Cello Player in 2006 to help fund its share of the purchase of Eakins’ The Gross Clinic.

PAFA’s collections committee could again recommend selling works “if there are things that aren’t being used that are not strategically in line with what we’re doing,” Pryor said.

“If we feel like, ‘Hey, these things aren’t doing anything for us’ and [selling some art] would allow us to continue to collect other work, we would consider it then.”

In what ways might PAFA develop its collection?

“PAFA is America’s first contemporary art museum,” says Pryor, “and I think because it’s been around so long, at some point people start seeing it as this historic museum. But when those early works were collected, they were living artists.”

If the institution is “keeping our finger on the pulse of American art, then we will need to continue to collect.”

Storage space is not unlimited, and there are costs associated with the upkeep of art, he says. Typically, auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s will come in and comb through a collection for selling opportunities, “and that’s where oftentimes redundancies or duplications come forward,” says Pryor. If the museum has duplicates or better examples of works, it might consider selling something.

“I don’t know if there are those types of opportunities that exist within our collection. But I think it’s probably prudent to look through and just understand what’s there.”

Pryor does not anticipate selling off another gem like the Hopper.

“It’s not necessary,” he says. The proceeds from the Hopper sale are still in an endowment, generating income every year that’s used for acquisitions, he said.

» READ MORE: ‘It feels like the rug’s been pulled out from under us’: PAFA students react to degree program cancellation

The decision to wind down and eliminate PAFA’s college programs — the MFA program started in 1993, the BFA program in 2008 — by the end of 2025 was precipitated by enrollment trends leaders say had become impossible to ignore.

“Our highest year of enrollment was the first year that we were an accredited college, which was 10 years ago,” said McCollum. “Since 2017 we’ve seen a 53% decline in enrollment. And if you combine that with a 54% rise in expenses, the numbers tell the story of why it’s important that we seek to go back to our roots and allow this fine arts education to be experienced by all, no matter their age.”

The school has revealed little about what the educational programs of the future will be. In January, Pryor said the program would begin this fall. Now, however, the plan is to launch it in the fall of 2025 “at the earliest,” a spokesperson said.

Asked whether it will resemble the four-year sequential, comprehensive curriculum, or a build-your-own approach, Pryor said the certificate program is an “evolving discussion, yet one guided by a resolute and realistic focus.”

If PAFA does return to its roots, and brings back a sequential, comprehensive certificate program, some would greet the change as good news.

“It was a perfect way to launch a career,” said Richard S. Ranck, an alumnus who once served as the school’s registrar. “I think it would be what the Academy is for. PAFA’s school should be the art school version of Curtis,” he said, referring to Philadelphia’s small, highly specialized — and well-endowed — Curtis Institute of Music.

As it existed before, the certificate program began with a two-year curriculum in still-life painting, clay modeling, printmaking, cast drawing, and life drawing, he said.

“In the second year, students could declare a discipline and continue to take classes in their major. After two years, students could apply for advanced standing, get a private studio, and experience independence.”

But if the new certificate program is geared toward people who have already had and/or retired from other careers, that might rob PAFA of its longtime place as a major American launchpad for young talent — and alter the character of the school.

“A lot has changed in the art world. You used to spend 10 or more years developing a body of work before approaching galleries, and now there are galleries in Philly and around the country who want to work with students right after school,” said Dasha Khristich, a PAFA senior. “A certificate program just isn’t going to attract the same response it did in the 1970s because it’s based on the 19th-century model of the atelier.”

Pryor said PAFA’s commitment to training the next generation of artists with the “legacy certificate program” is “absolute,” even if the program has not yet been framed out. For students who want a college degree along with their PAFA education, the partnership with the University of Pennsylvania continues, and Pryor hopes another higher-education partner can be brought on — “someplace where the price point is just more affordable.”

The “model and methods” of training will differ from what PAFA now offers, Pryor said. “However, we look forward to meeting future students where they are, and allowing future cohorts to train exclusively at PAFA, or continue their degrees beyond a PAFA certificate at an accredited art and design institution of their choice.”

Even so, PAFA is already letting faculty and staff go as it prepares for the shift away from its degree programs. Among those leaving at the end of the spring semester are longtime faculty members Eileen Neff and Stuart Shils.

An Academy spokesperson said that since the school is unsure of its curriculum for the certificate program, it can’t say how much faculty it will ultimately keep. The goal is to retain 85% of the current faculty through the 2024-25 academic year “and beyond,” the spokesperson said.

PAFA is seeking to expand revenue in a number of areas: with its continuing education program, through membership, and at the “gate” — income from visitors to the museum.

But also key is new revenue that would come through renting space in the Hamilton Building to other arts groups who would share PAFA’s printmaking facilities, foundry, and other resources.

“Our desire, as part of our blueprint for the future that we’ve created, is to engage some very high-level arts organizations who may need space and give them the opportunity to turn this building really into a fine arts incubator accelerator,” says McCollum.

“As we shrink, there is this opportunity to catalyze this building as an art hub,” says Pryor, who envisions new arts occupants of the Hamilton as more than just tenants. “We have the ability to do joint programming and robust dialogues and everything from artists being able to create their work, to doing residencies to talk about their work.”

No new arts groups have signed on so far, a spokesperson said (though a partnership providing storage for the Atwater Kent Collection continues).

PAFA hopes that the creation of an arts hub together with other changes will help to broaden philanthropic appeal.

“We definitely are dialoguing and will continue to dialogue with the philanthropic community, in particular with various foundations, in putting together the change capital to create the pivot that we need to create,” says Pryor.

The capital required comes to $5 million to $6 million to fund the arts hub plus an artist-in-residence program, marketing of the multiyear certificate program, public programs, and cultural partnerships. If PAFA decides to endow specific programs, the amount it seeks to raise would be much larger.

PAFA has one major frozen asset it has never freed up for use: the naming rights to its historic Frank Furness-designed building. ”Someone could put their name on it for the right price. It is an amazing opportunity,” says Pryor. A chance to put a name on an existing acknowledged architectural masterpiece in the heart of the city is rare.

The 1876 building is “widely regarded as one of the greatest Victorian buildings in America, right up there with Trinity Church in Boston, the Mark Twain House in Hartford, and Jefferson Market Courthouse in New York,” says Michael J. Lewis, architecture professor at Williams College and architecture critic for the Wall Street Journal. “But almost nothing is as innovative as Furness in style, in construction, and in program. If you made a list of the five most important Victorian buildings in America, it would be on it.”

During its design and construction, Furness was assisted by Louis Sullivan, “who was strongly influenced by Furness’ approach and his imagination,” said Lewis, “which he in turn passed on to Frank Lloyd Wright and changed the course of world architecture.”

“If this were in New York or Boston, the whole world would know about it.”

When the building reopened in 1976 after being closed for a two-year restoration, New York Times architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable described Furness’ riotously eclectic and unique take on Victorian style:

“Turrets, textures, polychromy, rounded and pointed arches, mansarded and decorated pavilions, dwarf columns, diaper‐patterned brick, strangely placed windows, warped levels and fulsome ornament were combined in compositions of almost volcanic intensity.”

The structure — currently called the Historic Landmark Building — is essentially unchanged since opening in 1876. “Minor tweaks here and there, but it is shockingly intact, which tells you how well it was built,” says Lewis.

It does, however, need work. The HVAC system needs to be replaced — water leaks have caused damage — and that will cost about $10 million. Pryor puts the total price tag for needed renovations and deferred maintenance and repairs at about $25 million.

PAFA, whose endowment is relatively modest — just over $58 million — hasn’t accumulated the kinds of deep-pocketed angels who have supported groups like Curtis, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Pryor says an anonymous $4 million gift helping to pay for the new HVAC system was an “angel gift” and was “extremely generous and meaningful.” Another $1,128,477 toward the project has been raised. “But we’re going to need to find additional angels.”

For two years, in 2021 and 2022, PAFA was taking a 10% draw on its endowment — an unusually high amount made possible by a temporary change in regulations during the pandemic — and is currently drawing 5% on three endowed funds and 7% on the fourth, an Academy spokesperson said.

In comparison, Curtis benefits from two endowments with a market value of $330 million — more than five and a half times larger than PAFA’s — which allows the music conservatory on Rittenhouse Square to remain tuition-free.

Pryor hopes that the Academy’s unusually rich history coupled with a compelling plan for the future will widen the pool of potential donors beyond the usual suspects.

“PAFA is uniquely situated to help foster the practice of contemporary American artists. We have a collection that reflects the diversity of our nation, the diversity of our city. And with our physical infrastructure, we’re able to bring mission-aligned institutions together to create an arts ecosystem that is beneficial for not just the institutions but individual artists. So I think that when you look at that unique combination of things, we’re in a position to do something extremely special.”