"Casual observers would be forgiven if they thought the longest-running art museum and school in America had given up the ghost. The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts announced in January that it was ending its college degree program, and a few months later it closed its historic landmark building.

The abrupt, unexplained collapse of the University of the Arts down Broad Street only contributed to the impression that PAFA, too, had shut down. A June New York Times article on UArts reported that PAFA was dissolving, and the piece traveled far before being corrected.

But while questions remain about the new certificate program PAFA plans to launch to replace its college degrees, the institution lives, and the museum at PAFA is moving ahead.

For one thing, exhibitions in PAFA’s Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building have continued uninterrupted. “Making Strange: Sacred Imagery and the Self,” a small show of works by Moe A. Brooker, Kara Walker, Anne Minich, Violet Oakley, and others, opens Nov. 14.

'I started 49 hours ago — Monday morning at 9 o’clock, so I am a font of knowledge and wisdom,' said Harry Philbrick one recent morning.

Playful sarcasm aside, Philbrick does come to the job with prior knowledge. He started as interim director of PAFA’s museum on Oct. 1, but was previously director, from 2011 to 2016.

His main tasks are the rehanging of the permanent collection, whose planning is well underway for an opening in 2026, as well as museum programming over the next two or three years.

'We have a small number of projects in the pipeline right now, and given the cutbacks that have been made, we’ve got a very small staff. So my focus is on really trying to keep the museum open and running and shows going, but on a smaller scale through 2026, when I hope we can really ratchet up the programming.'"

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Read the full article "Harry Philbrick, PAFA’s interim museum director, is optimistic about the future" online at inquirer.com by By Peter Dobrin (Philadelphia Inquirer, October 30, 2024). 

Featured image from the article: Harry Philbrick, newly named interim director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.
Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer.