In Pennsylvania, Art Institutions Face Pressures to Grow

Recent upgrades to the Palmer Museum of Art at Pennsylvania State University mark 'the first phase of a planned cultural destination' according to former President Eric J. Barron.

While art institutions across Pennsylvania scramble to stay afloat, Pennsylvania State University's recent U.S. $85 million investment to expand the Palmer Museum of Art, relocated to its 370-acre arboretum amid gardens and woodlands, anticipates significant returns.

The 73,000-square-foot building, designed by architecture firm Allied Works to 'bring the outside in', boasts 20 light-filled galleries over two floors. There is a cafe, a sculpture path, a terrace, a museum store, rentable event spaces, classrooms, and a landscape by Reed Hilderbrand.

Penn State's former President, Eric J. Barron, described the new Palmer Museum of Art is 'the first phase of a planned cultural destination'—a project that intends to advance the university's 'strategic goal of driving economic development' through cultural development.

With these upgrades and new accessibility measures, the museum expects to triple its annual attendance. Admission is free, parking is improved, and hours are extended. Rebranded as a community space, the museum will offer yoga and painting lessons throughout the summer.

The former museum, a brutalist structure, was 'a bit formidable, a little bit intimidating and not easy to access', according to museum director Erin Coe. The project joins recent renovations at Notre Dame's Raclin Murphy Museum of Art and Hammer Museum at UCLA.

In Pennsylvania still, Philadelphia's University of the Arts, a century-old institution attended by artists such as Charles Sheeler, Jonathan Lyndon Chase, and Bo Bartlett, left the city perplexed when it shut down on 6 June after giving staff and students seven days of notice.

In a statement on 31 May, Director Kara Walk said 'the situation came to light very suddenly', citing 'unanticipated expenses' and 'a cash position that has steadily weakened'.

According to a 2023 audit, the university carried $150 million in municipal debt and enrolment had declined by nearly half over the past decade. Reportedly, it required some $40 million to stay in business.

Walk, who joined last August, resigned four days later. The University board hired consultancy firm Alvarez & Marsal, who specialise in mergers and crisis management, to oversee the wind-down, including the distribution of $46 million owed to bondholders.

The office of the attorney general of Pennsylvania Michelle A. Henry is investigating the board's plans for the university's properties and assets, estimated at around $162 million according to a 2022 tax assessment. There is precedence, too. In December 2023, the institution sold a century-old dorm to real estate developers for $10.7 million.

Faculty and staff are normally protected under the 1988 WARN Act, but 'unforeseen business circumstances' are among exceptions to the rule. Businesses can waive the mandated 60-day notice period if they can prove an inability to plan 90 days in advance.

Students and faculty have filed class action lawsuits for breach of contract and implied contract, as well as fraud and unjust enrichment by the administration.

Only months earlier, in February, the University agreed to raise faculty and adjunct wages after arduous two-year negotiations with union representatives and imminent threats of strike. Given the timing, Philadelphia's city council also plans to investigate the closure.

Steps away, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the first art school and museum in the United States, announced in January that it will conclude its BFA and MFA programmes in 2025, likewise citing 'rising costs, expanding requirements, and dwindling enrolment'.

In a parting note, President Eric Pryor said that the higher education environment is getting 'increasingly complicated'.

'Colleges and universities in our own region and across the country are struggling with these trends. PAFA, unfortunately, is no exception,' he said. —[O]