The Impact of the Philadelphia Museum of Art - 2022 edition
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The Impact
of the Philadelphia
Museum of Art
2022 edition
“The feeling of 8 years
of collaboration
between
accomplishment from the museum,
the Veteran’s
Empowerment
mastering a technique Center, and
the Veteran’s
Administration
you never thought
you could achieve
is marvelous.”
I never considered myself an artsy kind of person.
When I first joined the museum’s Veteran’s Empowered
Through Art (V.E.T. Art) program, I was skeptical if it would
have any impact on me. Boy, was I wrong. V.E.T. Art has
changed me in ways that I cannot express. I’m so glad
I gave it a chance and found a wonderful group of people.
This program is designed by Veterans for Veterans.
Art-making activities led by museum educators and special
guided tours led by fellow Veterans help us improve our
mental health, express our emotions, and connect with others
who can understand our experiences. When V.E.T. Art went
virtual during the pandemic, the program helped me keep
in touch with friends I have made through the group.
Before I took part in the Self-Portrait Series, my depression
had been so bad that I avoided looking at myself in the
mirror. During this series, we used a mirror to study different
parts of our faces while drawing self-portraits. It was a
challenge at first, but after a while I felt like I was putting
myself back together, piece by piece. By the end of the
series, I was able to look at myself again. I could see me
and recognize that I was still whole despite the depression.
It might seem trivial to some people, but to me, it was a game
changer. The feeling of accomplishment from mastering a
technique you never thought you could achieve is marvelous.
Gina L. D’Arco
Participant in V.E.T. Art program
Participants in on-site V.E.T. Art programming in 2018.
Philadelphia Museum of Art 2022 edition
Reaching Students and Families Museum educators pivoted to offer the 1,300+
engagements in our
With in-person visitation still limited longstanding Teen Sketch Club and Teen Teen Sketch Club
for much of the year, we met students Media programs, supported by The Delphi and our Teen Media
programs since
and teachers at home, in the galleries, Project Foundation, on a virtual platform. going virtual
and in the community. No Philadelphia By going online, the programs were more
public or charter school was turned accessible to teens from all over the city,
away from a free virtual lesson. and artists from all over the country could
connect directly with students.
The museum provides:
weekly digital meetings,
art supplies mailed directly
to students’ homes, tablets
for digital drawing, sessions
7,600+
with painters, sculptors,
animators, filmmakers,
actors, graphic designers,
muralists, and more.
Students have created:
collaborative online galleries,
personal digital portfolios,
independent short films,
student-designed and
virtual and in-person engagements -curated zines, weekly video
journals, and an installation
with schools and teachers in the at the Cherry Street Pier.
2021–22 school year
1,140
Pre-school
4,170
K–12
970 Stills from short films created
by participants in Teen Media.
After-school
1,060
College and
medical school
340
Teacher
Philadelphia Museum of Art 2022 edition
Staying Connected We were proud to welcome 1,400
visits per month for
Since groups from community organizations so many visitors back through in-person school
around the city couldn’t come to us in the our doors this year, while still programs after they
resumed in May 2022.
summer of 2021, museum educators created offering virtual options for
art-making and writing kits that partners could those at home or at a distance.
distribute to kids throughout Philadelphia.
5,000
kits distributed in 2021
706
tickets were reserved
for our first ever
Philly Public Schools Free
3,000 Family Day in December
2021. School District of
went to kids across the city participating in
Philadelphia staff, students,
Philadelphia Parks and Recreation summer camps.
and families were invited to
Other distributing partners included the
the museum to enjoy art-
Brewerytown Garden, Smith Memorial Playground,
making and music in the
and the People’s Emergency Center.
galleries at no cost. The day
was so popular that the
program will continue, with
our next free day coming
summer 2022.
A sketchbook with
prompts, art reproductions
& more
Art supplies (collage
materials, glue, colored
pencils & more)
Free family pass to
the museum
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Celebrating our Collection
We continued to study our
permanent collection and
shared what we learned.
Duchamp Repatriation
Research Portal Since 2016, museum experts have
been collaborating with peers from the
The museum collaborated with
National Heritage Institute in Prague
the Centre Pompidou and
the Association Marcel Duchamp
Documenting Black Art to evaluate the history and provenance
of a shield that entered our collection
to create the Duchamp Research For more than a year, the museum’s in 1977. Research determined that the
Portal, an online database that provides
free access to 50,000 images of digitized
Library and Archives have used digital shield had previously been looted from PMA Stories Blog
platforms to highlight the Black artists Konopiště Castle, near Prague, by the Nazis.
documents, photographs, and other in the museum’s collection. Dr. Synatra To create a platform for a broader
The museum formally restituted the shield
archival materials related to Duchamp’s Smith, the CLIR/DLF Postdoctoral Fellow range of voices to engage with our
to the Czech Republic in September 2021,
life and works. Before, researchers in Data Curation for African American collection, we launched the PMA
and it is now reinstalled at Konopiště Castle.
interested in Duchamp would have to Studies, has used LibGuides and social Stories blog on our website in May
travel to Paris or Philadelphia media to highlight a different Black artist 2021. Museum staff, local partners,
to access these resources. Since its “This case is a prime example of best
in our collection every week. and artists have all contributed stories.
launch in February 2022, the Duchamp practices in restitution. Our fruitful Our first-ever blog post highlighted
Research Portal has been accessed by Black Artists in Our Collection collaboration can serve as a model posters from the First 100 Days poster
21,000 users from 129 countries. of international partnership in restoring project, created by Streets Dept and
The Duchamp Research Portal looted art.” Mural Arts Philadelphia (pictured).
Hynek Kmoníček, Ambassador of the Czech PMA Stories
Republic to the United States
Press Release
Philadelphia Museum of Art 2022 edition
Museum staff worked with
Making Progress on our Commitment to Inclusivity members and employees of the
Delaware Tribe, Delaware Nation,
Last year, we adopted four goals the Stockbridge-Munsee
to guide our efforts to become Community, and the Lenape
Center to develop text for a land
more diverse, equitable, inclusive, acknowledgment sign which hangs
at an entrance to the Robert L.
and accessible. Here’s what we’ve McNeil, Jr. Galleries. The final text,
reproduced below, was also sent
been working on since then. to the governing bodies of the
federally recognized Lenape Nations
based in the United States, who
offered their endorsements of the
text. These galleries examine early
American art through many lenses,
including the encounters between
colonists and Indigenous peoples
1 on the Atlantic seaboard and the
role of enslavement in the financing
and production of art.
Authentically engage and collaborate
with our communities in the development The exhibition Elegy: Lament
of exhibitions, education programs, in the 20th Century focused
and other initiatives. on how artists have responded
to tragedy and commemorated
Land Acknowledgement: those who have passed. Elegy
“With gratitude and humility was catalyzed by the museum’s
the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquisition of His Reward, Emmett
Till (c. 1955-60) by Clarence Lawson,
recognizes Philadelphia as part
which memorializes the 14-year-old
of Lënapehòkink, the ancestral youth murdered in 1955 in a brutal
homelands of the Lenape peoples. act of racist violence.
A long history of broken treaties,
forced migrations, and fraudulent Museum curators and education
Philadelphia is home to 2022 Partners:
staff worked with a community
agreements such as the Walking advisory group to shape the
many civic and cultural Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture,
Purchase of 1737 displaced many organizations engaged in the Philadelphia Community
presentation of the show with
of the Lenape from this land. deeply impactful community- Bail Fund, Asian Arts
experts from organizations
building activities. Initiative, and Broad
This museum and staff strive including: Spelman College,
Street Ministry.
to understand our place within The Emmett Till Interpretation In early 2022, we launched
the legacy of colonization and Center, and The New Kensington our Community Partner Our partnership with the
Community Development Spotlight initiative to offer Philadelphia Community Bail
to act as allies to Lenape people Corporation. access to our collections, Fund included: an in-person
and their vibrant communities,
Above: Mourning Veil, late 1800s, United States programming, and digital museum program with the
including the federally recognized (Gift of Mrs. Juliet Cresson Shultz, 1969-108-4) platforms to a different Bail Fund and the People’s
Nations today: Delaware Tribe, partner organization every Paper Co-op to combine
Delaware Nation, and the quarter. art-making and advocacy;
Stockbridge-Munsee Community. and a local maker market
We pay honor and respect to on Mother’s Day Weekend,
with 10% of all sales going
Lenape ancestors past and
to support the Mama’s Day
present by committing to build Bail Out.
a more inclusive and equitable
space for all.”
Endorsed by Delaware Nation’s
Executive Committee and President
Deborah Dotson.
Philadelphia Museum of Art 2022 edition
Making Progress on our Commitment to Diversity
2 3
Expand our collection to include Funds spent on works 68% Increase the number of diverse
on paper by women artists
more works by underrepresented Funds spent on works
companies with which we
artists, including but not limited on paper by collaborate, including minority-,
African American artists
to artists of color, women artists, women-, LGBTQ-, and disabled-
and those who identify as LGBTQIA+. owned businesses.
The museum’s department of Prints, Drawings, and Our Finance department is updating our processes
Photographs represents the majority of our collection, to allow vendors to self-identify in the above
with 162,000 works on paper in our holdings. Purchases, categories so we can establish a baseline for this
as opposed to gifts, are where the museum can be 29% work and set benchmarks for the future.
the most intentional about diversifying our collection. 25%
The department reviewed all works on paper that
were purchases of the museum since 2010, with a focus
on assessing representation of African American and 14% 4
women artists. Similar efforts are underway in other
curatorial departments across the museum, building
on efforts by our African American Collections Cultivate a culture of belonging
Committee and African American Art Working Group.
2010–20 2021 2010–20 2021 and inclusion whereby staff,
management, volunteers, and
trustees better reflect the
diversity of Philadelphia and the
global communities we serve.
Following the establishment of the Office of DEIA
last year, the next step was to find a leader for this
important work. Alphonso Atkins, Jr. joined the
museum in the summer of 2021 as the inaugural
Miller Worley Deputy Director for Diversity, Equity,
Inclusion, and Access.
By the end of 2021, nearly all museum staff, trustees,
and volunteers had participated in professional
anti-bias trainings and tested our cultural
competency. This program served as the foundation
for critical conversations about how to change or
adapt our policies and practices to be more equitable
and inclusive.
To Sit (With Pochoir), 1981,
by Emma Amos, American,
t. 1937–2020. This print was
purchased in advance of
the exhibition Emma Amos:
Color Odyssey, named one
of the best exhibitions of
2021 by The New York Times.
Philadelphia Museum of Art 2022 edition
1.3K
Economic Impact
Despite the impact of COVID-19,
the museum has continued to be
an economic driver for the region.
full-time equivalent
jobs created by
direct employment
by the museum
$1.6B
and contractors
along with the
indirect employment
created in the region
by museum and
in economic impact over audience expenditures.
the last 5 years
$9.4M
$171.7M in economic impact
in fiscal year 2021
$34.9M tax revenue generated for
Impact from visitor spending
outside the museum (restaurants,
hotels, shopping, etc.)
the Commonwealth and City
combined in fiscal year 2021
$84.6M While pandemic-related restrictions and
Impact from the museum’s
organizational spending concerns led to a 63% decline in attendance
between 2019 and 2021, our total economic
impact declined just 46%, showing that
$52.2M even under extraordinary circumstances,
Impact from the museum’s
capital spending (construction
the museum continues to make a significant
and other expenses) contribution to our regional economy.
Philadelphia Museum of Art 2022 edition
Looking Ahead
The museum has been forever
changed by what we have
experienced over the past few
years. Thank you to our visitors,
supporters, and partners for
helping us continue to serve
as a source of education
and inspiration.
As we look back with gratitude, we also look ahead with
excitement. In January 2022, we congratulated Timothy Rub
on his retirement after thirteen years of service as our George
D. Widener Director and CEO. I’m pleased to announce that
in September 2022, we will be welcoming our new director:
Sasha Suda, who joins us from the National Gallery of Canada.
Thank you, Timothy, for the museum’s many accomplishments
under your leadership; and welcome, Sasha!
Also on the way: a full school year of in-person educational
programs; the conclusion of the museum’s fundraising
campaign; and, in the long term, the celebration of the
United States’ 250th anniversary in 2026, which will coincide
with the museum’s 150th birthday.
Over these 150 years, this institution has grown and evolved
to meet the needs of our visitors and neighbors. With your
help, we will continue to do so.
All best,
Leslie Anne Miller
Chair, Board of Trustees
Cover: A museum educator and young visitors in the exhibition
Emma Amos: Color Odyssey; page 8: Malcolm X #3, 1969, by
Barbara Chase-Riboud (125th Anniversary Acquisition. Purchased
with funds contributed by Regina and Ragan A. Henry, and with
funds raised in honor of the 125th Anniversary of the Museum and
in celebration of African American art, 2001-92-1)
Photography credits: pages 2, 6, 7 (bottom), 10, 12, and 14
by Elizabeth Leitzell
PO Box 7646, Philadelphia, PA 19101-7646
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