The university included two colleges and two divisions: the College of Art, Media & Design; the College of Performing Arts; the Division of Liberal Arts; and the Division of Continuing Studies. The School of Music was accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music.[5]
History
In 1870, the Philadelphia Musical Academy was created. In 1876, the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art was founded as a museum, which became the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and art school. Though never housed in the same building, the museum and the school were one institution. In 1877, the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music was founded.
In 1893, the School of Industrial Art purchased an early 19th century neoclassical building initially constructed for the Pennsylvania Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. The purchase was an early act of historic preservation, as it saved the building from developers who wished to bulldoze it.[6]
In 1921, contralto Marian Anderson applied to the Philadelphia Musical Academy but was turned away because she was "colored."[7]
In 1938, the museum changed its name to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the school became the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art.[8] In 1964, the school became independent of the museum and renamed itself the Philadelphia College of Art (PCA).
In 1944, the Children's Dance Theatre, later known as the Philadelphia Dance Academy, was established by Nadia Chilkovsky Nahumck. In 1962, the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and the Philadelphia Musical Academy merged; in 1976, the combined organization acquired the Dance Academy and renamed itself the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts. After establishing a School of Theater in 1983, the institution became the first performing arts college in Pennsylvania to offer a comprehensive range of majors in music, dance and theater. This institution later became the College of Performing Arts of the University of the Arts.
In 1985, the Philadelphia College of Art and the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts merged to become the Philadelphia Colleges of the Arts, and gained university status as the University of the Arts in 1987.
In 1996, the university added a third academic division, the College of Media and Communication. In 2011, the College of Media and Communication merged with the College of Art and Design to become the College of Art, Media & Design.
In the late 2010s and 2020s, the university faced declining enrollment and a poor financial outlook. In the 2018–19 school year enrollment was at 1,914 falling to 1,149 by the start of the fall 2023 semester. The university was profitable for the 2021–22 fiscal year, but the next year it had a projected operating loss of $2.56 million, on a budget of about $50 million.[10]
From 2018 to 2022, the university led a capital campaign that allegedly raised $67.2 million, including $5.5 million for financial aid and $24 million for its endowment, which grew to $61.2 million. The school also received a $2.5 million grant from Pennsylvania for infrastructure projects. The exact amount gifted has since come into question.[11][12] The endowment money was not usable for day-to-day operations, which remained imperiled. Starting in 2019, the day-to-day university fund ended each academic year with only a single month of funding remaining. In 2022, the president behind the capital campaign, David Yager, was driven out by a faculty vote of no confidence. He was replaced by Kerry Walk.[13]
In October 2023, Walk privately announced to the deans of the university that "she’d recently discovered serious financial problems that she’d been unaware of when she accepted the job". This was not communicated to students, faculty or alumni, and is the only known discussion of serious issues before the following May.[13]
Closure
On May 31, 2024, Walk abruptly announced the school had exhausted all of its funds and would close on June 7. The announcement caught many by surprise, including then-current students, faculty, and the university's accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.[14] The accreditor withdrew the university's accreditation the day after the closure was announced; it could be restored if the university successfully appeals.[4] On June 4, 2024, Walk announced her resignation after canceling an information meeting for faculty and students the night before.[15]
On June 5, 2024, the board of trustees hired the consulting firm Alvarez and Marsal to oversee the closure.[16][17] On September 13, 2024, the university filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation.[18]
Academics
The University of the Arts' approximately 1,500 students were enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs in six schools: Art, Design, Film, Dance, Music, and the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts. In addition, the university offered a PhD in Creativity. The Division of Continuing Studies offers courses through its Continuing Education, Pre-College, Summer Music Studies, and Professional Institute for Educators programs.[19][20] The university was accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.
Facilities and collections
The university's campus, in the Avenue of the Arts cultural district of Center City Philadelphia, included six academic buildings and four residence halls. There were 10 performance venues and 12 exhibition/gallery spaces on campus.[21]
The Albert M. Greenfield Library housed 152,067 bound volumes, 6,936 CDs, 14,901 periodicals, 16,820 scores and 1965 videos and DVDs. The Music Library collection held about 20,000 scores, 15,000 books, 10,000 LP discs, and 8,000 CDs. The Visual Resources Collection includes 175,000 slides. Additional university collections included the University Archives, the Picture File, the Book Arts and Textile Collections, and the Drawing Resource Center.[citation needed]
UArts' 10 galleries included one curated by students. Exhibitions have included the Quay Brothers, Vito Acconci, R. Crumb, Rosalyn Drexler, April Gornik, Alex Grey, James Hyde, Jon Kessler, Donald Lipski, Robert Motherwell, Stuart Netsky, Irving Penn, Jack Pierson, Anne and Patrick Poirier, Yvonne Rainer, Lenore Tawney and Andy Warhol.[citation needed]
Arts Bank Theater
The University of the Arts had seven theaters. The Levitt Auditorium in Gershman Hall is the largest on campus with a seating capacity of 850. Also in Gershman Hall was a black box theater used for student-run productions. The university's Arts Bank Theater seats 230, and the Laurie Beechman Cabaret Theater is located in the same building. The university also utilized the adjacent Drake Theater, primarily for dance productions. The Caplan Center for the Performing Arts, located on the 16 & 17th floor of Terra Hall – which opened in 2007, housed two theaters. Its black box theater seated 100 and a recital hall seated 250.[citation needed]
At the time of closing, it had three dormitories for students: Furness Residence Hall, Juniper Residence Hall, and Spruce Residence Hall.[22] In 2023 the university sold another, Pine Residence Hall.[23]
Polyphone Festival
The annual Polyphone Festival of New and Emerging Music, launched in 2016, focused on the emerging musical. Composers, librettists, directors, choreographers and music directors were invited to the campus to work with students on developing musicals.[24]
Notable alumni
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(June 2023)
Henry Clarence Pitz, artist, illustrator, editor, author, teacher; best known for authoring The Brandywine Tradition (1969) about the Brandywine School
Steve Powers, graffiti artist. Known as ESPO. Painted "Love letter for you" murals in Philadelphia
Brothers Quay, Timothy and Steven, stop-motion illustrators and filmmakers
Edna Andrade (1917–2008), geometric abstract painter and early Op Artist, 1996 recipient of the College Art Association Distinguished Teaching of Art Award for her three decades of teaching at Philadelphia College of Art[39]
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