PAFA Is Awarded Three-Year $150,000 Grant by Institute of Museum and Library Services

PHILADELPHIA (September 19, 2014) — The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is pleased to announce that it was awarded a three-year $150,000 grant by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to support its new School and Community Partnership Program.  

The School and Community Partnership Program unites PAFA’s resources for schools, families and community outreach into a single initiative that can have the greatest possible, and most sustained, impact when available as a year-round initiative in a single neighborhood. PAFA has begun working with Isaac A. Sheppard Elementary School in the Hispanic neighborhood of North Kensington which has been consistently underserved by both cultural and educational institutions, and where there is significant existing interest in exploring the role of art in education, family life and community development. This grant will allow PAFA to grow its partnership with Sheppard and the surrounding services and organizations in the neighborhood, to bring this new multi-layered initiative to all members of the community.

“This new initiative at PAFA directly addresses our strategic plan goal to ‘integrate and enhance our community offerings, building upon our combined strengths of making, understanding and appreciating art, to strengthen PAFA’s role as a leading art education resource in Philadelphia.’ We are grateful to the IMLS for their support and appreciative of their confidence in our School Partnerships,” says Harry Philbrick, the Edna S. Tuttleman Director of the Museum.

“Our grants are highly competitive. The Institute of Museum and Library Services enlists hundreds of library and museum professionals throughout the United States to review grant applications and make recommendations on projects most worthy of funding,” said IMLS Director Susan H. Hildreth. “Receiving a grant from IMLS is significant achievement, and we congratulate PAFA for being among the 2014 IMLS museum grantees.”

In addition to Sheppard Elementary, PAFA’s principal community partners for the first year are the Free Library of Philadelphia (the city’s public library system) and the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation. Project activities include field trips for students, community art-making programs, teacher and parenting workshops, and community-based arts experiences taking place year-round in schools, community locations, and at PAFA, to nurture a shared value in creativity, community identity and arts-based education. These programs will be carried out by PAFA’s skilled staff of museum educators, augmented at times by members of PAFA’s community of practicing artists (School of Fine Arts faculty and alumni).

PAFA also will bring the Art Island Program to Sheppard Elementary for a second year, linking a practicing local artist with the partner school. The artist will spend several months in the school working with students, teachers and parents to design a collaborative art project that will be installed at the school as a permanent and physical reminder of the community’s creative potential. In 2014, PAFA alum Sandra Gonzalez worked with the community to design a three-floor mural in the stairways of Sheppard that includes work made by every student in the school, and which has significantly altered the experience of entering the school at the beginning of each day. A similar project will be completed in 2015.

IMLS museum grants support a wide variety of projects that create learning experiences, strengthen community communities, care for collections and provide broad public access.  

A complete list of museum recipients is available on the IMLS website.

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About PAFA
Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is America's first School of Fine Arts and Museum. A recipient of the 2005 National Medal of Arts presented by the President of the United States, PAFA is a recognized leader in Fine Arts education. Nearly every major American artist has taught, studied, or exhibited at PAFA. The institution's world-class collection of American art continues to grow and provides what only a few other art institutions in the world offer: the rare combination of an outstanding Museum and an extraordinary faculty known for its commitment to students and for the stature and quality of its artistic work.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. Our mission is to inspire libraries and museums to advance innovation, lifelong learning, and cultural and civic engagement. Our grant making, policy development, and research help libraries and museums deliver valuable services that make it possible for communities and individuals to thrive. To learn more, visit www.imls.gov.