PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Students and parents say they were blindsided, one day before returning from winter break, by the announced closure of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts degree-granting institution.
Students, parents and faculty learned in an email this week that the PAFA board unanimously voted to shut down its bachelors and masters of fine arts programs at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.
“I’m gutted. Like, I got the email and fell to my knees in my kitchen,” said Sakura Hartman, a painting major.
Third- and fourth-year students will be able to graduate by spring of 2025. First- and second-year students will need to transfer by the end of this academic year.
Hartman enters her third year this semester, but she was expecting to graduate by the end of fall 2025 — and now she doesn’t know if she can stay.
“They made it really unclear. I don't have answers about after the semester — whether or not I get to be here,” she said.
“Everyone that I take classes with, all of my friends, all of the relationships that I formed here, they’re going to be leaving. I don’t know what my fate is right now.”
Hartman says she is scheduling meetings with counselors and demanding a path to graduate at PAFA.
On its website, PAFA says its staff will work with students to create individual plans allowing them to transfer to other local arts schools, including University of the Arts, Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University, Moore College of Art & Design, Arcadia University and Pennsylvania College of Art and Design.
“It knocks the wind out of you. We haven’t even sat down as a family yet to fully talk about it,” said Tom Zahorik, whose daughter Ellie is in her second year.
“She chose PAFA because it’s so well established. It’s the oldest art school in America, fine arts school. I never thought this would happen.”
Zahorik wondered about the quality of the time his daughter has left at the Academy.
“You know, I want to know what the school is doing for the remainder of the time, the students are going to get quality education.” he said. “I mean, the teachers are going through things too. There’s layoffs. I don’t know how they’re gonna stay focused.”
PAFA is the first and oldest art museum and school in the country. President Eric Pryor says the closure is part of a “new vision for the future.” The Academy will focus on certificate programs, continuing education and K-12 art programs.
Pryor said in his letter to students, "The path ahead will be difficult, even painful at times, but I believe it will lead PAFA back to what we are meant to be — a place to collectively celebrate the transformative power of art and amplify the creative work of the next generation of art makers.”