PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For a few months, it went by the name “Philadelphia Art Museum.” Now the iconic institution said it’s going back to its original name, the “Philadelphia Museum of Art.”
Back in October, then-director and CEO Sasha Suda announced not only the rebrand to “Philadelphia Art Museum,” but also the adoption of the abbreviation “PhAM” for its website and social media.
That’s now being scrapped. Suda was fired in November, and current director and CEO Daniel Weiss said it’s back to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Instead of PhAM, its socials and URL are returning to “philamuseum.”
“There was no reason, really, to change the name of the museum,” Weiss told KYW Newsradio. “There was a great deal of public expression of anger and frustration at the rebrand when it was announced.”
However, something is remaining from last fall’s rebrand: the updated griffin logo.
“The griffin … was part of our branding since 1938,” he said, “and what they did with the griffin in this rebrand was simply update the look of the creature.”
The museum’s board of trustees voted unanimously on these branding decisions — and Weiss said they don’t plan to look back.
“The idea here was to put this issue to bed, to get our brand right, and move on to do other things.”