{"id":951575,"date":"2026-07-22T10:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/951575\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T10:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T10:00:21","slug":"how-pafa-paved-the-way-for-americas-great-art-museums","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/951575\/","title":{"rendered":"How PAFA paved the way for America\u2019s great art museums"},"content":{"rendered":"

Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Picture America in 1805.<\/p>\n

At this point, the United States \u2014 all 17 of them \u2014 had established a working constitution and pioneered a democratic system of government. The country was in its 29th year and settling into adulthood. Americans were not just asking themselves how to build a nation, but how to cultivate it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at the landscape, and we\u2019re saying, \u2018Well, what\u2019s missing?\u2019\u201d said Brittany Lewis, PAFA\u2019s director of community education and engagement. \u201cHow are you going to preserve art and culture? We\u2019re going to need not only a museum, but we\u2019re going to need a school, so we can create the works of art that will be hung in the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artists like painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale and sculptor William Rush joined forces. They established the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, a space created by creatives for creatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharles Willson Peale was thinking at the time, \u2018I\u2019m an artist and I know that it\u2019s important that America harnesses our heritage, so I\u2019ll start it,\u2019\u201d Lewis said. \u201cWhen I\u2019m in the historic landmark building, I\u2019m in our rotunda in front of Peale\u2019s \u2014 in his museum \u2014 I explain to our visitors that this is innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Peale saying we need a museum in the United States, and so I am going to make one here in Old City.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Brittany Lewis, PAFA\u2019s director of community education and engagement (Nick Kariuki\/ Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Since its founding, PAFA has led the way for future world renowned institutions in our country, like the Philadelphia Museum of Art or the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. PAFA recently collaborated with the PMA for its large centennial show, \u201cA Nation of Artists\u201d \u2014\u00a0highlighting great works from American artists created throughout the last 250 years. The show features loaned artwork from The Middleton Family Collection, including Jasper Johns\u2019 \u201cFlag\u201d paiting<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that Philadelphians remember that just because we are the first doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re the most relevant,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cI need the community to come and visit us and see \u2018A Nation of Artists\u2019 and look at it not like an exclamation mark but as a question mark. \u2018What is American art?\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"PAFA\u2019s #1 Firstival sculpture from artist and alum Jonathan Laidacker. <\/p>\n

To celebrate PAFA\u2019s accomplishments, the academy is throwing a \u201cFirstival\u201d party this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. \u2014 celebrating its status as the country\u2019s \u201cfirst\u201d art school. Attendees can come check out a painted #1 Sculpture from PAFA alum Jon Laidacker and explore the museum. There will also be arts and crafts activities that guests can delve into.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have tours of \u2018A Nation of Artists,\u2019 so you can see the exhibition,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cOur guides will be there. It\u2019s family friendly. Pay what you wish, and the young people can make takeaway art, so there\u2019s something for everyone of all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lewis also encourages Philadelphians to look into PAFA\u2019s educational programming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are also a school,\u201d she said. \u201cSo tell a friend that we have our certificate program. We have classes for young people, and even [adults] can come and take a class from printmaking to sculpture to you name it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out BP\u2019s full guide to all of this year\u2019s Firstivals below.<\/p>\n

\"\"PAFA\u2019s #1 Firstival sculpture from artist and alum Jonathan Laidacker. <\/p>\n

Completed<\/p>\n

Week 1:\u00a0\u00a0Successful balloon flight in America (1793)<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 2:\u00a0The Mummers parade, the nation\u2019s first folk parade (1901)<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 3:\u00a0Volunteer fire company (1736)<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 4:\u00a0Professional basketball league (1898)<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 5:\u00a0Public Girl Scout cookie sale (1932)<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 6:\u00a0African Methodist Episcopal congregation (1794)<\/a><\/p>\n

Week 7:\u00a0Abolitionist society in America<\/a>\u00a0(1775)<\/p>\n

Week 8:\u00a0Authentic Chinese gate built in America<\/a>\u00a0(1984)<\/p>\n

Week 9:\u00a0Public protest against slavery in America<\/a>\u00a0(1688)<\/p>\n

Week 10:\u00a0Flower Show<\/a>\u00a0(1829)<\/p>\n

Week 11:\u00a0Women\u2019s medical college<\/a>\u00a0(1850)<\/p>\n

Week 12:\u00a0Matchbook<\/a>\u00a0(1892)<\/p>\n

Week 13:\u00a0Medical school\u00a0<\/a>(1765)<\/p>\n

Week 14:\u00a0Stadium\u00a0<\/a>(1895)<\/p>\n

Week 15:\u00a0Circus performance\u00a0<\/a>(1793)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Week 16:\u00a0Botanical garden<\/a>\u00a0(1728)<\/p>\n

Week 17:\u00a0Postmaster<\/a>\u00a0(1737)<\/p>\n

Week 18:\u00a0American-made piano and sousaphone\u00a0<\/a>(1775 and 1893)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Week 19:\u00a0Mother\u2019s Day<\/a>\u00a0(1908)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Week 20:\u00a0Hospital in America\u00a0<\/a>(1751)<\/p>\n

Week 21:\u00a0World\u2019s Fair on American soil<\/a>\u00a0(1876)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Week 22:\u00a0Steamboat for passengers and freight<\/a>\u00a0(1787)<\/p>\n

Week 23:\u00a0American flag<\/a>\u00a0(1777)<\/p>\n

Week 24:\u00a0U.S. Army<\/a>\u00a0(1775)<\/p>\n

Week 25:\u00a0Annual Reminder demonstration<\/a>\u00a0(1965)<\/p>\n

Week 26:\u00a0Paper maker in America<\/a>\u00a0(1690)<\/p>\n

Week 27:\u00a0Bank of the United States<\/a>\u00a0(1791)<\/p>\n

Week 28:\u00a0Organized baseball team<\/a>\u00a0(1831)<\/p>\n

Week 29: Ice cream soda<\/a> (Oct. 1874)<\/p>\n

Upcoming<\/p>\n

\u2022 American art school (1805)
July 25, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 118-128 N. Broad St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Scientific Society of Natural History (1812)
Aug. 1, at Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway<\/p>\n

\u2022 Zoo in America (1874)
Aug. 8, Philadelphia Zoo, 3400 W. Girard Ave.<\/p>\n

\u2022 U.S. Mint (1793)
Aug. 15 (location TBD)<\/p>\n

\u2022 Selfie (1839)
Aug. 22, Love Park, 1501 John F Kennedy Blvd.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Slinky (1943)
Aug. 29, Philadelphia Art Museum, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway<\/p>\n

\u2022 Signing of the Constitution (1787)
Sept. 5, National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Continental Congress (1774)
Sept. 12 at Carpenters\u2019 Hall, 320 Chestnut St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Naming of the United States (1776)
Sept. 19, Independence Hall<\/p>\n

\u2022 Ronald McDonald House (1974)
Sept. 26, Ronald McDonald House, 3925 Chestnut St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Penitentiary in America (1829)
Oct. 3, Eastern State Penitentiary, 2027 Fairmount Ave.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The First Peoples
Oct. 10, Penn Museum, 3260 South St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (1775)
Oct. 17, Arch Street Meeting House, 320 Arch St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Public showing of a motion picture (1870)
Oct. 24, Philadelphia Film Society, 1412 Chestnut St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Modern detective story written (1841)
Oct. 31, Edgar Allan Poe House, 532 N. 7th St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Thanksgiving Day parade in America (1920)
Nov. 7, Benjamin Franklin Parkway<\/p>\n

\u2022 University in America (1740)
Nov. 14, Houston Hall, The University of Pennsylvania, 3417 Spruce St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Children\u2019s hospital in America (1855)
Nov. 21, Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia, Main Building, 3401 Civic Center Blvd.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Pencil with an attached eraser (1858)
Nov. 28, National Liberty Museum, 321 Chestnut St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Weather bureau (1870)
Dec. 5, The Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Electronic computer (1945)
Dec. 12, The University of Pennsylvania, 3451 Walnut St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Public lending library in America (1731)
Dec. 19, The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust St.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Philly food firsts: Cheesesteaks (1930s), water ice (1932) and bubble gum (1928)
Dec. 26, Reading Terminal Market, 1136 Arch St.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s note: WHYY President and CEO Bill Marrazzo serves as chair of the board of trustees for the Independence Historical Trust.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Love Philly? So do we. Let\u2019s be friends. Sign up for the Billy Penn newsletter today. Picture America…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":488188,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[231950,5229,25417,648,407,231952,472,1448,203491,2830,1311,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-951575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-52-weeks-of-firsts","tag-america","tag-america-250","tag-arts","tag-education","tag-firstival","tag-history","tag-pa","tag-pafa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116963054029881624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=951575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/951575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=951575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=951575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=951575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}