aid: pafa name: Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) description: >- The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is the United States' first museum and school of fine arts, founded in 1805 in Philadelphia by painter and scientist Charles Willson Peale, sculptor William Rush, and other artists and business leaders. PAFA operates as a 501(c)(3) cultural nonprofit at 118-128 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 and occupies two connected historic buildings — the Frank Furness and George Hewitt-designed Furness-Hewitt Building (1876, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975) and the Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building — joined by Lenfest Plaza. PAFA's permanent collection focuses on 19th- and 20th-century American art and includes works tied to alumni and faculty such as Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Henry Ossawa Tanner, William Glackens, Barkley L. Hendricks, Violet Oakley, Cecilia Beaux, Louis Kahn, David Lynch, and Njideka Akunyili Crosby, alongside the Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women. Following a March 2025 announcement of a financial crisis driven by a reported roughly $3 million annual deficit and a sharp decline in enrollment, PAFA stopped granting its own BFA and MFA degrees beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year. As of 2026 the school's active educational pathways are the three-year Fine Arts Certificate Program ("designed to prepare students for entry-level professional roles within the visual arts and related creative industries"), Continuing Education classes ("an inclusive studio arts offering for artists of all ages and skill levels, from beginners to advanced creatives") delivered in-person and online, Youth & Teen programs including Summer Art Camp and Summer Academy, and PAFA Shop Memberships providing self-guided access to professional-grade printmaking, papermaking, and sculpture studios. The museum continues to operate, with admission $25 adults / $23 seniors / $10 students / $5 youth / free for children 12 and under and members, and is presenting the once-in-a-generation exhibition "A Nation of Artists" (April 2026 - September 2027) in partnership with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Middleton Family Collection. PAFA is a cultural nonprofit, not a technology company. It publishes no developer portal, no OpenAPI specifications, no SDKs, no public REST or GraphQL APIs, no webhooks, no status page, and no engineering blog. There is no `github.com/pafa` institutional organization — the user account `github.com/pafa` is an unrelated personal account focused on ERP and WeChat tooling. The institution's only programmatic third-party surface is its participation in the Bloomberg Connects free digital museum guide app, which presents PAFA's collection and tours through Bloomberg Philanthropies' shared mobile platform. Donations are routed through the third-party platform community.pafa.org/give and ticketing through standard museum e-commerce. kind: company image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg tags: - Art Education - Art Museum - Cultural Heritage - Cultural Nonprofit - Fine Arts - Museum - National Historic Landmark - Nonprofit - Philadelphia - Visual Arts url: >- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/pafa/refs/heads/main/apis.yml created: '2026-05-23' modified: '2026-05-23' specificationVersion: '0.19' apis: [] common: - type: DomainSecurity url: security/pafa-domain-security.yml - type: Website url: https://www.pafa.org - type: About url: https://www.pafa.org/about title: About PAFA — "Founded in 1805 as the first school and museum of fine arts in the United States" - type: Museum url: https://www.pafa.org/museum - type: School url: https://www.pafa.org/school title: School programs — Fine Arts Certificate, Continuing Education, Youth & Teen, PAFA Shop Memberships - type: Exhibitions url: https://www.pafa.org/museum/exhibitions - type: Collection url: https://www.pafa.org/museum/collection title: Permanent collection focused on American art; includes the Linda Lee Alter Collection of Art by Women - type: Visit url: https://www.pafa.org/museum/visit title: Hours, admission ($25 adults / $23 seniors / $10 students / $5 youth / free for members and children 12 and under), location - type: Store url: https://www.pafa.org/store title: PAFA Museum Store - type: Membership url: https://www.pafa.org/members - type: Donate url: https://community.pafa.org/give title: Donations are accepted via the community.pafa.org third-party giving platform - type: PlannedGiving url: https://www.pafa.org/support/planned-giving - type: Support url: https://www.pafa.org/support - type: ContactEmail url: mailto:visitorservices@pafa.org title: Visitor services email - type: ContactPhone url: tel:+12159727600 title: Main phone — (215) 972-7600 - type: Address url: https://maps.google.com/?q=118-128+North+Broad+Street+Philadelphia+PA+19102 title: 118-128 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 - type: MobileApp url: https://www.bloombergconnects.org title: >- Bloomberg Connects — PAFA's digital museum guide is delivered through Bloomberg Philanthropies' shared, free, multi-institution mobile app (the museum's only third-party programmatic distribution surface) - type: Instagram url: https://www.instagram.com/pafacademy title: "@pafacademy on Instagram" - type: Facebook url: https://www.facebook.com/PAFAcademy - type: YouTube url: https://www.youtube.com/@PAFA title: PAFA's official YouTube channel - type: Wikipedia url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Academy_of_the_Fine_Arts - type: GitHubOrganization url: https://github.com/pafa description: >- No institutional GitHub organization exists for the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The `github.com/pafa` handle is an unrelated personal user account (3 repos — erpim, ERP-News, and a forked wechat-format editor — focused on ERP and WeChat tooling) and is NOT operated by the museum/school. - name: InstitutionFacts type: Features description: PAFA institutional fact sheet (verified May 2026). data: - fact: Founded value: '1805' - fact: Founders value: Charles Willson Peale, William Rush, and other artists and business leaders - fact: First Building Opened value: '1806 (Chestnut and 10th Streets)' - fact: First Public Exhibition value: '1811' - fact: Current Main Building value: Furness-Hewitt Building (designed by Frank Furness and George Hewitt; opened 1876) - fact: National Historic Landmark Designation value: '1975 (Furness-Hewitt Building)' - fact: Second Building value: Samuel M. V. Hamilton Building (connected to the Furness-Hewitt via Lenfest Plaza) - fact: Address value: 118-128 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 - fact: Main Phone value: (215) 972-7600 - fact: Visitor Services Email value: visitorservices@pafa.org - fact: Legal Status value: 501(c)(3) cultural nonprofit - fact: Distinction value: First museum and school of fine arts in the United States - fact: Degree Program Status value: >- Beginning with the 2024-2025 academic year PAFA stopped granting its own BFA and MFA degrees, citing a roughly $3 million annual deficit and sharp enrollment decline; bachelor's degrees offered through the University of Pennsylvania partnership continue - fact: Museum Status value: Open and active; presenting "A Nation of Artists" (April 2026 - September 2027) - name: NotableAlumniAndFaculty type: Features description: >- A non-exhaustive list of nationally and internationally significant artists associated with PAFA as students or instructors, drawn from pafa.org and Wikipedia (verified May 2026). data: - name: Mary Cassatt role: Alumna note: American Impressionist painter - name: Thomas Eakins role: Faculty and Director note: Returned as volunteer 1876, joined faculty 1878, promoted to director 1882 - name: Henry Ossawa Tanner role: Alumnus note: First African American artist to gain international acclaim - name: William Glackens role: Alumnus note: Ashcan School realist painter - name: Robert Henri role: Alumnus and Faculty note: Ashcan School founder - name: John Sloan role: Alumnus note: Ashcan School painter - name: Cecilia Beaux role: Faculty note: First female faculty member to instruct painting and drawing (1895) - name: Catherine Drinker role: Faculty note: First woman to teach at the academy (1878) - name: Violet Oakley role: Alumna note: Muralist; first American woman to receive a major mural commission - name: Barkley L. Hendricks role: Alumnus note: Portraitist of Black subjects - name: Njideka Akunyili Crosby role: Alumna note: Contemporary mixed-media painter, MacArthur Fellow - name: Louis Kahn role: Alumnus note: Architect (Salk Institute, Kimbell Art Museum) - name: David Lynch role: Alumnus note: Filmmaker (studied painting at PAFA) - name: ActiveSchoolPrograms2026 type: Features description: >- PAFA's active educational pathways as of May 2026, following the wind-down of its BFA and MFA degree-granting programs starting the 2024-2025 academic year. Quotes drawn verbatim from pafa.org/school. data: - program: Fine Arts Certificate Program format: Three-year career training (on-site) positioning: >- "Designed to prepare students for entry-level professional roles within the visual arts and related creative industries." url: https://www.pafa.org/school - program: Continuing Education format: In-person and online classes positioning: >- "An inclusive studio arts offering for artists of all ages and skill levels, from beginners to advanced creatives." url: https://www.pafa.org/school - program: Youth & Teen Programs format: Summer Art Camp, Summer Academy, field trips, family programming positioning: K-12 art education and pre-college engagement. url: https://www.pafa.org/school - program: PAFA Shop Memberships format: Self-guided studio access membership positioning: >- "Affordable, self-guided access to professional-grade printmaking, papermaking, and sculpture studios." url: https://www.pafa.org/school - name: VisitAndPricing type: Features description: >- Public-facing museum visit terms (verified May 2026 from pafa.org/museum/visit). data: - field: Hours — Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday value: 10 AM - 5 PM - field: Hours — Friday value: 10 AM - 8 PM (extended) - field: Hours — Tuesday and Wednesday value: Closed - field: Admission — Adults (18+) value: $25 - field: Admission — Seniors (65+) value: $23 - field: Admission — Students value: $10 - field: Admission — Youth (13-17) value: $5 - field: Admission — Children (12 and under) and Members value: Free - field: Digital Guide value: PAFA's collection and tours are presented via the Bloomberg Connects mobile app - name: CurrentAndUpcomingExhibitions type: Features description: >- Active and upcoming exhibitions at PAFA, verified May 2026 from pafa.org and pafa.org/museum. data: - exhibition: A Nation of Artists dates: April 2026 - September 2027 note: >- "A once-in-a-generation presentation celebrating 250 years of American creativity" featuring works from PAFA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Middleton Family Collection. - exhibition: Bodies and Souls dates: March 2026 - July 2026 - exhibition: "Student Works: From the 2025-2026 Academic Year" dates: May 2026 - June 2026 - name: APISurfaceAssessment type: Features description: >- API Evangelist assessment of PAFA's public API and developer surface as of May 23, 2026. data: - finding: Public developer portal status: None — no developer.pafa.org or equivalent - finding: Public OpenAPI / AsyncAPI specs status: None published - finding: Public REST or GraphQL APIs status: None — ticketing, donations, and account flows are private - finding: Donation platform status: >- Routed to the third-party platform community.pafa.org/give; no public API documented - finding: SDKs / CLI / webhooks status: None published - finding: GitHub organization status: >- No institutional org exists; the github.com/pafa user account is an unrelated personal handle focused on ERP and WeChat tooling - finding: Status page / changelog / release notes status: None public - finding: Sandbox / Console status: None - finding: Public RSS / engineering blog status: None — PAFA publishes museum news and exhibition releases only - finding: Third-party programmatic distribution status: >- Bloomberg Connects mobile app (Bloomberg Philanthropies' shared free multi-institution digital guide) is PAFA's only programmatic third-party distribution surface; API is owned and not exposed by Bloomberg Philanthropies - finding: Tier rationale status: >- Tier 3 — no-apis. Cultural nonprofit museum and school with no public developer surface. Documented here for completeness of the API Evangelist American-art / cultural-institution coverage and to record the institution's post-2024-2025 program restructuring, not as an API provider. maintainers: - FN: Kin Lane email: kin@apievangelist.com