Sasha Suda, the director and chief executive of the Philadelphia Art Museum (PAM), was ousted from her role Tuesday (4 November). She had been in the role for three years after a three-year stint at the helm of the National Gallery of Canada. According to Philadelphia Magazine, Suda was informed of her dismissal for “cause” in an email on Tuesday morning, though what that cause is was not explained.
“As of today, director and chief executive Sasha Suda is no longer with the Philadelphia Art Museum,” a museum spokesperson told The Art Newspaper in a statement. “At this time, Louis Marchesano, deputy director of curatorial affairs and conservation, will lead day-to-day operations at the museum while we identify an interim director and chief executive. As this is an internal matter, we are limited in what we can say. The board of trustees is focused on fulfilling the museum’s mission as we enter our 150th year. We are not providing further comment at this time.”
According to a report on Monday by The Philadelphia Inquirer, one source of tension between Suda and the museum’s board of trustees that may have spurred her ousting was the museum’s rebranding in early October. As part of the brand overhaul, the institution’s name was tweaked from the “Philadelphia Museum of Art” to the “Philadelphia Art Museum”, a new retro logo was introduced (designed by the firm Gretel) featuring the institution’s longtime griffin symbol and a new styling of its abbreviated name as “PhAM”—though some on social media were quick to offer a more critical version, “PhArt”.
“We are an amazing museum with an amazing collection, amazing curators and an amazing experience, and it’s really a shame, the jokes and negative reaction to the rebranding,” Yoram (Jerry) Wind, a museum trustee, told the Inquirer. He added that the board only learned of the finalised rebrand as it was being publicised and had no say in the project.
“Basically the board never approved it,” Wind added. “We had expected to see it after the board gave feedback and expected to see the final version so we could approve it or at least see what they were planning to do. And it was launched, so we were as surprised as everyone else.”
Another trustee, Jennifer Rice, was more enthusiastic about the rebranding but told the Inquirer that “the board should have been told when the launch was happening”. The rebranding cost $250,000, plus unspecified additional costs for paid media and way-finding expenses, a museum spokesperson told the Inquirer.
Suda succeeded the PAM’s director of 13 years, Timothy Rub, arriving in September 2022 and immediately facing a crisis. Toward the end of that month, more than 100 unionised workers at the museum went on strike in protest of contract negotiations that had dragged on at that point for nearly two years. The strike ended after three weeks.
