Philadelphia Museum of Art rebrands itself, again, back to its old name

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The Philadelphia Art Museum is dead. Long live the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The PMA announced Wednesday it is reverting to its original name after four months of turmoil triggered by a rebranding. In October, the museum became the more colloquial Philadelphia Art Museum, accompanied by a new logo of a bold black-and-white griffin inside a circular medallion.

Director and CEO Daniel Weiss announced the name will go back to the “beloved” Philadelphia Museum of Art, but that the new griffin logo will remain.

“Every rebrand, of some sort or another, often can be controversial. This one was more than just controversial. I think it was problematic,” Weiss said. “It didn’t resonate with our staff, our trustees, our members and our supporters in ways that felt right to us.”

Weiss said the museum did a series of surveys with stakeholders to identify why the rebrand was not resonating, then adjusted accordingly: tossing the name change while retaining the font and graphics.

“Dan and the entire team have quickly and importantly found a way to embrace the heritage of the museum, and provide a platform to widen our audience,” Ellen Caplan, board chair, said in a statement.

The original rebrand cost “north of $1 million,” according to Weiss, and the fix was about $50,000.

“We wanted to solve the problem and represent the museum in a way that we are pleased with cost-effectively,” Weiss said. “We did not want to put a lot of resources into this.”

The museum’s rebranding has been a bugaboo since former director and CEO Sasha Suda rolled it out four months ago with a shortened nickname suitable for social media: PhAM. It attracted critics, some of whom dubbed it PhART.

Since then, the museum has been roiling internally. The board abruptly fired Suda, and the two are now locked in a legal fight. The museum’s chief marketing officer, Paul Dien, resigned in January.

Weiss came on board about 10 weeks ago. The rebranding was near the top of his list of concerns.

“It is not the most important issue for this museum to be dealing with, now or at any time, but it was an obstacle,” he said. “We needed to solve the issue, address it in a way that allowed us to get back to work focusing on the things that matter the most.”

Weiss said what matters most is reaffirming the museum’s commitment to public programs and exhibitions that align with its mission, maintaining a campus of historic buildings and addressing fundamental financial challenges.

“We are running a deficit that is not sustainable,” he said. “There’s work to be done there.”