The Last Unicorn: University of the Arts and Art School Closures

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By ArtWell Intern, Aled Dillabough

When applying to colleges, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I didn’t know what career I wanted to go into, or what I would do after I graduated. However, as someone that has been doing art inside and outside of school for my whole life, I knew that I would want to continue taking art classes. I intuitively wanted to pursue English as a major, but kept taking art classes on the side because I enjoyed this. In these classes over the years, I practiced painting, drawing, digital art, animation, collage, and other visual art mediums. I eventually settled into a Communications major while minoring in Fine Arts. I found that not only did these classes improve my skills in an area I’m passionate about, but they also enhanced my ability to contribute in unrelated fields. I feel as though my education would have been incomplete without my art classes, and I also feel that every student’s education would have been. The arts community uplifts schools and students all across our country.

Art schools, for example, are an essential part of the United States’ education system. Graduates of these schools go on to create incredible, groundbreaking art, and when they don’t go into art, they provide unique and necessary insights to their fields. So why do art schools keep closing down?

What happened with University of the Arts?

On May 31st, it was announced through the Philadelphia Inquirer that the University of the Arts would be closing down. The University of the Arts (or, “UArts, as I will be calling it from now on) was an arts university in the Avenue of the Arts within Philadelphia with a history greater than 150 years. UArts offered 40 different majors across performing arts, visual arts, and writing, and harbored over a thousand students and about 700 staff members. These thousands of people involved with the school found out through the Inquirer that the school would be closing just one week later. The closure was initially blamed on the university’s loss of accreditation, but in reality, the closure had been decided on before that. The accreditor, Middle States Commission on Higher Education, explained that the loss of accreditation was a result of the school’s manner of closing, such as not giving the staff and students over a month prior to the closing of the school, having only informed the agency two days before the Inquirer article was published. Instead, the reason for the closure was actually the school’s weak financial status. Yet, the new freshman class had already been accepted, and the fall tuition bill had already been sent to students, some of whom had received it or paid it the very same day that the closure was announced in the Inquirer.

This news was met by confusion and outrage from people involved in UArts and those that weren’t. Despite the publicity, questions went largely unanswered. Town halls and meetings with the schools’ higher ups were canceled last minute again and again, and staff were laid off in short Zoom calls. Members of the community gathered to protest the closure, requesting answers and spreading awareness. I attended one day of the protests and was in awe of the solidarity within the community, as well as in how the students used a variety of artistic skills they had learned at the school in the protest… singing songs about how UArts is a home to them, demonstrating sculptures of the school’s mascot, and drawing chalk pictures protesting the closure. While the protests garnered a lot of attention, as of when this article is being published, there haven’t been any substantial changes. UArts has seemingly closed for good.

The Impact

You might think that, while it’s a shame this school has closed, it’s not like there aren’t other options for the students and staff. While it is true that many schools have gone out of their way to offer places for UArts students, it is not the simple solution it seems like. UArts was a unique school. It was very multidisciplinary, allowing students to pursue all of their interests at the same time. The majors and classes are unique and specific, in many cases preventing students from pursuing the same things at different schools, in addition to their credits not transferring. Many students already paid deposits to UArts and lost scholarships they could have used had they known in advance about the upcoming closure. Many of those living off campus had already signed housing leases for the upcoming year. All of these factors limit the options for students, especially since most applications for schools had closed before the closure was announced. The closure has also created worries for students that their UArts diploma will not be worth much to employers, since diplomas are less valuable when the school has lost accreditation.

Additionally, there were over 700 staff members, and 613 were laid off initially, so the sudden closure put hundreds of staff members out of a job with insubstantial time to find a new job. Many teachers turned down opportunities and left tenured positions to teach at UArts, without the knowledge that this would happen. Teachers allegedly received a lesser pay than teachers at other similar schools, and their union only was able to make a contract with the school in February.

And, beyond all of this, each student and teacher chose UArts over every other school. Again and again, interviewed students and teachers described how UArts was nothing like anywhere else. Whatever they could get at other schools, there will always be things that UArts had that the other schools don’t, in particular, the community. The connections between teachers and students (that is very important in arts education!) could not be replaced anywhere else. At the protests, signs and chants and songs repeated one sentiment - that UArts was home to a lot of people, and its sudden (yet decidedly not inevitable!) closure stole that from those that considered it a home.

Why does this matter?

This story is bigger than just the closing of one school. The closing of UArts follows a long history of art schools closing in and out of Philadelphia. Earlier this year, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts announced the end of their degree programs after the upcoming school year. (Interestingly enough, UArts had a number of transfers from PAFA, who will now have to transfer again.) This leaves Moore College of Art and Design as the only art school left open in Philadelphia, a city known for its arts and culture. In May, Delaware College of Art and Design announced its closure, and in 2023, the eight remaining art schools of the previously 50 or so art schools in the Art Institute network closed, closing the network with a history tracing back to 1921. Independent art schools are closing left and right.

So, why is this happening? It isn’t that there’s a lack of interest in the arts, as fine arts consistently remains one of the most popular majors. Instead, there are a lot of factors that have complicated the operation of these schools. For one, art schools tend to have very high tuition and increasingly lower enrollment rates. Enrollment rates have been dropping for colleges in general, but even more so for art schools, even the more popular ones. Fewer people are pursuing college degrees because of how expensive college is, a fact that is exacerbated for art schools since art is not seen as a profitable degree to get. There are a lot of factors that cause art schools to struggle financially and therefore require a much higher tuition. For example, art education requires specific equipment and spaces that general education doesn’t need, which creates different and often greater costs. Additionally, art schools must change and add to their classes based on changing trends; for example, new technological skills are required for art and design students that must be taught. Schools often come into debt from taking on large architectural projects that they hope will increase enrollment, but struggle financially when not enough students enroll to make up for the costs. Small and independent art schools in particular are dependent on tuition because they have small endowments.

However, these struggles do not and should not mean that it’s inevitable that these schools will close. In the case of UArts, students and faculty alike had no idea that the school was struggling financially as much as it was, definitely not to the point where they might have to close. Perhaps things might have gone differently had the financial situation been communicated sooner and with transparency. Some have also advised that art schools provide more major options leading to clearer career options to increase enrollment. Additionally, instead of closing a lot of independent art schools merge with other schools to remain financially stable without closing. Instead of closing, an option for schools like UArts is to find a partner or school to work with. However, there are cons to schools merging. When merging with general education schools, the application will then become much more difficult for art students, as they tend to focus on having a strong portfolio rather than the things that are important for other students, like grades and SAT scores. Additionally, there will be different communities and people at the school, as well as schools having different values and educational models.

Concluding Thoughts

Underlying all of the practical problems leading to closures is a common theme - that arts education is not valued the same way general education is. Art is seen as less profitable and thus less important, contributing to lower enrollment, budget cuts, and lower pay for teachers. Here at ArtWell, we understand the value art has, both on an individual and societal level. Art schools, and art in general, are essential to freedom of expression, propel societal discourse, and encourage social justice, so closures don’t only just affect prospective art students, but also threaten the freedom, rights, and culture of all of us. We must stand by and support our art schools, art students, and art teachers.

In an interview with The Morning Buzz, UArts student Lis Hull names the main request of those protesting the closure - keep the story going. Keep talking about art schools closing, and support the arts in education!

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