Association for Public Art

rdf:langString Association for Public Art

rdf:langString Association for Public Art (formerly Fairmount Park Art Association)

rdf:langString Association for Public Art

rdf:langString aPA

rdf:langString Medallion on the back of statue of "Puma"

rdf:langString Philadelphia, PA 19102

rdf:langString Penny Balkin Bach

rdf:langString Executive Director and Chief Curator

rdf:langString Commission, preserve, promote, and interpret public art in Philadelphia

rdf:langString City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

rdf:langString Established in 1872 in Philadelphia, the Association for Public Art (formerly Fairmount Park Art Association) is the United States' first private, nonprofit public art organization dedicated to integrating public art and urban planning. The Association for Public Art (aPA) commissions, preserves, promotes and interprets public art in Philadelphia, and it is largely due to the work of the aPA that Philadelphia has one of the largest public art collections in the country. The aPA has acquired and commissioned works by many famous sculptors (including Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Alexander Stirling Calder, Daniel Chester French, Frederic Remington, Paul Manship, and Albert Laessle); supported city planning projects; established an outdoor sculpture conservation program; and sponsored numerous publications, exhibitions, and educational programs. The aPA interprets and preserves more than 200 works of art throughout Philadelphia – working closely with the city's Public Art Office, Fairmount Park, and other organizations and agencies responsible for placing and caring for outdoor sculpture in Philadelphia – and maintains an inventory of all of the city's public art.