The Philadelphia Art Museum’s board of trustees dismissed its director and chief executive Tuesday morning in an email that stated she was being terminated for cause.
Sasha Suda, 45, was just three years into her five-year contract at the museum. She recently oversaw an effort to subtly rebrand the institution as the Philadelphia Art Museum, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art — its name since 1938. While some had praised the campaign, it largely failed to gain traction in Philadelphia, where locals started to mockingly refer to the 149-year-old institution as “PhArt,” instead of its suggested nickname, “PhAM.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Magazine, which reported on the termination email, said the message was sent to Suda after a morning board meeting.
Laura Coogan, a museum spokeswoman, shared a statement confirming that Suda had left the museum and that Louis Marchesano, deputy director of curatorial affairs and conservation, would lead day-to-day operations while the board sought an interim leader.
“The board of trustees is focused on fulfilling the museum’s mission as we enter our 150th year,” the statement said. “We are not providing further comment at this time.”
Suda was not immediately reachable for comment.
A series of controversies has roiled the museum since 2020, when a New York Times investigation found that misconduct allegations against a manager by employees had gone ignored. Timothy Rub, the museum’s director and chief executive at the time, apologized for mistakes in dealing with the employee complaints.
Many employees felt it was too little, too late, which eventually led to a successful unionization effort. Rub later retired from the museum in 2022 after more than a dozen years at the helm.
Suda was chosen as his successor after an international search, having previously served as director and chief executive of the National Gallery of Canada. The board praised her at the time for her “proven commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access.” The board chairwoman, Leslie Anne Miller, said in a statement, “We believe Sasha’s arrival will mark a new era of growth and civic engagement for the museum.”
Her tenure started as unionized workers began to strike in favor of a new contract agreement that year.
Like many cultural venues, the Philadelphia Museum has suffered from a financial deficit and declining audiences after the pandemic. Suda focused on regaining audiences through programming, including “The Time Is Always Now,” an exhibition featuring contemporary African American artists, and the opening of the Brind Center for African and African Diaspora Art.
The rebranding campaign, which included a new logo as well as a tweak to the name, had some supporters, but its poor reception came as the institution was trying to turn its fortunes around. Recently, some trustees expressed surprise that the campaign was allowed to move forward.
“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,” Yoram (Jerry) Wind, a museum trustee, told The Philadelphia Inquirer in an article on Monday. “And it was launched, so we were as surprised as everyone else.”
Zachary Small is a Times reporter writing about the art world’s relationship to money, politics and technology.
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