Phillips Collection

Management and maintenance of the museum's permanent collection of nearly 6,000 works. When the museum opened to the public in 1921 as the nation's first museum of modern and contemporary art, the collection comprised over 200 works acquired by duncan phillips. Our new acquisitions, arriving through both gift and purchase, reflect the museum's efforts to continue phillips's legacy with works that deepen or introduce new global voices into our collection while enriching the narrative of modern and contemporary art. Our displays of the permanent collection have built meaningful connections with communitiesfrom local to international. Noteworthy new collection artists included vivian browne, sam gilliam, richard learoyd, and sylvia snowden. Commensurate activities incorporated ongoing conservation (continued on schedule o) efforts to preserve and protect the growing collection, and the continuance of collection digitization for publications and presentation on the museum's website, artstor, google arts & culture, and the multi-museum app bloomberg connects. Moreover, the high quality of works in the collection presented many opportunities for collaboration with other museums both for exhibition partnerships and for lending works to enhance projects at other venues - notable fy24 borrowers included musee courbet, ornans, france; wallraf-richartz-museum & fondation corboud, cologne, germany; and the art institute of chicago, illinois. The phillips also occasionally circulates exhibitions drawn from its collection to other venues to give those living outside the dc area the opportunity to enjoy the treasures we hold. From november 2023 into march 2024, the phillips was privileged to present all stars: american artists from the phillips collection at denver art museum in colorado to high acclaim.

The phillips collection engaged with audiences through onsite programs including member art tours, exhibition openings, and others. Through thoughtfully curated performances, phillips music, the phillips collection's concert series, continues to present an outstanding program of concerts, showcasing a culturally diverse range of artists and musical styles. The season highlighted both emerging and established musicians, featuring compositions celebrating artistic excellence while fostering connections between music and visual art. We were able to offer a full guest experience with amenities including our caf which is operated by a well-loved local bakery, and a gift shop which continues to be one of the best museum shops in the world. We connected with both current and potential (continued on schedule o) members and visitors through our website, social media, e-newsletters, local and regional marketing and advertising, and our participation in the bloomberg connects app. Our dynamic and popular 1st thursday of the month program, phillips after five, and our 3rd thursday free evenings appeal to a wide demographic. We continue to offer our museum as a unique and captivating location for external events throughout the year.

The phillips presented a broad range of programming designed to appeal to the museum's expanding visitor demographic. Education programs help audiences see, create, and engage with art in new and unexpected ways. We gave 875 guided tours and spotlights talks to 6,859 guests. The phillips provides in-depth professional development opportunities on arts integration using the museum's collection and online resources. Professional development opportunities feature artworks from the phillips's special exhibitions and permanent collection and focus on prism.k12, the museum's arts integration strategies and model for culturally responsive teaching (https://www.phillipscollection.org/ prismk12-strategies). Professional development sessions are designed for teachers to easily integrate ideas and activities into their classrooms, and they may take place at the museum, at area schools, or virtually. In 2023-2024, the museum reached 712 teachers through 27 professional development sessions, which included three-hour sessions, fifteen-hour multi-week programs, and a weeklong summer teacher institute. Additionally, the museum has over 50 online lesson plans available through their website that connect across all subject areas. We reached 4,535 pk-12 students within the dc public and charter schools, maryland, and virginia during the fiscal year through 139 tours. 61% of those were dc schools. The museum's multi-visit school partnership program, art links, reached 1,632 students from 23 schools and organizations. The phillips collection's workshop and gallery at the town hall education arts recreation campus (thearc) provides a space to view, discuss, make, and exhibit art. Programs are co-created with our partners and participants to encourage authentic community dialogue, community planning, and community action. To the east was a mural retrospective exhibition drawing from the archives of dc murals and dc public library, and the anacostia community museum; sydney vernon exhibition invited viewers into the world of sydney vernon, who superimposed and altered personal family photographs with real and imagined histories of black american culture for further reinterpretation; zsudaka nzinga: home coming / home going presented recent works by nzinga that examined the diverse ways black americans find, define, and establish "home". Digital intersections were created by 3 regional artists and displayed for anyone passing by. From its very inception, the phillips has focused on the healing power of art. Our creative aging partnership with iona senior services, arts for the aging (afta), and several other senior centers across dc served 711 participants across 42 sessions. Iona's new campus near thearc allows the phillips to serve more older adults in wards 7 and 8. Our most popular virtual offering with an average of 70 participants each week is our art-based meditation program, consisting of an art discussion led by the phillips's head of experiential learning and guided meditation led by the museum's resident yoga teacher; 3,749 people participated last year. We also served 1,016 participants through 22 family programs.