Shortly after Sasha Suda took the helm of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2022, she found herself facing one of many dilemmas uniquely suited to her ethos.

In a funding conversation with the Kenney administration, a City official commented on the paltry number of public school students taking field trips to the PMA — just 8,000 in 2021, compared to about 100,000 in 2005, and 150,000 at the nearby Franklin Institute. The reasons, Suda learned from her staff, were myriad — but solvable.

Security guards wouldn’t open the doors until 10am, when the PMA opens, which meant teachers, students and chaperones had to wait outside, no matter the weather. There was no room big enough for a whole class to eat lunch, or in which to do group programming, which made it hard for teachers and chaperon

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