Philadelphia is among the world’s great art destinations—and Penn Museum, home to a vast collection of international art through the ages, is pleased to be a partner in a new marketing and awareness campaign that celebrates the city as a prime global destination for visual arts!

With Art Philadelphia™, a new, multi-year campaign announced by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation on Thursday, January 12, invites the public to take advantage of the great arts Philadelphia has to offer.

The visual arts collaborative is a first-of-its-kind partnership to position Philadelphia among the world’s great art destinations and to increase visitation to the region from around the world. The group is made up of the City of Philadelphia, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation, Penn Museum, the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, the Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance and the Parkway Council Foundation.

Find out more about the partnership here: visitphilly.com/withart

Read the Press Release

Meet our docents! Penn Museum has 60 volunteer docents who annually provide gallery tours to thousands of children, teens and college students, families, seniors and special interest groups of all kinds.

Docents go through a rigorous training program at the museum to prepare them to share stories about the cultures and artifacts presented in the galleries. They continue to learn, with ongoing training programs and special lectures throughout the year.

Pictured here at a recent meeting and end of the year luncheon are many of the Museum's docents, who graciously took to the steps of the Kress Gallery entrance to have their group shot taken.

For information on how to join the all volunteer Penn Museum Docent Program, contact Jane Nelson, Volunteer Coordinator, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Ambassadors from several African and Caribbean countries joined with Philadelphia area regional business leaders Friday, November 11, 2011, when the Penn Museum was host to a business roundtable discussion presented by the African and Caribbean Business Council (ACBC). The program ran throughout the morning, concluding with an African-style luncheon in the Museum's Lower Egyptian Gallery, catered by Kilimandjaro of West Philadelphia, followed by an opportunity to view the Museum's Imagine Africa gallery project and the African gallery.

The theme for the roundtable program, attended by about 100 people, was "Driving Economic Development and Building Access to the Global Market."

Ayana Jones, business reporter for the Philadelphia Tribune, attended the roundtable and wrote this article about the event. The news was even picked up by the South Florida Caribbean News, and covered in this story.

More photos from the evening are online on the Penn Museum's Flickr page.

(L-R, back row): Unidentified man, H.E. Dr. Neil Parsan, Ambassador of Trinidad & Tobago; H.E. Seydou Bouda, Ambassador of Burkina Faso; Christopher Orji, Ph.d, Chair, African & Caribbean Business Council; H.E. Ms. Tebelelo Mazile Seretse, Ambassador of Botswana; H.E. Ebrahim Rasool, Ambassador of South Africa; Dr. Azuka Anyiam, Ph.d, President, African & Caribbean Business Council; Hon. Stanley Straughter, Chairman, Mayor's Commission on African & Caribbean Immigrant Affairs; H.E. Dan Ohene Agyekum, Ambassador of Ghana; and Samuel Blango III.
(L-R, front row) Ebenezer Padi Adjirackor, Commercial Minister, Embassy of Ghana; Archyn Brew-Butler, and Stanley Dike Sr., all seen here visiting Imagine Africa with the Penn Museum. They were all guests or speakers at the African and Caribbean Business Council's roundtable program, hosted by the Penn Museum. The event brought six ambassadors from African and Caribbean countries together with Philadelphia business leaders, Friday, November 11.

As the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (“Penn Museum” or the “Museum”) approaches its 125th anniversary in 2012, it continues to pursue its four major missions: collections management, research, education, and public outreach. The results are impressive: a vast collection of more than one million objects, unique excavation and expedition archives from over 400 Museum-sponsored projects, a dynamic schedule of exhibitions and public programs, research connections around the world, and educational resources for both the University’s students as well as others in the Philadelphia region and beyond. It is recognized as the leading museum of its kind in the United States, and one of a handful of great archaeology/anthropology museums in the world.

Since its founding in 1887, the Penn Museum has shifted its primary focus from collecting (particularly through its own expeditions to every inhabited continent) to stewardship and education. The Museum continues to undertake new research and constantly strives to present the world’s cultures to the public in its galleries, as well as through a wide range of educational outreach programs utilizing its collections from the ancient Mediterranean, Egypt, Near East, South and East Asia, and Central America, as well as anthropological materials from the Americas, Oceania, and North and sub-Saharan Africa. Certain individual pieces are world-renowned, such as “Ram-in-the-Thicket” from the royal cemetery at Ur, and the Sphinx of Ramesses II.

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The Mayor's Commission on African and Caribbean Immigrant Affairs in collaboration with the African and Caribbean Business Council (ACBC) held a meeting and reception for the Honorable Charles A. Ray, the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Zimbabwe, at the Penn Museum on the University of Pennsylvania campus in Philadelphia October 19, 2011. The attendees visited the Imagine Africa with the Penn Museum gallery project before their meeting.

 

Pictured here, in the Imagine Africa gallery project, left to right: the Honorable Stanley L. Straughter, Chairman, Mayor's Commission on African and Caribbean Immigrant Affairs; Herman Bigham, Herman Bigham and Associates; Pam Kosty, Public Relations Director, Penn Museum; the Honorable Charles. A. Ray, United States Ambassador to the Republic of Zimbabwe; John F. Smith, II, Chair, Board of Directors of Global Philadelphia; Dr. Azuka Anyiam, President, African and Caribbean Business Council; Kevin Schott, Exhibition Developer, Penn Museum; and Archyn Brew-Butler, President, Orijin Culture.

We Knew Him When...

Working towards a Ph.D. in Anthropology may not make you an instant millionaire, but it just might make you smart enough to win a million dollars!

At least, that's what Noam Osband is hoping. A Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, Noam will be a contestant on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire," airing TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4 and WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5. Hosted by the Emmy Award-winning Meredith Vieira, "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" can be seen locally in the Philadelphia area on WPVI (ABC6), weekdays at 12:30 pm.

Last year, Noam was one of several Penn students with a summer field research grant from the Penn Museum. He used the grant money to study Mexican guest workers in Arkansas.

His strategy for winning? "As a kid, I used to always read the encyclopedia," he said, adding, "Wikipedia is your best friend."

Go, Noam, we may not be your official "lifeline" but we'll be watching and cheering you on!

UPDATE: We have a winner! Noam didn't win the grand prize, but he did walk away with an astonishing $250,000! Congratulations, Noam!