Institute of Contemporary Art

A launchpad for contemporary art and ideas, ICA is a place of possibility.

The Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania (ICA) is a global hub for contemporary art and ideas. Free and open to all, ICA is dedicated to supporting artistic practices across disciplines and to serving as a laboratory for risk-taking, community-building, and knowledge-creation. Since 1963, ICA has championed the University’s commitment to cultivating the next generation of imaginative creators and thinkers. Through commissions, exhibitions, programs, publications, and special projects, ICA fosters bold experimentation, curiosity, and discovery.

Giving to ICA enables us to flourish as a free and welcoming space for everybody. We create opportunities for audiences across campus and throughout Philadelphia and beyond to access world-class programming and transformative experiences with art and artists whose work informs our contemporary cultural landscapes. In addition, we are committed to supporting the next generation of creative thinkers and makers and thereby expanding the impact of the arts on society.

Your support ensures we can maintain our critically regarded programming, launch new research initiatives, improve our physical spaces for expanded public programs, and sustain our mission of connecting with artists and audiences locally and across the globe as part of the expansive and international mission of Penn.

Highlighted Priorities

  • Promoting contemporary art research: Field Notes, ICA’s new research platform, is central to our mission as a launchpad for contemporary art, research, and ideas. Bringing together scholars, artists, curators, and practitioners from across disciplines, this collaborative initiative strengthens our connection to the essential research mission of Penn and our position within the University. It provides opportunities for ICA to expand scholarship, awareness, and learning on contemporary art, deepening our impact on the fields of art and culture and beyond.
  • Aligning our building with our mission: ICA is one of Penn’s most recognized and vital arts centers, open for free to everyone. We are a portal for the Penn community, our West Philadelphia neighbors, and the city at large. Since 1963, we have gained a reputation for our nationally and internationally critically acclaimed program. The building where we are located was built in 1991, and though there have been minor improvements in the past 30 years, we have found that now is the time to examine how the building can better fulfill the goals of ICA. We see an opportunity to deepen our vital work through a major capital project. A reimagined building would strengthen visibility, increase accessibility from the street, and improve usability of ICA’s spaces within the building, allowing ICA to accommodate and expand to greater potential for engagement with audiences and opportunity for artists.
  • Supporting a sustainable future: A healthy endowment enables ICA to support artists in creating daring, cross-disciplinary projects that defy expectations, disrupt form, and change the status quo—advancing their practice and changing the field. Essential support for ICA’s endowment expands our capacity to invest in ground-breaking exhibitions and educational programs that expand the canon of contemporary art and support the next generation of aspiring arts professionals.
Zoë Ryan

“Critical support allows ICA Philadelphia to continue to build upon an incredible legacy of supporting artists and transformative ideas. Our world-class program reflects Penn’s values of collaboration and learning and serves as a laboratory, providing opportunities for audiences across campus, throughout Philadelphia, and beyond to engage with art and artists at the forefront of contemporary practice.”

- Zoë Ryan
Daniel W. Dietrich, II Director

Jenny Laden
Director of Development

(215) 573-1045
jladen@upenn.edu
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Did You Know?


Andy Warhol’s first ever solo museum show was held at ICA in 1965, helping propel him to superstardom.