The Art Institute of Pittsburgh was part of The Art Institutes, a private for-profit system of art schools in the United States, which closed down in September 2023.[4]
Enrollment in the online division and EDMC's other online programs ballooned from 7,900 in 2007 to 42,300 in 2012, largely due to practices that devoted more per-student expenditures to marketing ($4,158) than on education ($3,460).[8] In 2008, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh briefly became one of the largest arts colleges in the United States (factoring in online enrollment).
In 2009, EDMC had an initial public offering, with Goldman Sachs assuming a majority position. Emphasis throughout the EDMC system shifted increasingly toward shareholder profits with cost-cutting measures[9] resulting in larger classes, fewer student services, and a standardized curriculum throughout the system. This standardization removed the need for resident experts and curriculum developers at the individual colleges.[10]
In 2010 enrollment began to drop, in part due to the falsification of records.[11] Whistleblowers within the company sued the institute due to practices at the online division, and were later joined by the United States Department of Justice.[12] Dramatic drops in enrollment led to massive layoffs in the online division.[13]
In 2013, Payscale.com found that the institute provided the worst return on tuition of all institutes of higher learning surveyed.[14] According to disclosures the college was required to provide to the Department of Education, overall graduation rates fell to 39% in 2012, while graduation rates among Pell grant recipients were still lower at 27%.[15] The graduation rate fell substantially further in 2014 from 39% to 24%.[16]
New owners took control of EDMC in 2015, as EDMC entered into a debt-for-equity swap with its current owners, giving up the majority of their stock to creditors with whom they broke loan covenants.[17]
In 2017, Education Management Corporation reported that it had sold the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and the other existing Art Institutes to Dream Center Education Holdings (in turn a division of The Dream Center, a Los Angeles-based Pentecostalnon-profit501(c)(3) established in 1994).[1][18][19] The sale was completed in October 2017.[2]
Dream Center would later blame EDMC for providing inaccurate revenue and cost projections at the time of the sale, resulting in a substantial operating deficit that forced the Art Institute into federal receivership in January 2019.[21]
After the collapse of a last-ditch effort to sell the school, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh shut its doors in March 2019 after being placed into federal receivership.[3][22] At the time of its closure, Ai-Pittsburgh was facing removal of its accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) due to concerns over the executive leadership.[23]
The school purchased a historic landmark building at 420 Boulevard of the Allies in 2000 but sold it to a Chicago developer in 2014. The Art Institute then moved to its more industrial building in the Strip District of Pittsburgh.
On March 27, 2017, The school moved to 1400 Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh. During its growth phase, it relocated several times, expanding and broadening the curriculum, but later reduced offerings during its contraction period.
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh's online division was a semi-autonomous division of the Art Institute. It offered degree programs and non-degree diploma courses in a variety of creative fields. The online division was shut down alongside the Strip campus location.[24]
Frank Kelly Freas, an American science fiction and fantasy artist with a career spanning more than 50 years. He was known as the "Dean of Science Fiction Artists" and he was the second artist inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.[29]
Paul Gulacy, an American comics artist who worked for both DC and Marvel Comics. He is best known for drawing one of the first graphic novels, Eclipse Enterprises 1978 Sabre: Slow Fade of an Endangered Species, with writer Don McGregor.
Leon Levinstein, an American street photographer best known for his work documenting everyday street life in New York City from the 1950s through the 1980s.
John Prentice, an American cartoonist and comic-book artist most widely known for his work on the syndicated comic strip Rip Kirby.
Martha Rial, an independent photographer based in Pittsburgh. 1998 Pulitzer Prize winner for Spot News Photography, for her photographs of Rwandan and Burundian refugees.
^Felix Fisher, Jacquelyn; Goodman, E. W. (2009). The Art Institute of Pittsburgh (paperback). Campus History Series. Arcadia Publishing (published November 18, 2009). ISBN9780738565545. Retrieved November 1, 2019 – via Google Books.
^"Presenting the 2006 Hall of Fame Inductees". Archived from the original on April 26, 2006. Retrieved August 19, 2016. Press release March 15, 2006. Science Fiction Museum (sfhomeworld.org). Archived April 26, 2006. Retrieved 2013-04-09.
