The Tyler Center for Art and Creative Exchange has officially launched, a new initiative from Temple University’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture housed inside the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The center opened its doors with The Afterlife, an exhibition featuring 27 recent MFA graduates, the first in what’s planned as an annual public exhibition series.

The launch marks a formal, ongoing partnership between two institutions that have circled each other’s orbit for years without a structure quite like this one.

Tyler Center for Art and Creative Exchange: The What

The Tyler Center for Art and Creative Exchange, known as TCAC, is built as a constellation of artist-centered programs rather than a single fixed initiative. It’s housed at PAFA’s Samuel M.V. Hamilton Building in Center City, formalizing a partnership between two of Philadelphia’s most established art institutions. Eighteen fellows are currently part of the program, drawn from across Tyler’s alumni base rather than limited to the most recent graduating class alone. Rachel Mijares Fick was named the center’s inaugural program director in July, tasked with shaping TCAC’s direction from the ground up.

Tyler Center for Art and Creative Exchange: The Why

Dean Cahan framed the initiative as part of Temple’s broader commitment to the city, reinforcing Philadelphia’s reputation as a destination where artists want to build a life and a practice. It’s a continuation of a pattern already visible elsewhere in PAFA’s own recent history, where leadership transitions and new partnerships keep reshaping how the institution engages with working artists.

For MFA graduates specifically, TCAC offers something scarce in most post-graduate paths: a formal bridge between finishing a degree and finding a way to keep showing, developing, and connecting within a city’s arts community rather than scattering immediately after commencement. Most programs simply end at commencement, leaving graduates to rebuild that infrastructure entirely on their own. Full details on the center and its ongoing programming are available through Temple University’s official site.

Mijares Fick has described her own vision for the center as deeply rooted in Philadelphia while staying forward-looking, a balance that’s easy to state in a press quote and considerably harder to actually build. Whether TCAC delivers on that will show up less in this launch announcement and more in who the program produces five years from now.

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Allan Lane

Philadelphia born and bred, Allan Lane is the Publisher and Editor in Chief of digital magazines. He launched his first publication, SportBikes Inc Magazine in 2010, followed by dosage MAGAZINE in 2019. Recently, Allan launched his third online publication, Club For Man. As a journalist, Allan covers fashion, lifestyle, culture, art, and motorcycles.

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