American Academy of Arts and Letters and an annual exhibition of works by newly elected members and recipients of honors and awards. A permanent exhibit of the recreated studio of composer Charles Ives was opened in 2014. The auditorium is sought out by musicians and engineers wishing to record live because the acoustics are considered among the city's finest. Hundreds of commercial recordings have been made there. The American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters was formed from three parent organizations. The first, the American Social Science Association, was founded in 1865, at Boston. The second was the National Institute of Arts and Letters, which
American Academy of the Fine Arts American Academy of the Fine Arts The American Academy of the Fine Arts was an art institution founded in 1802 in New York City, to encourage appreciation and teaching of the classical style. It exhibited copies of classical works and encouraged artists to emulate the classical in their work. The mayor of New York city at the time, Richard Varick, and Gulian Verplanck, a New York politician, were some of the Academy's original organizers. Younger artists grew increasingly restive under its constraint, and in 1825 left to found the National Academy of Design. The Academy's original name was the New