Classicist group changes its name

"After much deliberation and debate," a new and shorter name is being adopted by the organization that has been known for the past nine years as the Institute of Classical Architecture & Classical America (ICA&CA), it was announced April 6. The new name, which will be gradually introduced in coming months by the national office and its 14 chapters across the US, is Institute of Classical Architecture & Art (ICAA).

"This decision reflects a period of growth along with upfront recognition of our Grand Central Academy of Art and its specific fulfillment of the fine arts aspect of the inter-disciplinary classical mission that has guided our work since the consolidation with Classical America nearly a decade ago," said President Paul Gunther in an e-mail statement. The new name also "announces our purpose more directly" and helps direct online searches to the organization, he said.

That may well be, but when we put "ICAA" into a Google search, what first came up were links to the International Council on Active Aging, the Insulation Contractors Association of America, the International Christian Accrediting Association, Independent College Advancement Associates, and International Colored Appaloosa Association. Maybe it works better if you put "classical" in the search line. Or maybe the name just needs some time before it reaches the top of web searches.

In any event, the "Classical America" name will live on in the Classical America Series in Art and Architecture, "whose list of volumes both new and reprinted continues to grow annually as featured on our homepage bookshop," Gunther said. 

The Institute of Classical Architecture began in 1991, and Classical America started in 1968, merging in 2002. The combined organization is, according to a statement on its website, the leading nonprofit organization "dedicated to advancing the classical tradition in architecture, urbanism and their allied arts,"