The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts has been bringing exhibitions to New York City since 1825 when it was founded as the National Academy of Design. Located on the Upper East Side between the Cooper Hewitt and the Guggenheim the National Academy is a wonderful small museum housed in a beautiful townhouse and one that you should visit on your next trip up Museum Mile (Fifth Avenue uptown). The institution designates “Academicians” who are professional artists elected by their peers to become members. A look at the list of Academicians, past and present, is impressive in that so many of our great American artists appear. The Museum presents exhibitions of American art of all genres from its permanent collection spanning the Nineteenth Century to the present. Every Spring the Museum presents its annual exhibition which is a group show of works by contemporary Academicians; other times Academicians curate shows from the permanent collection. www.nationalacademy.org