The latest installment of On the Ground, In Community travels to the North Side, Sharpsburg, and East Liberty
On May 1, 2026, the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council hosts its second curated arts tour, bringing elected officials and philanthropic partners on a firsthand journey through three Pittsburgh neighborhoods. The 2026 tour highlights five organizations whose work — and the artists they support — makes the case for sustained public and philanthropic investment.
Featured Tour Stops
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh
10 Children's Way, North Side. pittsburghkids.org
The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh provides innovative and inclusive museum experiences that inspire kindness, creativity, curiosity, and joy for all learners. The museum forges connections with artists, community partners, and neighbors to work on behalf of children, youth, and families across the Pittsburgh region.
Featured Artists
La Vispera
la-vispera.com
La Vispera, an art collective by Colombian born artists Kelly Jiménez and Alejandro Franco, specializes in transforming discarded materials, predominantly single-use plastic, into highly crafted works of art that mimic stained glass windows. Turning a transient and harmful substance into objects of beauty. Their creative journey began in Florida in 2018. Alejandro excels in multidisciplinary art, crafting found object assemblages and paintings, while Kelly, an art director, specializes in spatial interventions for visual concepts in set design and editorial.
City of Asylum
40 W. North Ave., North Side. cityofasylum.org
City of Asylum is the largest residency program for exiled writers in the world, providing long-term sanctuary to writers under threat of persecution while creating free public programs that bring people together around diverse voices and perspectives. Its community is neighborhood-based, extends across Pittsburgh, reaches national audiences through streaming, and connects to a global network of peer residency programs, writers, artists, and supporters.
Featured Artist
Rania Mamoun
instagram.com/raniamamoun
Rania Mamoun is a Sudanese activist and bestselling writer of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. She completed Something Evergreen Called Life, a poetry manuscript written during COVID-19 quarantine, translated into English by Yasmine Seale and published by Action Books in March 2023. Rania has published two novels to great international acclaim, Green Flash and Son of the Sun, and Thirteen Months of Sunrise, a short story collection shortlisted for the 2020 Warwick Prize for Women in Translation. Rania just completed a short story collection in Arabic called A Lonely Woman under the Neem Tree, forthcoming for publication. Rania continues to organize for democracy in Sudan. Her writing has appeared in English, Korean, French, and Spanish translation. She is a Writer-in-Residence at City of Asylum since 2019.
ZYNKA Gallery
904 Main St., Sharpsburg. zynkagallery.com
ZYNKA Gallery exhibits the finest contemporary art being created by emerging and established artists in Pittsburgh and beyond. Founded with a vision to champion local artists — building and sustaining their careers — through a space that showcases work at the highest level while remaining accessible to art patrons, collectors, enthusiasts, and the simply curious.
Featured Artist
Linda Price-Sneddon
pricesneddon.com
Linda Price-Sneddon’s paintings and installations have been exhibited widely throughout New England and the Pittsburgh area. She has been artist-in-residence at numerous New England schools and institutions including MASS MoCA’s Kidspace, Babson College, and The Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts. Price-Sneddon has received grants in support of her support of her work from the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Berkshire Taconic A.R.T. Fund,Target Foundation, and Citibank. Recent projects include a solo exhibition Point of Beginning at ZYNKA Gallery in 2024; the video installation S.H.E. Emergent at the Boston Center for The Arts’ Feminist Futurist exhibition (2020); and exhibition and stage set design for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble performance at City Theatre in Pittsburgh.
Atithi Studios
1020 N. Canal St., Sharpsburg. atithistudios.com
Atithi Studios is a community-driven art space and co-working studio that supports artists at every stage of their practice through shared studios, professional tools, gallery exhibitions, and creative labs. Serving a diverse network of emerging and established creatives across Pittsburgh, Atithi fosters collaboration, experimentation, and professional growth — rooted in the belief that equitable access to space and resources is foundational to a healthy creative ecosystem.
Featured Artist
Jacki Temple
instagram.com/nickedthumb
Jacki Temple is a self-proclaimed “recovering graphic designer” who pursued her career as a studio artist after she walked away from both a job and a marriage. With her newfound freedom, she explored the possibilities of what could be and invested time in moving from digital to tactile art making. Jacki has been with Atithi since the beginning and is the longest-standing artist in residence.
Kelly Strayhorn Theater
5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty. kelly-strayhorn.org
Kelly Strayhorn Theater is a vanguard national institution centering Black, queer, and allied communities through a justice-driven, community-rooted approach to workforce development, organizational incubation, education, and cultural celebration. KST supports 40+ rental partner groups annually, fiscally sponsors 3–5 organizations, and has toured five shows nationally over the past five years — supporting more than 50 artist jobs. With 20,000+ annual visitors, KST generates a $2.1 million economic impact in East Liberty, with 75% of attendees visiting at least one other neighborhood establishment during their visit.
Featured Artists
Adil Mansoor
adilmansoor.com
Adil Mansoor is a Pittsburgh-based director and educator centering queer folks and people of color. Recent projects include Gloria by Branden Jacobs Jenkins (Hatch), First Lady by Sedef Ecer (Pittsburgh International Classical Theater), and Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector (City Theatre). In 2025, Mansoor’s solo performance Amm(i)gone was published in American Theatre Magazine and produced Off-Broadway by PlayCo, The Flea, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST) as part of an ongoing national tour. Amm(i)gone is a National Performance Network Project co-commissioned by KST and The Theater Offensive. Next year, Adil will direct the World premiere productions of DJ Hill’s Horsegirl and Cowdaddy at Wilma Theater in Philadelphia and Soho Rep in NYC. Mansoor is the founding Artistic Director of Pittsburgh’s Hatch Arts Collective and the former Artistic Director of Dreams of Hope, an LGBTQ+ youth arts organization. He was a Sundance Art of Practice Fellow, a Gerri Kay New Voices Fellow with Quantum Theatre, and the recipient of the 2024 Emerging Artist Carol R. Brown Award.
Staycee Pearl
staycee.com
Choreographer and artistic director Staycee Pearl produces genre-bending experiences that draw together contemporary dance, immersive soundscapes, and visual artistry. The 2021 winner of The Pittsburgh Foundation’s Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Award for Established Artist, Staycee continues to generate unexpected works that explore themes of personal expression, race, freedom, and gender. As the co-founder and co-artistic director of PearlArts with her husband Herman “Soy Sos” Pearl, Staycee maintains an iterative artistic process that pulls from a wide variety of sources. Staycee has honed a uniquely soulful artistic voice that builds on her diverse experiences, from her early dance training with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey American Dance Center to her leadership of Xpressions Contemporary Dance Company and 20+ years as an influential choreographer in Pittsburgh. Staycee is especially passionate about creating space for Black femme artists to experiment. Inspired by her own experiences and challenges as a performer and choreographer, Staycee leads workshops and residencies to sustain a vibrant community for artists in her orbit.