Advocacy |
Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Brings Advocacy Leadership Institute to Southwestern PA
PITTSBURGH, PA — As arts and culture organizations navigate an increasingly complex policy and funding landscape, the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council is pleased to bring the Advocacy Leadership Institute (ALI) to Southwestern Pennsylvania. Applications are now open for the region’s first cohort of the program, designed exclusively for leaders of arts and culture nonprofit organizations.
Licensed from CreativeOhio, the six-month program prepares participants to advocate with clarity, credibility, and confidence at both the local and state levels. Through expert instruction, peer learning, and hands-on experiences, participants gain a practical understanding of how policy decisions are made, how public funding flows, and how to build lasting relationships with elected officials and community leaders.
“When CreativeOhio presented on the Advocacy Leadership Institute and its outcomes at the Americans for the Arts annual conference in 2025, we knew that Southwestern Pennsylvania needed this program,” says Arts Council CEO Patrick Fisher. “ALI is built on a simple but powerful idea: a network of fully engaged advocates is far more effective than any single voice.”
Greater Pittsburgh is the first community outside of Ohio to license and implement CreativeOhio’s Advocacy Leadership Institute curriculum, helping establish a growing network of advocacy champions across Southwestern Pennsylvania.
"The Advocacy Leadership Institute was built on the belief that if we want stronger public support for the arts, we must first invest upstream in the civic literacy and civic engagement of arts leaders,” says Sarah Sisser, Executive Director & CEO of CreativeOhio. “Over the past two years, CreativeOhio's ALI has equipped leaders with the knowledge, relationships, and confidence to become more effective advocates, not only for their respective organizations and communities, but for the future of the creative sector in our state."
Participants will meet on the third Tuesday of each month from January through June 2027 for an immersive learning experience that combines expert guidance, collaborative learning, and advocacy-focused field trips.
That approach has already made a lasting impression on participants in Ohio.
"Advocacy skill-building and networking are two of the most important things you can do for your organization, and this program provides both," says Luke Dennis, General Manager & President of Miami Valley Public Media, part of CreativeOhio's 2025 ALI Cohort.
The program has also coincided with significant statewide advocacy successes.
“Since CreativeOhio introduced the Advocacy Leadership Institute, Ohio has seen year-over-year record appropriations for arts funding at the state level,” says Fisher. “While we can't claim causation, the correlation is hard to ignore. We strongly believe that when you teach people to be organized, empowered advocates, outcomes follow. Our hope is to build that same kind of collective advocacy network here in Southwestern Pennsylvania.”
The inaugural Greater Pittsburgh cohort will be facilitated by Dr. Brett Ashley Crawford, Teaching Professor of Arts Management at Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and Executive Director of the Arts Management and Technology Laboratory.
Applications are open July 23 through September 30, 2026. Prospective applicants are encouraged to attend a free virtual info session on Thursday, August 20, from 9-10 a.m. to learn more about the program, meet program leaders, and ask questions before applying.
Tuition is $300 for Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council members and $600 for non-members. Scholarships are available to help ensure the program is accessible to leaders across the region.
"This was an invaluable use of my time,” says Kimberlee Goodman, Executive Director of McConnell Arts Center, part of CreativeOhio's 2025 ALI Cohort. “Carving out a day each month to do this work paid incredible dividends."
The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council is grateful to CreativeOhio for licensing the Advocacy Leadership Institute and to The Heinz Endowments for their investment in ALI and our broader advocacy efforts.
For more information about the Advocacy Leadership Institute, to register for the August 20 info session, or to submit an application, visit the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Advocacy Leadership Institute webpage at pittsburghartscouncil.org/advocacy-leadership-institute.
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