Artsburgh to Provide Database of Digital Content from Area Museums & Cultural Organizations

Pittsburgh—June 24, 2020 – The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, in partnership with more than 40 regional museums and cultural institutions, is launching an expanded version of Artsburgh.org, its major events website to promote arts and culture in the area.

Re-engineered in response to COVID-19, the expanded Artsburgh website will now include two additional resources: direct links to an organization’s digital programming and information regarding an organization’s re-opening procedures, including new safety guidelines for visitors.

The initiative to expand Artsburgh started through a regional museums and cultural institutions working group, originally convened in April. Within the working group, more than 40 organizations, spanning Allegheny, Westmoreland and Fayette counties, meet regularly to collaboratively plan for facility re-openings and share best practices.

Hayley Haldeman, Mattress Factory Interim Director, convenes the working group’s communications efforts in coordination with the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. She states: “The working group recognized that cultural organizations have all developed creative and engaging digital programming in response to COVID-19. Artsburgh will serve as a ‘one-stop shop’ to conveniently access and explore compiled content from dozens of organizations, as well as to review helpful information relating to re-opening.”

Although the area’s museums are piloting the expanded effort, any arts and cultural organization can create or update an Artsburgh profile. It is free to create a profile and is not limited to Arts Council members.

Mitch Swain, CEO of the Arts Council, is excited for the growth of Artsburgh and the collaboration amongst the region’s museums: “The expanded Artsburgh website will serve the evolving needs of our arts community in response to COVID-19. We look forward to other organizations updating their profiles, sharing their own content and re-opening information, and digital or in-person events in the weeks to come.”

The Arts Council launched Artsburgh in 2015 as the region’s comprehensive events website designed to promote arts and culture to Greater Pittsburgh. The user-friendly website has a variety of customizable filters for accessibility, genre and price so that it’s easy for potential patrons and visitors to find the type of art experiences that they want. Artsburgh events are also automatically listed on six local websites: Burgh Vivant, Pittsburgh Current, Love Pittsburgh Music, Pittsburgh in the Round, Unisound, and VisitPittsburgh.

All organizations pages can be found at artsburgh.org/categories/museums-cultural-sites-reopening/. The website will continue to be updated with new organization pages, as organizations confirm their reopening plans and virtually programming.

Participants in the museums and cultural institutions working group include:

Allegheny County Airport Authority
American Jewish Museum (Jewish Community Center)
Assemble Associated Artists of Pittsburgh
August Wilson African American Cultural Center
BOOM Concepts
Brew House Association
Calliope: The Pittsburgh Folk Music Society
Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
Carnegie Museum of Art
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
Carnegie Science Center
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh
Cultural Trust-affiliated art galleries
Fallingwater
Fiasco Museum and Cultural Center
Fort Ligonier & Museum/Braaddock's Battlefield History Center
Fort Pitt Museum (Heinz History Center)
Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council
Greensburg Arts Center
Heinz History Center
Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh
Kentuck Knob
Mattress Factory Museum
Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village (Heinz History Ctr)
Miller Institute for Contemporary Art, Carnegie Mellon University
National Aviary
Phipps Conservancy and Botanical Gardens
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Pittsburgh Botanic Garden
Pittsburgh Glass Center
Pittsburgh Kids
Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
Pittsburgh Watercolor Society
Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium
Radiant Hall Studios
Rivers of Steel National Heritage Corporation
Roberto Clemente Museum
Silver Eye Center for Photography
Contemporary Craft
Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka
Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall & Museum
Sweetwater Center for the Arts
The Andy Warhol Museum
The Frick Pittsburgh
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art
Touchstone Center for Crafts
Troy Hill Art Houses (La Hutte Royal and Kunzhaus)
University of Pittsburgh Art Gallery
Women of Visions, Inc.

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About the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council

The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council champions the arts in Southwestern Pennsylvania, providing financial, professional, and political support for the arts and culture sector. Comprised of more than 600 diverse artists and nonprofit organizations, the Arts Council offers valuable research, legal and business consulting, networking and professional development opportunities so that artists, as well as arts leaders and organizations, can grow their skills and advance their practice. The Arts Council provides grants for artists and arts organizations, leads the region's arts advocacy at the local, state, and national level, and models best practices for accessibility and equity in the arts.

For interviews with the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, image use requests, and any other media questions, please contact Manager of Communications Lisa Cunningham at 412-391-2060, ext. 227 or lcunningham@pittsburghartscouncil.org.