Pittsburgh Has A Gallery Guide
One of the things that makes me optimistic about Pittsburgh’s creative future is that it’s not we have been trying very hard. One thing that stands out is that the city has never had even a simple printed guide to it’s galleries and museums. It also barely shows up in any regional guides like the Mid-Atlantic Gallery Guide which the Warhol didn’t bother to list in.
The guide, that was created was put out with the meager funds of a lot of very poor galleries. The larger and better funded folks, which are in Pittsburgh non-profit institutions took a wait and see approach, with eager promises to do it next time when it’s in their ( simple listings cost $200) budget or if it meets their standards.
The Glass Center, The Pittsburgh Center For the Arts and in the Cultural Trust stepped up in the end with some support. The Carnegie, Warhol, Mattress Factory, The Silver Eye, AIR, Future Tenant and the major college galleries of CMU and Pitt did not list themselves.
The final product looks good but falls far short of being a comprehensive guide to our art scene which is full of all kinds of fascinating things being done by people with almost no money. As I expected, having even a small fee, put listings beyond the grasp of all the Penn Avenue spaces like Garfield Artworks and Modern Formations. The project does involve an evolving website that promises a lot more.
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“The larger and better funded folks, which are in Pittsburgh non-profit institutions” …I hope you’re kidding. 501(c)3 does NOT = Better Funded
Yes, the Carnegie Museum of art, The Warhol, the Cultural trust people, CMU and PITT are better funded than the little “for profit” galleries here.
The Carnegie for example seems to have money to put out and mail a fancy magazine. Wood Street gallery prints up catalogs for every show and hires people to spead them all over the city but they don’t have 200 bucks to list themselves in a guide?