350,000 Visits, and a Community Coming Together

September is always a busy month at the Cultural Trust. This year, alongside the start of our Broadway season and our annual Gala & Icon Awards, we added something new – our inaugural Annual Community Meeting.

Over the course of just a few days, the gala and Annual Community Meeting brought people together—first, to celebrate people who have shaped Pittsburgh through the arts, education, and philanthropy, and then to reflect on our progress and talk about what comes next for the Cultural District and Downtown.

The gatherings had different purposes, but they shared the same idea. Strong communities are built by people who are willing to imagine something better and work together to make it possible.

At our first Annual Community Meeting, we welcomed partners, supporters, artists, civic leaders, and community members to reflect on the Trust’s impact, talk openly about what we are learning, and look ahead to the future of the Cultural District and Downtown Pittsburgh.

We created this gathering because the Cultural Trust has an important story to tell. The scale of our work, whether it’s on our stages, in our public spaces, across the region, and in Downtown’s continued revitalization, matters. It matters to the community we serve, to the partners who make this work possible, and to the public leaders and supporters who invest in it.

Sharing that impact more openly is part of our responsibility as a Downtown leader. Our first Annual Community Meeting, along with our new Community Impact Report, highlighted the Trust’s progress and impact over the past 18 months. This has been one of the most consequential periods in our organization’s history and for Downtown Pittsburgh.

We shared that Arts Landing has welcomed more than 350,000 visits since opening in April. Even without a major event or scheduled programming, more than 1,500 people are using the space each day to play, exercise, meet up with friends, experience public art, or just spend time Downtown.

The Grable Playground has become the most-used area in Arts Landing. To me, that says something about how much families needed a place Downtown where kids could be kids.

Days earlier, at our annual Gala & Icon Awards at Arts Landing, we celebrated three Pittsburghers whose creativity, service, and generosity have strengthened our community:

• Dr. Harry Clark helped create Pittsburgh CAPA and opened doors for generations of young artists.

• Joan Clark Davis strengthened Pittsburgh through her extraordinary generosity to the arts, education, health care and community organizations.

• Karla Boos transformed the way Pittsburgh experiences theater through nearly four decades of bold, imaginative work with Quantum Theatre.

Each has expanded what is possible for others and left a lasting mark on Pittsburgh. It was an honor to recognize their contributions alongside so many people who support the arts and our city.

Beyond these two community gatherings, it has been a wonderful start to the fall season in the Cultural District. Disney's The Lion King just wrapped its three-week run at the Benedum Center as part of our PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series, welcoming 60,000 guests.

Another standout this month was Pittsburgh artist Jesse Factor's MetaMarthasis—an innovative Pittsburgh Dance Council performance at the Greer Cabaret Theater. If you're not familiar, the production evolved from Factor's The Marthaodyssey, which premiered at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in 2024. The show continued a collaboration between the Trust and KST to support local artists and bring their work to wider audiences.

That is how the Cultural Trust approaches its role Downtown. We bring people together, invest in artists and experiences, care for important venues and public spaces, and create more reasons for people to come Downtown and return.

We are so proud to help lead this work, but we know we never do it alone. The Cultural District thrives because artists, patrons, donors, sponsors, civic leaders, community partners, Board members, volunteers, and staff continue to invest their time, talent, and support in its future.

Thank you for being part of this community and for helping us shape what comes next for the Cultural District and Downtown Pittsburgh.