A Fruitful Decade: Participation in PITT ARTS Almost Triples Between 2001-02 and 2011-12

Participation in the University of Pittsburgh’s PITT ARTS program has almost tripled over the past decade, rising to 63,682 participants, including repeat visitors, in the 2011-12 school year—up from 21,546 participants in 2001-02 school year.

Since Pitt’s Office of the Provost launched PITT ARTS 16 years ago, the program has garnered participation from a cumulative total of 544,223 individuals, including repeat visitors. The majority of program participants are Pitt students, followed by Pitt faculty and staff.

PITT ARTS connects Pitt’s Oakland-campus students to the cultural life of the city by sponsoring more than 110 free student outings for Pitt undergraduates each year. The program provides on-campus arts experiences, free museum visits for Pitt students, as well as discounted cultural opportunities in the Cultural District and elsewhere for undergraduate and graduate students and faculty and staff. 

“The benefits of PITT ARTS have been embraced by the Pitt community at large,” said Annabelle Clippinger, PITT ARTS director. “We are featured on the Pitt website in numerous locations, including the home page; we have been a driver of graduate student interest on the Cool Pittsburgh website; and our own award-winning website www.pittarts.pitt.edu is frequented by Pitt’s community to purchase tickets and as a clearinghouse for arts information.”  

With a commitment to green communications, PITT ARTS is regularly interacting with students via electronic newsletter, an online sign-up site featuring PITT ARTS Arts Encounter offerings for Pitt undergrads only, LCD screen marketing of programs, and Read-Green announcements to Pitt faculty and staff.

“Most rewarding” Clippinger said, “is that students come to me and tell me how much their contact with the arts through our program has changed their lives. Though we affect students one by one this way, PITT ARTS’ impact is truly significant in the lives of many, many Pitt students. ”  

PITT ARTS Cheap Seats, one of the program’s most popular offerings, offers discount seating to many events offered by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh CLO & CLO Cabaret, the Pittsburgh Ballet, and the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Also in the mix are shows and concerts offered by Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, Renaissance & Baroque, the Guitar Society of Fine Art, and Calliope: Pittsburgh Folk Music Society.