On Thursday, September 30, a group of Northside museums and cultural institutions will celebrate the launch of the Northside Cultural Corridor with free admission and activities.
The Northside Cultural Corridor is a placemaking initiative that focuses on the approximate one-mile passage from the Mattress Factory to The Andy Warhol Museum. Current Corridor partners include Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh; the Mattress Factory; The Andy Warhol Museum; City of Asylum; the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy; and the National Aviary.
The Northside Cultural Corridor was created with support from the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD) in 2019. Through wayfinding initiatives, collaborative outreach and joint programming, the Corridor, inclusive of the partner institutions and the surrounding community, will become a destination in and of itself.
The September 30 Corridor Free Day will feature free admission and family-friendly activities offered by each of the Corridor partners. Guests should reserve admission tickets in advance, and COVID-19 protocols remain in effect at all institutions, details for which can be found on each institution’s website and my vary by institution. More information and a full schedule are available here: https://mattress.org/events/the-corridor-free-day-09-30-2021/
Additionally, September 30 marks the launch of new walking maps for the Northside Cultural Corridor. The Corridor partners worked with Grounded Strategies to develop the maps, which will be available online and in hard copy at all partner institutions.
Grounded is also leading a multi-month stakeholder engagement process with Northside residents. Grounded mailed thousands of survey cards to Northside residents, with drop-off locations throughout the area, and is interviewing various Northside stakeholders. These surveys and interviews will guide the Corridor partners to better serve Northside neighbors and to strengthen their roles as community resources
The Mattress Factory served as project lead. Mattress Factory Executive Director Hayley Haldeman states: “We are incredibly excited about the launch of the Corridor. At the September 30 Free Day, we look forward to welcoming both longtime Northside residents and those new to the area. Our new Northside Cultural Corridor maps promote the accessibility and openness of our institutions and discovery of the spaces between.”
“All of our institutions are fortunate to call the Northside home,” Haldeman continues. “Through this project, we hope to strengthen our connections with our neighboring communities. We are very grateful to RAD for its support of this project.”
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, contact:
djanuary@mattress.org
412-313-5412 (w)
About the Mattress Factory
The Mattress Factory, founded in 1977, is a museum and experimental lab for artists. Located in Pittsburgh's historic Northside, just minutes from Downtown Pittsburgh, the Mattress Factory hosts artists from around the world and around the corner who live and work at the Museum as they create site-specific installation art that transforms spaces in our two historic row homes, converted mattress warehouse and surrounds. In addition to revolving installations created by artists in residence, the Mattress Factory also is home to installations by Greer Lankton, James Turrell, Winifred Lutz, Yayoi Kusama and more. For more information, call 412-231-3169 or visit mattress.org.
About The Andy Warhol Museum
Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the place of Andy Warhol’s birth, The Andy Warhol Museum holds the largest collection of Warhol’s artworks and archival materials and is one of the most comprehensive single-artist museums in the world. The Warhol is one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh. Additional information about The Warhol is available at warhol.org.
About City of Asylum
City of Asylum builds a just community by protecting and celebrating creative free expression. We provide sanctuary to endangered literary writers, so that the writers can continue to write and their voices are not silenced. We offer a broad range of free literary, arts, and humanities programs at our cultural venue Alphabet City—a hub for Pittsburgh’s readers and writers, jazz and small-scale music and performance, and artistic experimentation. Alphabet City also houses an independent bookstore committed to promoting marginalized and under-represented voices. City of Asylum also has points of interest throughout Pittsburgh's northside, including public art houses, named "House Publications," on Sampsonia Way and the serene Alphabet City Reading Garden.
About the National Aviary
The National Aviary is America’s only independent indoor nonprofit zoo dedicated to birds. Located on Pittsburgh’s historic Northside, the National Aviary is home to 500 birds representing more than 150 diverse species from around the world, many of them threatened or endangered in the wild. The National Aviary’s large walk-through habitats create an intimate, up-close interaction between visitors and free-flying birds, including opportunities to hand-feed and meet many species rarely found in zoos. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. – 5p.m. daily except for Tuesdays. For tickets and more information, visit www.aviary.org.
About the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh
Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is a place that provides innovative and inclusive museum experiences that inspire kindness, joy, creativity and curiosity for all learners. We forge connections with artists, community partners and neighbors to work on behalf of children, youth and families. With 80,000 square feet of space, the Children’s Museum provides loads of “real stuff” experiences for play and learning. And with both permanent and temporary exhibits, there's always something new to experience at the Children's Museum!
About the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy
Now celebrating its 25th year, the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy was founded in December 1996 by a group of citizens concerned with the deteriorating conditions of Pittsburgh’s historic city parks. A non-profit organization, the Parks Conservancy works closely with the City of Pittsburgh under an official public-private partnership agreement to restore and improve the city’s park system to its full potential. To date, the Parks Conservancy has raised more than $130 million and completed 22 major park improvement projects. The Parks Conservancy works with thousands of volunteers, hosts hundreds of events, and provides programming for more than 7,500 children annually.
About Grounded Strategies
Since its founding in 2007, Grounded Strategies* has supported over 175 community-led projects throughout the Pittsburgh region. Our diverse and committed team is on a mission to improve community health by co-designing equitable, sustainable, and catalytic open space projects with nonprofit, government, and corporate partners. Focused on urban planning, community engagement, public policy, landscape design, permaculture, and sustainable land stewardship, Grounded's work scales from parcel scale initiatives to city-wide intersectional thinking. Regardless of scale, all of our work includes elements of placemaking, design, community engagement, and data-driven solutions.
*formally GTECH
