SLFRF-Funded Program Overview

In 2021, the City of Pittsburgh announced an allocation of $2,000,000 to support the arts in the city. The program aimed to “support local artists who experienced financial hardship during COVID and to bring music and art into public events and facilities across Pittsburgh.” See Press Release

Advocacy

Management of the Support for the Arts fund was housed within City of Pittsburgh agencies, but GPAC’s advocacy urging “the City of Pittsburgh to create an equitable and impactful plan to spend its ‘support for the arts’ money” was key to the fund’s success.

Advocacy continues to be crucial for Pittsburgh’s cultural sector. For instance, in July 2023, personnel changes in city government led to priority adjustments that threatened to reduce the $2,000,000 support for the arts and culture sector by $650,000. The Arts Council worked swiftly and activated the city’s vast network of cultural advocates to urge members of the City Council to reverse course and maintain the $2,000,000 level of funding for the sector. As a result of unified community voices, the City Council passed an amendment to remove the reallocation of the Support for the Arts funds. See Advocacy Effort Information

Process

As of September 2023, just over $1.8 million of the funds remained unspent (See Sept 30, 2023 ARPA Spend Report), with the SLFRF program requiring that obligated funds be expended by December 31, 2026. The Arts Council convened a small group of partners to advise the City of Pittsburgh on a plan to ensure the funds were best used to support their community. Organizations at the table included 1Hood Media, BOOM Concepts, Black Unicorn Library and Archive Project, PearlArts Movement and Sound, and Shiftworks Community + Public Arts. 

In spring 2024, the City of Pittsburgh released two RFPs, one seeking a regranting partner for economic impact payments to affected artists, and the second seeking arts organizations to utilize the funds for publicly available art programs. In September 2025, Pittsburgh City Council authorized distribution of $785,000 via six different local arts organizations to satisfy both regranting and programmatic arms of the plan. The funds are still on track to be spent down by the deadline of December 31, 2026.

Equity

In their recommendations to the City of Pittsburgh, the Arts Council relied on equitable grantmaking frameworks, some of which were developed through another the Arts Council grant program called the Allegheny Arts Revival Grant program that was funded by ARPA allocations from the National Endowment for the Arts. Their equity framework included grantmaking prioritizing BIPOC artists, organizations with predominantly BIPOC leadership, and organizations with budgets under $250,000. See GPAC Grant Guidelines

Moving Forward

While the City of Pittsburgh and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council continue their efforts to best support the Pittsburgh community with funds from the ARPA SLFRF program, the Arts Council collaboratively engages with creative workers to encourage not only support for programmatic output of the sector but to also support for the artistic processes of artists who live and work in Pittsburgh. The pandemic exacerbated the needs of many Pittsburgh artists, from sufficient income to health insurance, studio space and more. The Arts Council envisions and advocates for a more collaborative private/public funding models so that resilience and as programs such as the SLFRF are less necessary for artists to thrive in Pittsburgh. See Information on GPAC’s Goals

Founded in 2005 after the merger of ProArts and the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Alliance, the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council (GPAC) is the non-profit local arts agency serving Southwestern Pennsylvania, with a primary presence in Allegheny County and the City of Pittsburgh.

The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council builds a more resourced, connected, and informed arts sector, empowering artists and arts organizations throughout Southwestern PA. By sharing resources, fostering significant relationships, leading advocacy initiatives, and increasing public awareness of arts and culture, the Arts Council cultivates a thriving, vibrant arts community for the Greater Pittsburgh region. Visit the GPAC Website