What is the Arts and Culture Observatory?

The Arts and Culture Observatory, established in September 2002, is a research center of the Institute for the Management of Creative Enterprises at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University.

The goal of the Observatory is to provide meaningful, useful information about the arts and cultural sector in Southwest Pennsylvania, including conditions internal (finances, programming, attendance) and external (social/cultural, educational, technological, economic, and political) to the sector. The Observatory is funded by The Heinz Endowments, the Pittsburgh Foundation, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

What does the Observatory do?

The Observatory's mission is to serve the arts and culture sector in an ongoing manner by collecting accurate, objective, and comprehensive data based on the internal and external conditions of non-profit creative enterprises in the Pittsburgh region.

The Observatory analyzes the data by applying established and proven academic standards, and issues reports to arts leaders, philanthropies, government and service agencies, scholars and other related agencies. Customized, confidential reports are also available to individual organizations, which include diagnostics related to the organization's financial state, designed specifically for arts managers and board members.

Observatory reports can be used for benchmarking (by organizations, as well as philanthropies and regional planners), program evaluation, and advocacy efforts. Once the arts and culture sector of Southwest Pennsylvania has the impartial documentation it currently lacks, participants will be able to make stronger cases for attracting more funding and support where it is needed most.