Office for Public Art announces training sessions addressing the needs of local artists

Pittsburgh, PA – The Office for Public Art (OPA) is pleased to announce the schedule for Public Art Training Camp 2022. This six-session online training course for artists will take place weekly on Thursdays, from October 6 to November 10, 2022, with the exception of one session taking place on Monday, November 7, 2022. All sessions will be held online via Zoom from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM. Participants may register for the full series or individual sessions. The cost is $65 for all six sessions, or Pay What You Can ranging from $12, $15, or $20 for individual sessions. Registration is now open. More information can be found here: https://opapgh.org/public-art-training-camp-2022/. This year’s Public Art Training Camp is proudly sponsored by Duolingo. 

The topics of this year’s Public Art Training Camp directly respond to the answers collected from artists in the Pittsburgh Public Art Counts! survey, conducted earlier this year by the Office for Public Art in collaboration with the City of Pittsburgh’s Public Art and Civic Design division. Over one hundred and fifty artists responded to the survey, sharing their feedback on regional public art processes and interests. 

“The respondents represent a multigenerational group of artists who are rooted in Southwestern Pennsylvania. 50% of survey participants have never applied for a public art opportunity, with another almost 32% who applied for only 1 – 5 opportunities. This was striking to our team. Since the majority of responding artists have never worked in the public realm, they are curious about how to be better informed on how to do so. However, there were also questions about how an artist can expand their practice or self-organize to fulfill artistic goals without winning an official commission. OPA hopes that Public Art Training Camp supports our region’s artists by helping them to move toward their desired goals,” said OPA program manager Rachel Klipa.

“Public Art Training Camp has never been designed in response to comprehensive input such as was provided by a survey like Pittsburgh Public Art Counts!. OPA was eager to use the survey’s revelations to enhance this long-running program (formerly known as Public Art 101), and invite guest speakers that provide critical perspectives in regard to questions raised by local artists,” continued Klipa.  

Sessions are also open to artists and arts administrators from outside of the Pittsburgh area, some of whom may be looking to answer similar questions to those posed by the region’s artists in the survey. 

In addition to Public Art Training Camp, OPA will host an evening of artist portfolio reviews on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 from 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM. This session gives artists the opportunity to receive feedback on their work from national and local artists, curators, and arts administrators. Reviewers for the evening are artists Kipp Kobayashi, Mikael Owunna, and Nataša Prljević, as well as public art administrator Shelly Willis.

Portfolio reviews are $12 per review and artists can register for a maximum of two 25-minute time slots with the reviewers of their choice. Registration information can be found here: https://opapgh.org/event/portfolio-reviews-fall-2022/. Registration will close on October 17, 2022. Registrants will be required to submit their portfolios in advance. OPA will contact all registrants on October 18, 2022 with details and deadlines for portfolio submissions. 

Public Art Training Camp Schedule

Thursday, October 6, 2022

The Future of Public Art in Pittsburgh with Dominique Chestand, Sallyann Kluz, and Sarah Minnaert (Pittsburgh, PA)

Thursday, October 13, 2022

Site-specific Commissions and Community Engagement with Nina Marren (New York, NY)

Thursday, October 27, 2022

Make the Jump: Shifting Artistic Ideas with Kipp Kobayashi (Los Angeles, CA) and Clayton Merrell (Pittsburgh, PA)

Thursday, November 3, 2022

Public Art Opportunities and Applications with Shelly Willis (Sacramento, CA)

Monday, November 7, 2022

Artist Self-Organization with Nataša Prljević and Farideh Sakhaeifar (Brooklyn, NY)

Thursday, November 10, 2022

Living and Working as an Independent Artist with Mikael Owunna (Pittsburgh, PA) and Aram Han Sifuentes (Chicago, IL). 

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