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Since launching in 2022, achievements include over $3M generated for creative professionals, 400+ participants in The Warhol Academy, six public art projects, and plans to build The Factory, a new creative arts center.

Since The Andy Warhol Museum announced The Pop District in 2022, the museum has made significant progress in its 10-year cultural and economic development plan to transform the six-block section of the museum’s neighborhood on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. The Pop District has furthered The Warhol’s mission by inspiring the community through Warhol’s life, art and legacy by reinvigorating the city of his birth with cultural programming and creative workforce development, ultimately building a new cultural tourism destination for Pittsburgh.

Since launching, more than 400 participants have completed workforce development programs at The Warhol Academy. The Pop District has also commissioned and installed five original public artworks, including pieces by Yoko Ono (Wish Tree) and Pittsburgh artist Mikael Owunna (Anatomy of the Human), and received city approval to build a new creative arts center, which will be unique in size and capacity for Pittsburgh.

“Two years into developing The Pop District, it’s already becoming clear that the community-building and financial power of extending arts programming and workforce training beyond the museum’s walls is already changing lives and revitalizing the neighborhood,” said Dan Law, associate director of The Warhol who heads The Pop District. “The Pop District’s immediate impact is local, as it should be. But, in a broader sense, we’re pioneering models for museum innovation. We see our work as transferable and scalable throughout the industry. The work represents a new way of doing things.”

As of 2024, The Warhol has already surpassed its initial goals of generating more than $1 million in annual revenues, creating $1 million in annual wages/salaries, and matriculating 100+ students annually through The Warhol Academy. Since 2021, the project has generated more than $3 million in total wages, stipends, fellowships, contracts and honorariums, including over $1.5 million in 2023. The Pop District is now entering phase two, which will continue these learning and public arts activities while developing the new creative arts center to help further the museum’s community and fundraising goals.

Public Art

Since 2021, the museum has worked with artists to extend the museum outside of its walls and activate the six-block section of the North Shore through public art. Thus far, they have presented sculptural installations by Michael Loveland, and murals by Typoe and Laura Jean McLaughlin. On May 17, 2024, The Warhol unveiled a newly commissioned public sculptural work by KAWS, Together. This collaboration coincides with their exhibition KAWS + Warhol and helps mark the 30th anniversary of the museum.

The Warhol Academy

The Warhol is the first museum in the United States to fully integrate creative economy workforce development into its learning and public engagement operations. Since the workforce development prototype launched in 2021, The Warhol Academy has served over 400 participants–more than 175 annually–ranging from teenagers to mid-career professionals. The Warhol Academy, free to its participants, has provided over 60 paid fellowships in digital content creation and filmmaking/post-production and over 200 paid opportunities for high school-aged program participants. It also employs over 30 full-time, part-time and project-based staff and contractors. In 2024, Goodwill of Southwestern PA awarded The Warhol Academy ‘Innovator of the Year’ through its Power of Work awards.

Adding to these efforts, in 2023, Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh founded a school, licensed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Department of Education, through which The Pop District is now granting free diplomas to professionals seeking post-secondary training in digital marketing, averaging over 40 annual graduates.

The Warhol Creative

The museum’s boutique production studio, The Warhol Creative, is providing further workforce opportunities for the greater Pittsburgh community as well as a sizable revenue stream for The Warhol. Since its conception, the program has worked with more than 20 local and national clients, including Dell Technologies, NBCUniversal and Miami City Ballet. Through contracts and sponsorships, The Warhol Creative has generated more than $1 million in earned income while contributing needed support for museum operations and bolstering local talent. The Warhol Academy participants are taught skills in the production studio and gain valuable hands-on experience by working on client projects. Utilizing knowledge learned in the program, some participants take on creating content for The Warhol’s Instagram account (reaching 137k followers) and TikTok account (18.3k followers), serving as media producers for The Warhol Creative.

“With The Pop District, we hope to show how museums can further address real needs in their communities,” said Patrick Moore, outgoing director of The Warhol. “Addressing these needs does not have to come at the expense of a museum’s financial stability or its commitment to preserving or interpreting its collection. We’re proud to have begun to show how our investing beyond The Warhol’s walls impacts the lives of community members while also creating a substantial revenue stream that can be invested back into the museum.”

The Factory

The Warhol is in the planning and design phase for The Factory, a creative arts center which will be adjacent to the museum. Projected to hold a capacity of 1,000 people, the new facility will host over 100 live performances and 100 events a year, serving a projected 75,000 visitors annually. The building’s capacity is unique in Pittsburgh and will allow touring acts that may have previously passed over the city a place to perform. The Factory will also serve as a permanent home for the museum’s live performance programs, most notably, Sound Series. The Factory will become a central component to providing the museum with a sustainable revenue stream while adding another North Shore destination for creativity to flourish.

About The Pop District
The Pop District is a major cultural and economic development project, spearheaded by The Andy Warhol Museum, that intends to transform a six-block section of the museum’s neighborhood on Pittsburgh’s North Shore into a thriving hub for expansive cultural programming, creative workforce development, and ultimately a new and enhanced cultural tourism destination. The project aims to use the power of public art, digital media production, and live music to create a museum-led destination in the city where Andy Warhol was born.

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Photo by Elisa Cevallos