Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council

Big news! Downtown Pittsburgh will be jumping this September, with the opening of the first Re/New Festival featuring the North American premiere of DRAP-Art, the International Festival of Recycling Art, held annually in Barcelona, Spain. According to their website “Drap-Art has established itself in recent years as a showcase of the trends in art that use objets trouvés and discarded materials as a resource. It has become a platform for emerging artists, designers, craftsmen, and other creative professionals from Europe and elsewhere who seek trash as their raw materials. From these premises, it functions as a campaign to make people aware of the fact that we must consume more responsibly and respect the theme of the three Rs (reduce, reuse and recycle).”

Knit the Bridge was in the Post Gazette once again — but we’re not so happy this time. Diana Nelson Jones reported on the vote before Allegheny County Council to remove the never enacted 2% set-aside for public art. In the article, Amie Downs, official spokesperson for County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, cited KtB as an example of why the set-aside was unnecessary with an ambiguous description of the type of support the county provided to the project. “We have focused our time and efforts on cataloging and maintaining existing public art, while encouraging and supporting public art in the community. The Knit the Bridge installation is just one such example.”

FGP President Susan Swarthout contacted the KtB team concerned that using it as an example sent the wrong message to the arts community and the entire region. The KtB team agreed and on Tuesday November 17, Knit the Bridge lead artist and co-director, Amanda Gross, co-director Penny Mateer and current and former Presidents of the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh Susan Swarthout and Sherri Roberts all provided comment at the County Council’s bimonthly November meeting. FGP recommended that County Council vote no to the elimination of the 2% set aside and yes to the creation of the arts board.

The Re/New Festival September 9 – October 9, 2016

KtB and Allegheny County Council