Arts & Culture
The Pittsburgh region is one of America’s most vital cultural centers and was named among the Top 25 Arts Destinations in the country by American Arts magazine. Take advantage of the city’s rich culture when you visit Carnegie Mellon.
Pittsburgh’s Cultural District
www.pgharts.org
Located in the heart of downtown and within walking distance of most major hotels, restaurants and shopping, the Cultural District is the place for the best of musical theater, ballet, modern dance, classic and popular music, drama, and the visual arts. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (CLO), Pittsburgh Opera (the nation’s fifth oldest opera company), Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and other cultural institutions can all be found in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.
Heinz Hall
Heinz Hall enjoys an international reputation as an acoustically outstanding concert hall. It is home to the renowned Pittsburgh Symphony and hosts Symphony Pops concerts and Broadway touring companies.
Benedum Center for the Performing Arts
www.pgharts.org/venues/benedum.php
The Benedum Center for the Performing Arts is the cornerstone of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. This 2,800-seat theater is home to the Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Dance Council, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and the Pittsburgh Opera, as well as first-run Broadway touring productions. The Benedum Center has been named the “Number One Auditorium in the U.S.” by Billboard magazine and ranked third in Pollstar’s Top 50 List of Theatre Venues Worldwide. It features a stage comparable in size to the Paris Opera House and the New York Metropolitan Opera. Recently, the Benedum’s ticket sales outpaced such prominent venues as Radio City Music Hall, Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York City and Royal Albert Hall in London, England.
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
www.pgharts.org
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust oversees the development and operation of six major theaters in downtown Pittsburgh with a mission to stimulate economic and cultural development of the area through the development and promotion of arts and entertainment in the region.
Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh
www.carnegiemuseums.org
Pittsburgh industrialist and Carnegie Mellon founder, Andrew Carnegie, helped shape the city’s culture by sponsoring the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh: the Carnegie Museum of Art, the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, the Carnegie Science Center and the Andy Warhol Museum. Carnegie Museum of Art and Carnegie Museum of Natural History are located a few blocks from Carnegie Mellon’s campus and combine two world-renowned museums in one low admission price (free for Carnegie Mellon students).
The Carnegie Museum of Art opened in 1895 as the world’s first museum of modern art. It hosts the prestigious Carnegie International, which has been called one the nation’s foremost showcases of modern art.
The Carnegie Museum of Natural History is one of the six largest natural history museums in the country. The Hall of American Indians features one of the largest, most contemporary exhibits on American Indians in the United States. The museum has the finest Jurassic dinosaur collection in the world, displays the first T-Rex ever discovered, and is the world’s third largest repository of dinosaur fossils.
The Carnegie Science Center is one of the top science centers in the country, attracting more than 650,000 visitors each year. Visitors interact with more than 300 hands-on exhibits, a four-story Omnimax Theater, interactive planetarium, a real submarine, three live demonstration theaters and the world’s largest science and sport exhibition.
The Andy Warhol Museum is the most comprehensive single artist museum in the world and is a top draw for international visitors. This one-of-a-kind museum captures the style and flair of Pittsburgh native and Carnegie Mellon alumnus, Andy Warhol. The museum houses more than 3,000 works of art from America’s original “Prince of Pop”.
