Contact:
Eric Sloss
412-268-5765

For immediate release:
July 24, 2006

Carnegie Mellon's Arts and Culture Observatory Hosts Panel To Help Arts Organizations Find Ways to Diversify Audiences

PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University's Arts and Culture Observatory will present a panel discussion titled "Audience Development and Diversification in the Cultural Sector" at 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 7. The discussion will be held at the Cabaret at Theater Square in downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District and is free and open to the public.

As part of the event, the panel will discuss audience development and diversification as it relates to art marketing, cultivation and education, rather than programming the arts for specific groups. Panelists will include Kevin Amos, radio host and producer; Michele de la Reza, co-founder and artistic director of Attack Theatre; Jackie Dempsey, artistic director of Squonk Opera; Charlie Humphrey, executive director of Pittsburgh Filmmakers; Greg Quinlan, managing director of City Theatre; and Kamau Ware, founder and artistic director of Bridgespotters. Edna Neivert, executive director of the Arts and Culture Observatory, will moderate. The group will also discuss management practices, including arts and non-arts partnerships, using nontraditional community performance venues and introducing the arts to children early.

The Arts and Culture Observatory is a research center in the Institute for the Management of Creative Enterprises, a joint program between Carnegie Mellon's College of Fine Arts and the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. The observatory is funded by The Heinz Endowments, the Pittsburgh Foundation and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.

For more information about the Arts and Culture Observatory or to reserve a place at the forum, call 412-268-4890 or email artsobservatory@andrew.cmu.edu. To learn more about the College of Fine Arts, visit www.cmu.edu/cfa or contact Eric Sloss at 412-268-5765 or ecs@andrew.cmu.edu