The Endowments’ board and staff believe that arts and culture are vital to the health and well being of individuals, communities and the larger world; that creative expression is one of life’s most powerful and positive impulses; and that access to and exercise of creative expression is and should be an important part of life.

In addition to the importance of creative expression for its own sake, The Arts & Culture staff embraces the idea that arts can contribute to many other aspects of community life, including education, the civic life and economic development. Thus, the Endowments structures its arts and culture giving to promote both intrinsic and instrumental values in the arts.

Given the current system of arts funding in the United States, and the role that the arts play in the larger economy, private philanthropy can play a pivotal role in the success of the cultural community and in the public’s involvement in that community. The Arts & Culture staff believes in the concept of an arts “ecology” that embraces all the various manifestations of art and culture in a community. The foundation’s overall goal is to help make the Pittsburgh region one of the country’s outstanding arts centers, with a populace that appreciates and participates in the arts.

The challenge for the Endowments is to identify important parts of the non profit ecology in which it can have the most impact. In choosing areas of focus, the Arts & Culture staff considers how the work can advance the grant making of other program areas at the Endowments.