Blog

In light of Governor Wolf’s announcement that Allegheny County moved to the Green Phase on June 5, we wanted to share some information regarding our next steps.   The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy is excited to be part of a group of museums and cultural institutions from across Southwestern Pennsylvania that is collaboratively preparing our organizations for safe re-openings.    Our shared priority is the health and safety of our visitors, staff and volunteers. We are thus working together to develop and share best practices, in conjunction with federal, state and local recommendations. These best practices will reflect the unique needs of our institutions and will help to ensure you feel comfortable and prepared on your return to Parks Conservancy facilities and other Southwestern Pennsylvania museums and cultural institutions.    Our group started meeting in late March and now includes 30 different museums and arts organizations that span Allegheny, Westmoreland and Fayette Counties. We are meeting digitally on a weekly basis to share plans and discuss key elements of re-opening, including visitor guidelines; our facilities; staff and volunteers; and diversity and equity issues. Although each institution is evaluating re-opening under on its own schedule, we are confident that these shared conversations will facilitate safe and smooth re-openings across the region.    The Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy also is part of Artsburgh.org, organized through the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. Recently re-engineered in response to COVID-19, the expanded Artsburgh.org website now includes information regarding an organization’s re-opening procedures, including new safety guidelines for visitors, as well as two direct links to an organization’s digital programming.   While this group convened for the purpose of collaborating on best practices for reopening our institutions, it has opened the door for other vital collaborative efforts, such as addressing our support for racial equity and ending the cycle of violence and oppression affecting people of color in our community. This group will continue to meet to listen to the needs of our community and discuss specific actions that can be taken by each institution to make a change.   Regarding the Parks Conservancy’s re-opening and next steps, we are working toward restarting programs and events while adhering to Allegheny County’s COVID-19 guidelines. We look forward to sharing more updates soon.