Gateway to the Arts was founded in 1957 by a string quartet from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra who performed in Pittsburgh Public Schools and other public venues throughout the region. Over the years we expanded to include professional performing and visual artists in all of the arts disciplines. In 1990, Gateway identified a need to provide professional development in the arts for educators in our region and artists-in-residence in classrooms and community settings to model the value of the arts in education and children's lives. More recently, Gateway has begun providing professional development for artists to prepare them to work in school and community settings. While Gateway is known for its diverse roster of performing artists and arts integration models for K-12 settings, in recent years we have been working closely with the Pittsburgh Public Schools Early Childhood Education Program ("ECEP") and in August 2008 we became the only Pennsylvania affiliate of the prestigious Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning in the Arts.
For more information, view our historical timeline.