S6:E7 Red up Pittsburgh with Arts Landing...
Guest
Kendra Whitlock Ingram
In conversation with
Adrian Ellis
Adrian Ellis speaks with Kendra Whitlock Ingram, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, about stewarding a 14-block cultural district, balancing the roles of presenter, property owner, and neighbourhood curator, and opening Arts Landing as a new civic space for Pittsburgh.
Date of Recording
12 June 2026
Date of Publication
2 July 2026
[00:00:00]
Kendra Whitlock Ingram: It's been exciting. It's been kind of an insane project to have as a glimmer in one's eye 22 months ago. Design in six months, break ground in 10 months, and finish construction in 11 months. So, from start to finish, 22 months. I've never really had anything quite like this in my career, but it's been an extraordinary opportunity.
[00:00:26]
THEME MUSIC
[00:00:31]
Adrian Ellis: Hello, and welcome to The Three Bells. This podcast is part of the sixth season produced by AEA Consulting for the Global Cultural Districts Network. The focus is, as always, the relationship between cultural and urban life, and the ways in which cultural life contributes to urban vitality and vice versa. The series and supporting materials can be found at www.thethreebells.net. And if you like our content, please subscribe and give us a positive review on your favourite podcast listening platform.
I'm Adrian Ellis, the chair of GCDN and the director of AEA Consulting.
Our guest today is Kendra Whitlock Ingram, president and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, an organisation created more than 40 years ago to transform a 14-block piece of Downtown Pittsburgh, now known as the Pittsburgh Cultural District. It's probably the most cited arts-led urban regeneration project in America.
It's often described as having been a red-light district, which sounds a stretch for a city of 300,000, but, Kendra assures us that it's true. Today it's a centre of culture, art, food, and community, theatres, performance spaces, galleries, and pretty much the national model for how the arts can drive urban revitalisation.
Before we get into the district, a word about you, Kendra. Your background is in the performing arts. Among other roles, you've been president and CEO of the Marcus Performing Arts Center, executive director of the Newman Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Denver, vice president for programming and education at Omaha Performing Arts. You held leadership roles at Shenandoah University, you were a vice president of the Baltimore Symphony and the Detroit Symphony, and you chair Live Arts Centers of North America, a significant force in advancing diversity in arts management. You have an MBA and a BA in music education, and you sit on the board of governors of The Broadway League – and that's about 20% of your CV.
So, a remarkable career. You took up the Pittsburgh role about three and a half years ago and have built significantly on your two predecessors' legacies, most recently with the opening of the Arts Landing, which we will also come back to.
But first, Kendra, I want to go back through that track record a bit, and it's an incredibly impressive resume. But what I specifically would love to know is what prepared you, and what didn't prepare you for running a 14-block neighbourhood?
[00:02:58]
Kendra Whitlock Ingram: Oh, so many things. Uh (laughs), my background in arts management has been diverse, but, you know, it's really rooted in being an artist first. I have a undergraduate degree in music. I was actually planning to be a high school music teacher, that was my goal when I moved to Pittsburgh more than 30 years ago for Duquesne University.
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About our Guest
Kendra Whitlock Ingram is President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. She previously served as President and CEO of the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee and has held senior leadership roles at the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, Omaha Performing Arts, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. +
