Andy Warhol’s “Factory” Roars Back to Life

Ensuring the next Andy Warhol doesn’t have to leave Pittsburgh to become Andy Warhol

To map out its future, the Andy Warhol Museum looked to its past—and found a powerful model for growth in Andy Warhol’s famous studio, The Factory, which opened in New York City in 1962.?

For two decades, Warhol collaborated at The Factory with artists, rock stars, models, actors, filmmakers and other hipsters to mass produce creativity and redefine the meaning of art. “We talked about what an arts and creativity district [here] would look like,” said Dan Law, associate vice president of capital projects & major gifts at the Andy Warhol Museum. “That became a more precise question—What if Warhol’s Factory, his famous art studio, was alive and well in Pittsburgh today? Where would it be? And what would it do?”

Inspired by its answers to those questions, the Warhol is reinventing the very idea of a museum, with an ambitious expansion plan called The Pop District. The Pop District will be a contemporary arts destination that will complement Pittsburgh’s beloved Cultural District, and a new-economy engine, focused on the creative arts. The Pop District will include workforce development programs, a youth digital-ad agency, concert space and public art displays. A $15 million grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation jumpstarted the $60 million project that will expand into adjacent North Shore buildings and create economic opportunities in the surrounding neighborhood.?

The Pop District is short for People of Pittsburgh and a play on the Campbell’s soup cans and other pop art Warhol made famous. The new cultural arts district will include art exhibitions and live performances in public spaces that will change the aesthetic of the North Shore. Leveraging the global brand of Andy Warhol, the new arts and creativity district will attract tourists internationally and create economic growth locally.

A new concert venue for indie, hip hop and other bands will be built across the street from the museum. The concerts will continue the late artist’s legacy of collaborating with bands such as the Velvet Underground. Weddings and other events also will be held there.?

A building adjacent to the museum will house a new creative entrepreneurship program, aimed at youth ages 14 to 30 from underserved communities. They will learn creative skills such as digital marketing and filmmaking. The museum’s in-house advertising agency, which already has gained a following on Instagram and Tik Tok, will hire teenagers and young adults to create ads for both the museum and outside clients. The Warhol, like most museums, tends to attract white, educated, older patrons, Law said. The new digital marketing campaign will be aimed at a younger, more diverse audience.

The museum will offer a six-month certificate program that will teach skills such as social-media management, project management, and search-engine optimization. An alternative to the expense of college, the program will give a boost to youth seeking competitive job opportunities in the creative economy. Students will learn job-related soft skills such as collaboration and leadership.?

Dr. Steven Knapp, President and the CEO of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, parent organization of The Warhol, said, “The Pop District will demonstrate the role that museums can and must play in their communities by serving as centers of innovation and catalysts of economic development.”

Patrick Moore, The Warhol’s director and leader of the project, said, “Andy continues to be emblematic of the American entrepreneurial?spirit—a true agent of influence and change.” The museum, in turn, will launch the Pop District to become an agent of change in Pittsburgh.?

The Henry L. Hillman Foundation also made a major gift of $10 million to help launch the Pop District.

When completed, the Pop District will help to ensure “that the next Andy Warhol doesn’t have to leave Pittsburgh to become Andy Warhol,” said Richard King Mellon Foundation Director Sam Reiman.