For immediate release

contact: Carol O’Sullivan

412-681-5449

June 22, 2010

Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

Announces Heinz Capital Grant

(Pittsburgh, PA) – Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PF/PCA) was recently awarded a $250,000 grant from the Heinz Endowments. Pittsburgh Filmmakers has become a national leader in media arts education, exhibition and artist access. However, along with the excitement that new technology brings, comes the challenge to stay current with rapidly changing standards and rapidly developing technology. Depreciation cycles have grown shorter and shorter.

Therefore, the non-profit art organization’s request was made primarily for the replacement of aging equipment, and the purchase of new equipment to take advantage of the latest advances in high-definition technology.

Filmmakers, which has not received a capital grant from Heinz in more than ten years, plans to use it for the following upgrades:

1. To build a new on-site laboratory facility.

2. To acquire classroom resources (software and hardware) in order to teach the latest innovations in digital video and digital photography.

3. To acquire cameras, editing hardware and software, and server capacity.

4. To install high-definition projection in the Regent Square Theater.

“The Heinz Endowments have been a key player, possibly the key player, in our success as an organization,” said Executive Director Charlie Humphrey, “and we are very grateful for their support.”

Pittsburgh Filmmakers is the largest independent media arts center in the nation and is recognized locally for its leadership in the cultural community. Filmmakers merged with Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in 2006.

The Heinz Endowments consist of two private foundations, the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Vira I. Heinz Endowment. The Heinz Endowments grant more than $60 million annually to non-profit organizations.

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