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WHEREAS, J. Kevin McMahon is retiring at the end of 2022 after 21 years of serving as President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Under his guidance, the Cultural Trust has become renowned for its ability to attract over two million people each year to more than 2,000 performing arts events, festivals, visual arts exhibitions, public art installations, and education programs and he successfully helped the Cultural Trust overcome the operating deficit from the COVID-19 pandemic; and,
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WHEREAS, Mr. McMahon arrived in May 2001, and began diversifying senior management bringing different perspectives around the table, which led to the presentation of arts and culture festivals, the Pittsburgh premiere of several internationally-renown theater companies, increased the scope of the Broadway in Pittsburgh and launched the very popular Cultural District Gallery Crawls; and,
WHEREAS, he oversaw several highly successful artistic mergers with the Cultural Trust, and helped the growth of several cultural non-profits. Mr. McMahon also paved the way for commercial and residential development in Downtown Pittsburgh. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette declared the organization "the greatest creative force in Pittsburgh because of its spirit of reinvention"; and,
WHEREAS, McMahon also brought several key arts-based institutions under the Cultural Trust umbrella, and started the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, which brought Florentijn Hofman's beloved Rubber Duck Project to the Allegheny River in 2013. The inflated yellow duck brought smiles to Thousands of people who lined the banks of the North Shore to catch a glimpse of the 40 ft. duck; and,
WHEREAS, the Cultural Trust has been placed within the top five performing arts centers in the United States and is viewed as a nationwide model for how the arts can play a pivotal role in urban revitalization; and,
WHEREAS, McMahon plans to continue teaching as an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mello...
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