The Office for Public Art, formerly the Office of Public Art (OPA), was established in 2005 after leadership at the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning, ProArts (now the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council), and The Heinz Endowments identified a gap in ongoing knowledge and services for public art in the Pittsburgh region. They sought to establish an entity that would consistently provide public art assistance to government, nonprofit, and design colleagues throughout Pittsburgh to help achieve broader civic design and community development goals. Through partnership between the public and private sectors, the Office for Public Art was established to support and advance the role of public art in the Pittsburgh region.
OPA is a nonprofit corporation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and fiscally sponsored by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council.