Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh took a new approach this year in its advocacy for the power of aging in the Pittsburgh region it serves. It visually reminded residents with its Photo Bank and three block parties that it’s a good place to grow up and grow older.
Now it’s celebrating the value of intergenerational friendships with “Picture This,” a culminating exhibition at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center that opens Saturday.
Sixteen photographs plus a large mosaic of 40 more will be displayed at the Downtown center, including images by Pulitzer Prize winner Martha Rial and photojournalist Nate Smallwood, two of the five notable Pittsburgh photographers who traveled across four counties to contribute to the Photo Bank. The goal with this exhibition remains the same for the nonprofit that it has had throughout its 10-year existence: show the vibrancy of aging here in Allegheny County, according to its associate director Cassandra Masters.
Plus it won’t just be an exhibition from the Photo Bank. Visitors can interact with two additional elements. The nonprofit collected audio stories from neighbors at the McKeesport, Sharpsburg and Beechview block parties. Exhibit visitors can “Get Nebby” with retro telephones to play those, and they will have the opportunity to share their own stories and photographs with Age-Friendly’s “PictureThis” digital archive.
The nonprofit selected exhibition photographs to reflect a mix of different visual elements, Masters said, color, age, race and gender diversity and a good mix of activities. It features some solo portraits, but overall it’s “a good mix of people living their everyday lives, inside and outside. A lot of black and gold in true Pittsburgh style.”
Age-Friendly partnered with Casey Droege Cultural Productionson the exhibition that runs through Feb. 1, 2026. Kristin Vermilya recorded and produced the Get Nebby Corner audio stories. In addition to the center, the exhibition has support from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation and Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Placemaking Grant by Citizens Bank.
The August Wilson African American Center exhibit will be the setting will also for two public events: Age-Friendly at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Gallery Crawl on Nov. 14, with refreshments and engagement during that event; and an Intergenerational Artists Panel with John Peña and Junyetta Seale, a discussion on the intersection of art and social themes, from 2 to 4 p.m. Nov. 16. Free seats for the panel can be reserved here.
The exhibition is part of the nonprofit’s advocacy campaign to combat social isolation and ageism through intergenerational connections, Masters said. It was created in partnership with Workhorse Collaborative.
“Picture a community where generations don’t just coexist, they connect,” Masters said in the news release about the event. “That’s the message of this campaign — a simple invitation for a powerful payoff. With this upcoming exhibition, we’re excited to dig even deeper into how we can all make that a reality.”
Age-Friendly has added 50 new photographs to the original 100 that nonprofit organizations can use for noncommercial, nonpolitical campaigns on flyers, presentations, reports, brochures, websites and other communication needs. The other two photographers featured in the Picture This exhibit are Larry Rippel and Ishara Henry.
The Photo Bank has seen good use, she said, and close to 300 people came to the three block parties.
The age-inclusion campaign started two years ago, supported by the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, reaching 1,600 residents, organizations and community leaders so far through community events, interactive storytelling and education efforts to combat social isolation and ageism, according to the release. It included a media effort to call attention to the messages to a wider public. In addition to the block parties’ exhibitions, Age-Friendly also secured transit ads featuring the photographs in the campaign.
The Photo Bank, its message and the upcoming exhibition also had a shout out and collaborative post from Pittsburgh photographer Chancellor Humphrey, creator of Keep Pittsburgh Dope. “We’ve admired his work on Instagram for so long,” Masters said. “He was naturally capturing people of a bunch of different ages.”
That included this collaborative post of Hazel and Shannon. He also did a roundup photo gallery of Pittsburgh people of different ages, she said.
Humphries wrote, “The banter between these two made it clear they’d been close friends for a while. 😂 An age gap didn’t stop this dynamic duo from becoming homies … And it doesn’t have to stop you either. Part of what keeps Pittsburgh dope is our willingness to make connections, cross bridges, and celebrate the things we have in common.”
This Ishara Henry photograph shows family arriving for a gathering. It is part of the Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh “Picture This” exhibition. (Ishara Henry)
The Photo Bank is the legacy of the Picture This campaign, Masters said, and it will remain on Age-Friendly’s website. The exhibition also coincides with Age-Friendly’s five-year action plan’s end. That process will be restarted in January.
It will soon begin a resident-informed process to create its third action plan, part of the World Health Organization’s Age-Friendly Framework. Masters said that it will start with two years of planning and serving, finding out what residents are interested in and want the nonprofit to move toward.
The release explained it further: “Bolstered by the positive response to its Picture This campaign and progress at the state level, the initiative is looking to create a blueprint for age-friendly communities in the broader region, including rural communities, in collaboration with their founder, Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging.”
Age-Friendly Executive Director Laura Poskin stressed this in the release. “We have made great strides in the past decade, and our close collaborations with residents and community leaders have helped shape our strategy and improved our work,” she said. “Now we are looking to expand our impact beyond Allegheny County by building relationships with organizations across the region to ensure that our environment matches the people who live here.”
With the current tumult in Washington, D.C., and the divisiveness the country is feeling right now, Masters said it is more important than ever to reach senior community members.
“We need to see that they have what they need to thrive at every level,” she said, adding that is important to “having their voice heard at every level. It is more important than ever to connect with our neighbors one on one.
“That is what this campaign is all about. What you can learn from your neighbor in order to find a solution to the loneliness and isolation that is happening right now.”
The “Picture” This Exhibition is free and open to the public at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, 980 Liberty Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. Hours are
Thursdays and Fridays 3–8 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. from Saturday through Feb. 1, 2026. The exhibition is on the main floor of the center, in the Cook Family Regional Gallery. There are automatic entrance doors and accessible restrooms. There is a metal detector at the entrance. Visual descriptions of the exhibition elements are available at the visitors desk, and audio stories are accompanied by written transcripts. For more information, visit https://awaacc.org/explore-and-visit/accessibility-information/.
Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh is an initiative by Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging and University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work, supported by the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, the Jefferson Regional Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Heinz Family Foundation.
Nate Smallwood’s photograph shows a small group walking on Strawberry Way, Downtown. It is part of the Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh “Picture This” exhibition. (Nate Smallwood)
Helen is a copy editor at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but she’s currently on strike. Contact her at hfallon@unionprogress.com.