GA/GI Festival Founder

Christine Bethea is an artist, Penn Avenue gallery owner--ARTica--and grass roots arts administrator, whose career spans over 20+ years. As the former Director of the East Liberty Chamber of Commerce and board member of ELDI, Ms. Bethea was the force behind the creation of Gene Kelly Square which led to Mr. Kelly annexing his name to the Kelly-Strayhorn theater.  Currently, Ms. Bethea is the co-founder of Passports: The Art Diversity Project which received the Beacon of Hope award in Economic Development through the arts from the Hill House. In addition Passports was one of only three organizations recognized as a finalist in the category of business and arts collaborations by the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council in 2009. By 2012, Bethea's GA/GI festival became the first community art and Technology event to receive an award from the Pittsburgh Technology Council. Bethea's work as a Southwestern, PA quilter has been archived by the Senator John Heniz History Museum, a Smithsonian Affiliate and her spoken words as a Pittsburgh artist with the Library of Congress, due to her recent inclusion in an exhibition at the Frick Fine Arts Building, University of Pittsburgh.