Make Your Own Kinda Music on Pottstown’s Pianos

POTTSTOWN PA – Sit down at the pianos. Make yourself comfortable. Play us a song, won’t you?

That’s the invitation currently being offered to area residents and visitors alike by the Pottstown Public Arts Committee. It recently launched an effort called “Pianos for Pottstown,” an interactive public art project that intends to fill the air with equal parts music and whimsy.

Organizers are placing two artist-designed street pianos in spaces people already use.

One can be found, and is available around the clock, at the borough’s downtown bus station. That’s the Charles W. Dickinson Transportation Center, adjacent to Smith Family Plaza on East High Street. A second is slated for the Alley Bar and Garden, 228 E. High St.

The project was developed in partnership with Be ReZilient, through the VIBE Creative Social Innovation Hub, and the Borough of Pottstown. The Pottstown Regional Community Foundation is powering it with support.

The intent is simple, the foundation reports in a media release. Give anyone and everyone a chance – at no cost – to interactively play, and experience their own forms of arts and culture. The hope: that people will connect in a way that’s fun, entertaining, and stimulating.

Telling The Story of Pottstown

Local young artists who participate in VIBE Creative, 249 E. High St., have been developing the pianos’ designs under the guidance of borough-based artist Tia Dyches.

Be ReZilient’s Denise Williams describes the initiative as “an opportunity to tell the story of Pottstown through the people who make it unique. Our diversity, creativity, history, and culture are some of our greatest strengths.”

Even painting a piano is being re-imagined as a public experience. For a coming installment, artist Sheila Dugan is leading the design and inviting area residents to help decorate it in a collaborative public art experience. Some of that work continued Saturday (Sept. 12), according to the Pottstown Business Improvement District.

“Public art is about so much more than creating something beautiful to look at. It brings people together, strengthens communities, supports local economies and expands access to arts and culture,” says Patricia McCloskey, regional recreation planner for the Pottstown Area Regional Recreation Committee.

“We hope this pilot program becomes another lasting addition to our community’s growing tradition of public art.”

An Already Vibrant Public Art Scene

The regional recreation committee is no newcomer to public art. Its utility box mural program, overseen by Pottstown Public Arts, has put local artists to work since 2022. They are tasked with converting otherwise drab curbside steel boxes into eye-catching displays.

Sixteen have been completed so far. More installations are planned or under way.

Interested in supporting arts and culture initiatives like Pianos for Pottstown? The foundation’s “Arts & Culture Area of Interest” Fund happily accepts public contributions.

It supports local arts and cultural organizations, arts learning, greater access to cultural experiences, and creative projects that help build connection and community pride.

Our entertainment reporting covers the arts and culture, shows, exhibits, performances, festivals, and community-related activities within, or that affect residents of, Montgomery, Berks, and Chester PA counties. Find more entertainment articles here. Also, see and join the Pottstown Arts and Cultural Alliance group on Facebook.