Arts Excursions Unlimited (AEU) was the result of a year long residency at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh – Hazelwood under the Office of Public Art’s Artist in the Public Realm Residency program. Artist Edith Abeyta worked with Hazelwood residents to develop a creative project based on a year’s worth of one on one conversations, group discussions, art activities, and numerous meetings. After 12 moon cycles an arts excursion program was born.

We worked with Edith to create a holistic identity system that represents the goals of the initiative, namely:

AEU provides free monthly arts and cultural visits to various locations throughout the Pittsburgh region. They focus on family outings so participants range in age from 2-82. AEU’s aim is to foster communal arts experiences as well as personal growth and greater connections to the neighborhood, city, state, country, and world. AEU believes that direct interactions with the arts makes for a better understanding of the self and the spaces humans inhabit.

The AEU identity is what happens if you crossed a travel agency with a space agency, but focused on the arts. The identity includes logotypes, wordmarks, typographic and color standards, custom pattern design, vehicle signage, ID badges and a responsive CMS-based website.

We developed a number of other projects under the AEU umbrella, including apparel like tee shirts, really cool knitted hats with pom-poms bearing the AEU “Space is the Place” slogan, umbrellas, and a whole lot more.

We also pitched in on the copywriting for the project—it’s been really well-received and represents what art experiences can be: inclusive and fun!