CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART | PHOTO BY TOM LITTLE / COURTESY CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART

The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh is updating its guidelines and procedures on renting its space to outside groups after coming under fire for allowing Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick to host a private, $5,000-a-plate dinner there last month.

Its events page clearly states: “Carnegie Museums does not accept bookings for partisan political events or fundraisers, including voter education, registration and get-out-the-vote drives led by partisan groups.” It also says that it has the right to decline or cancel bookings …“because of concerns regarding property damage, safety risks, legal liability and/or reputational harm to Carnegie Museums.”

Following the dinner, dozens of museum employees penned a letter to museum trustees claiming that the July 15 fundraiser violated guidelines meant to safeguard the institution from partisan activities, as reported by The New York Times. There also has been outcry on local social media channels, with some posters threatening to cancel their museum memberships.

Steven Knapp, president and CEO of the Carnegie Museums, acknowledged to employees that it was a violation of policy and accused the fundraiser’s organizer of providing misleading information, according to The New York Times.

The event at the Carnegie Museum of Art on July 15 followed an all-day Energy and Innovation Summit held next door at Carnegie Mellon University, in which McCormick, a Republican, announced $90 billion in AI, energy and data center investments coming to Pennsylvania from about 20 companies. The summit also was attended by Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and President Donald Trump.

The space was rented by PA Rising, a nonprofit with ties to a political action committee created by McCormick to help Republicans in the state get elected, according to the Times. Anna Rogers Duncan, an adviser to PA Rising, gave a statement to the Times that said the dinner was held at the art museum to show off Pittsburgh’s rich cultural heritage. She said the organization made clear in the beginning that it was not a political fundraiser for McCormick. The dinner also included corporate marquee sponsor rates for $500,000.

“Carnegie Museums recognizes the concerns regarding the July 15 rental event on its Oakland campus and the subsequent public discourse and is committed to practices that reflect its institutional values,” according to a museum statement. “A request was received to rent space for a reception, and the organizers gave assurances that this would not be a political fundraiser, which would have conflicted with institutional guidelines for booking private events.”

An editorial by TribLive on July 19 and one by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on July 26 raised alarms over the event, noting that tax codes prevent nonprofits like the Carnegie Museums from “directly or indirectly participating in” political campaigning.

The New York Times obtained an audio recording of Knapp at a staff meeting saying “The people working for him [McCormick} have put us in a terrible situation, have really damaged our relationships internally and externally and we didn’t deserve that.”

“Carnegie Museums is currently reviewing and updating its internal guidelines and procedures, and staff and leadership across the institution are actively involved in this process,” according to its statement.

Among its four musuems — Art, Natural History, Carnegie Science Center and The Andy Warhol Museum — the organization offers for rent 20 spaces for weddings, corporate events or family celebrations, according to its events page.