The catalyst for a burgeoning exchange between Europe and Western Pennsylvania is not, as might be presumed, trade or a new Web application. It's art.

This may surprise policymakers, but not art-world professionals who know the power of art to build international relationships that result in cultural exploration and mutual respect.

When the Westmoreland Museum of American Art began to organize the exhibition "Born of Fire: The Valley of Work," drawn from their admirable collection of artwork inspired by the region's Big Steel Era, the staff had hopes that there would be life after the museum run. But they couldn't have projected how expansive that continuance would be.

One outcome is the "Building a Transatlantic Bridge" project, which connects high school students in Greensburg to those in Oberhausen and Dinslaken, Germany, inspired by the regions' shared industrial history. Tomorrow will be declared "Transatlantic Bridge Day" by Oberhausen Mayor Elia Albrecht-Mainz and Greensburg Mayor Karl Eisaman.

The Westmoreland will celebrate with a free public event, beginning at 7 p.m., when Mr. Eisaman will deliver his proclamation. Discussing the project will be Katie Barnard, museum director of education and visitor services, Kelley Audia, Greensburg Salem School District high school art teacher, and Anita Rometo, community liaison for the school district.

Graciously participating in a live video chat (it will be 1 a.m. in Germany) will be Stephanie Buchholz, project leader at the LVR-Industriemuseum in Oberhausen, where the "Born of Fire" exhibition made its European debut in 2007. (It has since traveled to Chemnitz, Germany, and Zabrze, Poland. The economic downturn caused interested venues in Spain and England to withdraw.)

Portions of the exhibition will return this summer to the Oberhausen museum to appear in "Feuerlander -- Regions of Vulcan," part of the activities celebrating the designation of the Ruhr Valley as Cultural Capital of Europe 2010. The Westmoreland is the only non-European museum represented.

Earlier in the day, Greensburg Salem students will video-chat with students from three German high schools in attendance at a similar evening event at the Oberhausen museum. That chat will be posted to the museum's YouTube channel, where visitors also will have the opportunity to post videos related to the "Bridge" program that they create at an interactive kiosk.

Also displayed will be photographs and journals that the students have been making and shipping between countries. Questions and e-mail have flown across the ocean, facilitated by the fact that German schoolchildren begin learning English in elementary school.

Ms. Barnard says that besides being "lots of fun," the project has "been opening the kids' eyes. They have a different world view now."

The journals began in art classrooms, one set in Oberhausen and the other in Greensburg, and have been passed back and forth. All of the students have worked with all of the journals, sometimes completing an entry when their counterparts left a page half finished to invite collaboration.

Historical and industrial sites may be included, as in one terrific painting that combines the Statue of Liberty, the spans of a Pittsburgh bridge, and the Oberhausen Gasometer. The latter, a 117-meter high structure built in 1929, was once used in steel production. Scheduled for demolition in 1994, it was spared and is now an arts center with exhibitions (Christo and Jeanne-Claude created an installation there in 1999), trade fairs and exhibitions.

One of Ms. Barnard's favorites is a page on which Greensburg students wrote, "What kind of shoes do you wear?" above a picture of Converse sneakers. The German students responded with similar-looking shoes.

Besides historic and political references, entrees from the German students include sports -- "which for them is soccer," and tickets from movies and concerts. "Things any kid from here would have."

All of the students, Ms. Barnard says, are "making connections, and it's sort of on their own. They can express themselves the way they want in the journals.

"One of the greatest things is that there's not someone standing over them and telling them what to do. It's really about them discovering it, and that makes a learning experience really meaningful."

The museum is at 221 N. Main St., Greensburg. (724-837-1500 or www.wmuseumaa.org). To check out the project, go to http://buildingatransatlanticbridge.blogspot.com. For more art, www.bornoffire.org.

Under a partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, many museums will offer free admission to active duty military personnel and their immediate family members from Memorial Day through Labor Day 2010. Local participants include the Westmoreland Museum, The Andy Warhol Museum, Carnegie Museums of Art and of Natural History, The Frick Art & Historical Center and the Children's Museum.

Sarah Nichols, independent curator and former Carnegie curator of decorative arts, will speak on "Contemporary Design & Craft" at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the museum theater (free). Ms. Nichols will explore the intersection of art, craft and design from the 1950s to the present as a part of a lecture series marking the reopening of the Ailsa Mellon Bruce Galleries. (412-622-3131)

A new multi-media sculptural theater work, "Take A Letter," will be performed by Alexi Morrissey and Adrienne Wehr at 8 p.m. tomorrow through Saturday at the Ellis School Armory (Punam St. off Penn Ave. betwen 5th Ave. and E. Liberty Blvd., across from the Bakery Square Development). Mr. Morrissey developed the piece during a New Hazlett Theater artist residency program. Suitable for all ages, wheelchair accessible. Doors open at 7 p.m., no late seating, $12 (412-320-4610).

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