The Industrial Arts Workshop is an artist and education work space in Hazelwood. It is the mission of the Industrial Arts Workshop to inspire artistic literacy in the city of Pittsburgh and beyond by offering enrichment opportunities that advance the understanding and process of metal sculpture-making artists and their work.
$7,500 to support general operations and staff capacity for year-round programming, including the Reel Q Film Festival, the Pittsburgh Underground Film Festival, and the Reel Youth screening program.
Pittsburgh Lesbian & Gay Film Society began in 1982 with the goal of providing opportunities for viewing media by and about lesbian, trans, gay, and queer people and their experiences.
$10,000 to New Sun Rising to support City of Play and the inaugural season of Pittsburgh FireWalk: an autumn series of firelit revels through the central Northside and adjacent hilltop neighborhoods. Inspired by some of the greatest fire carnival traditions throughout history, and more recently by Providence Rhode Island’s WaterFire, the FireWalk will be a regularly scheduled array of bonfires. Each fire will be carefully tended with talented performers, local storytellers, and street vendors of food, drink, and art. The cauldrons themselves will be distinctly designed by artisanal metalworkers in homage to the retired steel mills and iron furnaces of the region.
Fractured Atlas ($5,550) to support FotoEvidence in creating the “Limitless Africans” book by artist-photographer Mikael Owunna and related educational programming focused on LGBTQ African migrants. This body of work is a collaborative response between Mikael and his community, to re-define what it means to be an immigrant, African and queer in North America and Europe at this time.
Tech 25 (previously 25 Carrick Ave Project) provides youth and adults in the Pittsburgh Region with career opportunities in the event production and broadcast industry through classes, workshops, and hands-on mentoring. Their work promotes diversity in the entertainment and event technology industry through providing entry into jobs that pay a living wage and lead to fulfilling careers. Tech 25 is a state-of-the-art event training center providing technical support and academic training for many cultural institutions and performing arts centers in Western PA.
$7,500 to support “I Too am Pittsburgh,” a public poetry installation utilizing the City of Pittsburgh’s public transit system as a mobile creative space crafted to address historic and imaginary borders separating neighboring communities.
Crossing Limits is an interfaith literary organization established in 1998 to promote solidarity amongst varying faith and cultural traditions. Their mission is centered upon celebrating and utilizing poetry as a sacred tool to nurture spiritual communities dedicated to pluralism.
The Chamber Orchestra of Pittsburgh provides exceptional performances, education, and related programming by a world-class ensemble. Their repertoire includes compelling works that are familiar, rarely performed, and newly composed.
$10,000 to support PF/PCA for The Documentary Works in creating “Income Inequality” (working title), a photography-based project aimed at enhancing the public’s understanding of the structural bases of poverty and income inequality, and creating a space within which to have a civil and constructive conversation about correcting these inequities.
The mission of The Legacy Arts Project is to preserve the history and traditions of African art as represented throughout the diaspora through education, instruction, and interactions. The organization strives to share the presentation of art throughout the community in order to inspire the upliftment of individuals within the urban neighborhoods of Pittsburgh.
$12,000 to support the Pride Youth Theater Alliance Conference 2019, which provides opportunities for members in the Queer Youth Theater sector to gather and learn. Dreams of Hope will host this year’s conference in Pittsburgh.
The Pride Youth Theater Alliance began as a cohort of directors, educators, and activists representing Queer Youth Theater (QYT) programs from across the U.S. and Canada. The alliance was officially founded in 2012 to collectively raise awareness and place institutional unity behind the work of individual QYT programs, the field at large, and the needs of communities where QYT groups exist. The PYTA Conference, an annual convening of leaders from the field, has become a defining component of PYTA’s programmatic activity.