Category: Events

Music festivals strengthen cultural appreciation and community connections

Posted on by Scott Wolovich

The celebration of culture manifests in different ways, and on May 11 two Pittsburgh events will share the day to showcase local and international cultures through music and food: Pittonkatonk Mayday Brass BBQ & Potluck and the Millvale Music Festival.

While each has its own distinctive experience, these two events were created to be a platform for people to come together, highlight, and honor their communities.

Pittonkatonk

Officially dubbed Pittonkatonk in 2014, the festival was started to answer the call of HONK! in Cambridge, Mass. That three-day festival brings together brass bands from all over the country to celebrate community, music, and activism. Not only did it inspire Pete Spynda to start a Pittsburgh HONK! festival (Pittsburgh+HONK=Pittonkatonk), but there are also HONK! festivals in Seattle, Detroit, Austin, and over seas in Australia and Brazil.

“We gave ours a different spin and made it into a potluck,” Spynda said. “We also celebrate the justice organizations and activism for a day of celebration [instead of three].”

Unofficially, Pittonkatonk began as a party with What Cheer Brigade in a garage in Highland Park with around 100 people. As attendance rose each year and the event grew in popularity, the decision was made to move to the Vietnam Veteran’s Pavilion in Schenley Park. Last year there were over 5,000 people in attendance.

“I think Pittonkatonk really conveys true community spirit,” Spynda said.

For the potluck, hundreds of people bring a dish to share. The recipes usually tell an origin story of their own as participants are bringing their famous potato salad or their grandmother’s pierogi recipe, which in turn has “people from different backgrounds breaking bread together and listening to music from all over the world,” Spynda said.

This year out of the 16 ensembles, four are international and coming into Pittsburgh from Peru, Macedonia, Canada, and Cuba. Spynda said he is able to help pay for artists’ flights through grants, which is one of the elements New Sun Rising has been able to assist with since connecting with Pittonkatonk in 2014.

“They’ve really helped me and Pittonkatonk as an organization evolve in the sense of establishing a concrete foundation for what we are doing,” Spynda said.

The resource tent is one initiative that Pittonkatonk and NSR are collaborating on this year to represent and share information on over a dozen social justice organizations. And new to the event is the Artivist Greenhouse where Pittonkatonk will commission three Pittsburgh artists to write new songs in collaboration with social justice organizers. This project was created to encourage artists to form deep working relationships with environmental and social justice organizations that work to clean our air and water, support immigrants, and prevent displacement.

On May 10, the night before Pittonkatonk, there is a Youth Showcase at Salem’s Event Center from 6-8 p.m. presented by Remake Learning and the Grable Foundation. Ben Barson, member of Afro Yaqui Music Collective, has participated in Pittonkatonk for several years and works closely with the teens in the organizations education program to prepare for the performances. The teens participate with the performers during Pittonkatonk, but this is the first time there is an event specifically for youth involved in the event.

“It’s a beautiful opportunity for them to learn how to improvise, take risks, and perform in front out thousands of people,” Barson said.

Spynda said that for the past several years, City Council has declared the date the festival is held on as “Pittonkatonk Day,” but he hopes in the future the event could be presented by the City of Pittsburgh as well.

Millvale Music Festival

It’s around this time, after the band submissions have closed for Millvale Music Festival, that mayhem ensues, said Co-Founder Paul Bossung, Jr.

“We’ll book over 200 acts for this year, but over 460 have applied,” Bossung said.

The festival, now entering its third year, will have 22 stages set up throughout Millvale and 15 different businesses and organizations are involved with the event in some way.

The borough’s population almost doubles in size during the festival, which is a great opportunity for Millvale to show the opportunities is has to offer for potential future residents or small businesses. Last year, the festival brought over 5,000 visitors through Millvale.

“We have great breweries and businesses like Steel City Salt Company,” Bossung said. “There is so much opportunity here and you start to see the younger crowd appreciate that while their walking around [the festival].”

In 2018, Bossung said Sedgwick Street was strewn with artists who were performing live to accompany the bands playing. He hopes to continue that setup this year, and although he wasn’t able to confirm the details yet, Bossung hinted at the potential for a larger and reoccurring community art project.

The festival has also made some technological strides this year and will have televisions in each venue so event attendees can get live updates on the bands and shuttle schedules.

Bossung said what he believes makes this event unique is the amount of live performances happening within a five to ten minute walk, and also the places around Millvale where bands will be performing including the Millvale Food + Energy Hub at the former Moose lodge.

“Visitors get the chance to wander around town all day and to see all of the places that are unique and special to Millvale,” Bossung said.

Awards ceremony honors organizations with $30,000 for excellence in building Vibrant Communities

Posted on by Scott Wolovich

The roots of New Sun Rising’s history are embedded in the belief that advocating for culture, sustainability, and opportunity will cultivate Vibrant Communities.

Strengthening Culture allows a community to build awareness for shared values that in turn creates trust and identity. Promoting Sustainability and designing for environmental impacts strengthens the health of our people, planet, and economy. And creating Opportunity closes the opportunity gap through knowledge, connections, and resources for equitable growth.

There are three organizations that have individually exemplified these pillars of the Vibrant Communities Framework, and on Friday, March 1 they will be celebrated for their achievements at the Ace Hotel Pittsburgh for New Sun Rising’s first ever Vibrancy Awards.

Global Wordsmiths, PearlArts Studios, and Millvale Community Library will each receive $10,000 for their excellence in creating vibrancy throughout the region.

Mary Jayne McCullough, executive director of Global Wordsmiths, said she isn’t used to getting recognition for the type of work her organization does and winning the award for embodying Opportunity was “really validating.”

McCullough is a trained translator and interpreter, and for years she worked with social service providers to help immigrants and refugees navigate daily life like trips to the doctor or a parent teacher conference. The need for interpretation was so great that McCullough also spent much of her free time accompanying people to these appointments, which led her to ask why hospitals and organizations were not already providing this service.

The biggest reason was cost, and thus Global Wordsmiths was created by McCullough to provide nonprofits with free language translation and interpretation, as well as language access consulting and training. Every dollar of profit earned by Global Wordsmiths goes back into the organizations and is used to finance its innovative Social Impact Initiatives.

“[New Sun Rising is] really focused on getting results and on creating opportunity, which is what we’re trying to do, so there is a lot of syngergy in our missions,” McCullough said. “It’s great to work with people who also want to create positive change.”

The award for Culture goes to PearlArts Studios, an organization that defines itself as a dance company and a nonprofit. STAYCEE PEARL and Soy Sos, co-executive directors of PearlArts, started the company in 2010 and since the beginning they have worked to collaborate with cultural organizations and individual artists.

From 2010 to 2013, the STAYCEE PEARL dance project was the resident dance company at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, the first long-term KST resident. It was there that PEARL and Soy Sos set the tone for high-quality and diverse representation of dance for the community theater. Being able to use the time, space and resources provided by the KST allowed PearlArts to solidify their mission, aesthetic, and reputation, and when the residency ended the company premiered as an investigation of race, gender, and personal identity in relation to conversations around Post-Blackness in fine and performing arts.

PEARL said the company started working with New Sun Rising almost five years ago, and during the early years the guidance they received was “amazing.” She also said that the company is currently part of NSRs Grow Residency program, which “feels like we’re moving into another phase of our existence and expanding in different directions that we didn’t expect to.”

As for the Millvale Community Library, the award for Sustainability is also well deserved. Its doors officially opened in 2013, and since that time the library has been designated as a Sustainable Small Business through its actions and leadership that promotes environmental stewardship as well as financial stability.

Originally fiscally sponsored by New Sun Rising, MCL started as a children’s library in 2008. The community that came together to build the library initiated the larger community conversation about what sustainability and resiliency meant to the people of Millvale, and the library now leads a movement towards education and equity in those realms. Not only has that resulted in the award winning Millvale EcoDistrict Pivot 1.0 and 2.0 Plans, but also tangible projects that improve the quality of life for citizens such as a rain garden to retain storm water, a tool lending library, paid teen solar fellowships, free access to high-speed internet, and a solar installation which saves money while reducing their carbon footprint.

Brian Wolovich, founder and current board member of the MCL, said that at the beginning, having the support of New Sun Rising was critical to their success.

“We were able to focus on immediate tasks like acquiring and renovating our building, strengthening relationships, and providing youth and GED test preparation programming to our community, while NSR provided financial management, operations, and strategic support.”

In partnership with NSR, the MCL has inspired a sustainable future for residents and leaders in Millvale, and their upstream neighbors in Etna and Sharpsburg, and downstream into Beaver County.

For more information on the Vibrancy Awards and to purchase tickets, click here. A “pay what you can” has been included so that cost is not a barrier. The Vibrancy Awards are made possible by the generous support of the Henry L. Hillman Opportunity Fund, and sponsored by Buchanon Ingersoll & Rooney PC, Neighborhood Allies, BNY Mellon, Crawford Ellenbogen, Robert Morris University Massey Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, First National Bank, Walker Philanthropic Consulting, and Innovation Works.

Idea Round-Up activates Etna’s EcoDistrict vision

Posted on by Scott Wolovich
By: Alyse Horn-Pyatt

Over a year of monthly meetings for the Etna EcoDistrict Community Education Series led to five groups of borough residents and cohorts receiving $2,000 each to fund their projects during the EcoDistrict Idea Round-Up on January 9.Teams were guided by seasoned mentors and each had a dedicated focus on air, mobility, water, energy, or food, and all were required to incorporate equity. Those involved in project planning had been engaged with Etna’s EcoDistrict process in some way since January 2018 when the community education series began.

Etna EcoDistrict Fellow Alexis Boytim said that building equity, the common thread among all the projects, “was represented by a focus on community education and engagement, which is essential to empowering people.”

For example, the air quality team chose to create an educational event that will accompany the future tree planting in Clarence Fugh Memorial Park. In 2017, trees had to be removed because of disease and recently the borough received a $50,000 grant from the Allegheny County Health Department Clean Air Fund to replace the trees. The event will debut signage with information about the trees and the import role they play in preventing pollution.

Jessica Jankowski, Etna’s economic development coordinator, chose to work with the air quality team during the Idea Round-Up because she believes that “especially in our region, air quality is a bigger beast” with Allegheny County ranked among the poorest air in the nation.

Brian Wolovich, Triboro Ecodistrict Director for New Sun Rising, said this was the first time Etna residents received funding to implement their ideas and it’s meant to act as a “small win” while the EcoDistrict planning continues.

“Some residents understand that projects can take two years of planning before [results] occurs, and others need to see something quicker to know a process is worth while,” Wolovich said.

Boytim said 2019 will be “dedicated to following more of the EcoDistrict Protocol” and more community meetings to ensure Etna residents continue to be engaged in developing the best EcoDistrict plan for their community.

The next meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, February 6 at Fugh Hall, 27 Crescent St. During the evening, six education booklets will be distributed that focus on air, energy, equity, food, mobility, and water.

EcoDistricts Foundation Course hosted at the Millvale Moose

Posted on by Scott Wolovich

New Sun Rising was proud host the day-long EcoDistricts Foundations Course
on Tuesday, October 3rd, 2017 at our HQ, The Millvale Moose, presented in partnership with The Millvale Ecodistrict, evolveEA, Green Building Alliance, Sustainable Pittsburgh and
Carnegie Mellon University. The course, facilitated by the Portland-based urban
planning and consulting group, “empowers urban development practitioners to achieve
ambitious performance outcomes in equity, resilience, and climate protection” and took
place from 9am to 4pm, drawing local and regional sustainability leaders for a day of
education, networking, and training that would prepare them in their pursuit of
EcoDistricts Certification via their AP Exam. In addition to the day-long presentation, a
45-min walking tour of the Millvale Ecodistrict was included as part of the course.

From the EcoDistricts website, “The course covers the EcoDistricts Protocol including
commitments to imperatives in the areas of equity, resilience and climate protection;
formation of a governance structure; development of a roadmap; and ongoing
performance reporting. It outlines core requirements of EcoDistricts Certified. Case
studies address lessons learned from early EcoDistricts projects and interactive working
sessions allow attendees to apply EcoDistrict concepts to a hypothetical district.”

Participants from across disciplines and organizations, both local, and regional attended
the EcoDistricts Foundations course. Many will go on to seek certification through the
AP Exam, though other motivators came to the surface as we sat down to debrief with
participants at the end of the day. Professional development, civic participation, and
personal interest, to name a few were among the driving forces for attendance.

Edward Hill works in Portland, Oregon and is currently 60 days into his on-boarding
with EcoDistricts. He says that he plans to take the Certification exam, which is an
open-book test. His interest in the field of sustainability is multifaceted, “It allows me to
serve both the community and myself, because this is also a personal passion.” He
believes in the EcoDistricts model and its ability to foster innovation within communities
because it functions “at the intersection of equality and community development.”

Mary Ellen Ramage is the Borough of Etna Manager and, after attending the
Foundations course, is now considering taking the certification exam. Sharpsburg and
Etna have a history of working together and have build upon multi-municipal
comprehensive planning with partners in Millvale, to create the “Triboro Ecodistrict”. She
notes that Etna is already pursuing many of these approaches in their community
planning but that this Foundation course has opened up her view to “a more formal
process for sustainable development that is encouraging.” Mary Ellen adds that, “this is
her passion and the lack of capacity is the main roadblock to doing more of it, but
making connections and a local network like this really helps to actualize and expedite
more of these projects.”

Miriam Parson, Pittsburgh Action Strategist for ioby, a national crowd-resourcing
platform, attended the workshop for both personal and professional reasons. “I believe
that Pittsburgh is awesome and we have the agency to build a Pittsburgh for all. The
EcoDistricts model is a process through which we can recalibrate the power dynamics
and have a Pittsburgh that is built together and thriving for all of us, not just for some.”

Connections were solidified, new friends and allies were made, and the network of
sustainable leaders in the Pittsburgh inarguably strengthened as a result of the
EcoDistricts Foundation Course. The information provided, the connections made, and
the shared tools will augment and add capacity to participants’ work going forward.

Mary Ellen Ramage adds that it has been beneficial to increase her local network
through participation in the EcoDistricts course. As a part of Etna’s Green Master Plan,
adopted three years ago, the borough acquired a property on floodplain and aspires to
transform the location into a green space. At EcoDistricts, she connected with
individuals involved in land trusts and in the day of the conference was able to reignite
and add capacity to this project in Etna.

Miriam Parson professes the strengths of community building, “It is common for
Pittsburghers to walk into a room and know half the people there – and that spirit of
collaboration is great! Going back to our personal and professional lives, we need to
keep desegregating our work, everyone in this room is working on yielding space so
that everyone is building their collective futures.”

The walking tour and presentation of Millvale as an EcoDistrict Case Study by
Sustainability Coordinator Zaheen Hussain, both surprised and inspired attendees, even
those who were previously familiar with the area.

Edward Hill of Portland was impressed by the history of flooding in the compact
downtown corridor. “The flood line, the topographical and hydrological conditions were
impressive and immediately sent me into resilience mode; The familiar narrative of
people trying to recover.” “As a planner, I liked being constrained by the corridor of the
small town.” [Grant St. and its arteries].

Mary Ellen Ramage admits that she has toured Millvale many times already as Etna
was a part of a PCRG tour that took place previously but is always inspired by the
Millvale Gardens, “they have grown and changed so much, now they are growing things
for the local businesses and, no pun intended, evolving.”

Miriam Parson returns to the most memorable part of their Millvale EcoDistrict walking
tour. “When Zaheen was giving the Millvale Garden tour, he noted the adage ‘if you
build it they will come’ is not true – people need to build what is appropriate in their own
context – it is a process of ownership – a shifting of power dynamics.”

In addition to introducing Zaheen Hussain as Director of Sustainability at New Sun Rising, the organization also announced seed funding towards the incubation of the Regional Ecodistricts Collaborative: a network of leading sustainability organizations including evolveEA, Green Builders Alliance, Sustainable Pittsburgh, Homewood Children’s Village, The City of Pittsburgh, and others. The group has shared goals to strengthen existing ecodistricts, promote the planning and implementation of new ecodistricts, set the regional agenda for sustainable community practices through ecodistricts, and integrate best practices into local government processes and plans.