Music festivals strengthen cultural appreciation and community connections

Posted on March 31, 2019 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.

RiverWise receives $160,000 for Beaver County initiative

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Scott Wolovich

BEAVER — RiverWise, a newly formed nonprofit project of the Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic Growth, recently received a $160,000 grant from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation to fund a year-long pilot program aimed at using Beaver County’s rivers and their surrounding communities as wisely as possible.

“RiverWise is as creative a partnership as we’ve seen in many years in Beaver County,” said Jack Manning, Executive Director for the Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic Growth. “It’s a carefully planned effort to align the structure of the organization with the needs of our region. The focus on our rivers is important and long overdue, and the Beaver County Partnership is pleased to be supporting this work and its efforts at developing a regional identity with our rivers at the center.”

Daniel Rossi-Keen, Executive Director of RiverWise, agrees with Manning. “The rivers of Beaver County represent one of our greatest and most enduring resources as a region,” he said. “Both symbolically and in actuality, our rivers span long-standing divides, draw us together and call for us to think regionally about our identity and our future. Historically, we have underappreciated the value of our rivers, and RiverWise seeks to begin reversing that trend.”

At the heart of RiverWise’s work is an ongoing effort to organize stakeholders to dream, learn and collaborate through action on behalf of Beaver County’s rivers and the communities through which they flow. As a way of guiding this process, RiverWise is leaning heavily on a new tool called “ecodistrict thinking.” For several months now, ecodistricts have been forming in Beaver Falls, Monaca and Aliquippa. This process will grow and deepen as the year progresses. Ecodistrict thinking involves careful assessment and planning about a community’s water, energy, transportation, air and food systems. It seeks to develop healthy systems that promote equity and participation for all members of a community.

Assisting RiverWise is New Sun Rising, a Millvale-based community economic development non-profit. According to Brian Wolovich, director of Triboro Ecodistrict and New Sun Rising’s consulting partner for RiverWise, “Ecodistricts represent a wholistic way of organizing that sees a community as an interconnected and multifaceted set of systems. Rather than only focusing on the physical infrastructure of a community, ecodistrict thinking seeks a broader approach to community development. Citizens of Millvale, Sharpsburg and Etna have used this method of organizing with considerable success in the Triboro Ecodistrict, and we are excited to see residents of Beaver County begin to engage with this kind of thinking.”

Scott Wolovich, Executive Director of New Sun Rising, thinks RiverWise is poised to lead some very exciting work with the people of Beaver County in the coming months and years. “We know that communities are complex ecosystems, and we have witnessed how a backbone organization like RiverWise can help stakeholders create a unified vision, make creative connections, and get to action. RiverWise is quickly becoming a leader in innovative thinking about developing clusters of Vibrant Communities in Southwestern PA. As the future of Beaver County becomes a bigger part of our regional story, New Sun Rising is excited to be partnering with them in this important work.”

In addition to forming ecodistrict communities in Beaver Falls, Monaca and Aliquippa, RiverWise is also working closely with Cathy McCollom, principal at McCollom Development Strategies, to promote projects and seek funding to build physical infrastructure along the
region’s rivers.

Funding for RiverWise was made possible through a creative partnership with the Beaver County Regional Council of Governments, who acts as a fiscal sponsor for RiverWise’s projects and whose recent strategic plan called for municipal activity aimed at achieving landscape-level change through thoughtful governance and community engagement. RiverWise and COG are working closely to align their efforts. Their collaboration will be on full display this summer during COG’s annual Local Government Conference focused on “Facing the Rivers.”

“Paying careful attention to our rivers raises all kind of issues of concern to municipal leaders,” COG President and RiverWise co-founder Rebecca Matsco said. “For the first time in quite a while, the work of RiverWise has initiated a truly regional conversation about what it means to steward our natural resources as municipal officials. The COG is honored to help lead these important conversations with the citizens of Beaver County.”

A calendar of public events for RiverWise will be published via social media later this month.

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Contact:
Daniel Rossi-Keen, RiverWise
386-748-3635
danielkeen@hotmail.com

Jack Manning, Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic Growth
724-775-3944
jmanning@bcchamber.com

More About the Partnership: The Beaver County Partnership for Community and Economic
Development is a public/private partnership designed to leverage the multi-billion-dollar
investment by Shell Chemical in the county. Created by a collaboration of Beaver County
business and community leaders, the Partnership aims to attract business investment and
community development with the goal of having a positive impact on every aspect of life and
work in the region. More information is available at http://thebcpartnership.org/.

Galvanizing Energy Transition: Solar for Non-Profits (G.E.T. Solar) announces Request for Proposals

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Scott Wolovich

Tax-exempt [501(c)(3)] organizations located in western Pennsylvania in the West Penn Power
service territory or in Allegheny County are invited to submit applications to go solar through the
new G.E.T. Solar initiative. Selected organizations will receive a solar feasibility analysis from a
Penn State engineering class, assistance to select a qualified solar contractor as well as detailed
financial savings projections and links to investors to finance their projects. The process may enable
non-profit organizations to go solar with little or no upfront investment of funds through a power
purchase agreement (PPA), depending on current electricity price and solar installation
considerations.

The process for non-profit organizations to go solar with the best savings is time sensitive,
as the federal tax credit for private investors in non-profit projects begins to decline in
January 2020. G.E.T. Solar is attempting to assist non-profits to take advantage of this opportunity
and to install solar before the end of 2019.

The Pennsylvania Solar Center (PSC) is a project of the New Sun Rising (NSR), a 501(c)(3) non-
profit organization, and the Hot Earth Collaborative LLC. The mission of the Pennsylvania Solar
Center is to maximize the number of people, organizations and businesses who benefit from solar
energy in Pennsylvania. The G.E.T. Solar initiative is made possible through generous funding from
the West Penn Power Sustainable Energy Fund (WPPSEF).

Date RFP Released Thursday, November 1, 2018

Application Due Date Monday, January 8, 2019 at 5:00 PM

Eligible Applicants Tax-exempt organizations located in the West Penn Power service territory or in Allegheny County who are interested in going solar

To obtain the complete RFP with additional details or ask Application Questions, please email Sharon Pillar at info@pasolarcenter.org

The Bright Spot: Kenny’s

Posted on July 9, 2018 by Scott Wolovich

Shining a light on the projects and businesses supported by the Vibrancy Funds

Neighborhood: Pittsburgh, Homewood

Program: Launch Culture

Grant Awarded: April 2018

A once vacant lot in the center of Homewood is now home to a vibrant, active space. Depending on the day of the week and time, you may find yogis lined up for a pay-what-you-can yoga session, a neighborhood birthday potluck for one of the young residents, or a late-night dance party with DJ spinning motown and local vendors selling their creative wares and art.

“Kenny’s exists to give residents a new and different experience while allowing people from outside the neighborhood an avenue to experience the greatness that is Homewood,” said Demi Kolke, the Founder and Owner of Kenny’s.

Demi built deep roots and connection with the community, through years of working with the local community development group, Operation Better Block. During her time working on various community development projects, she kept hearing the same thing from the residents of Homewood; they wanted to return their neighborhood to its former glory. They would reminiscence about the how Homewood used to be – a neighborhood with a thriving business district, strong community ties, and neatly maintained rowhomes.

The story of Homewood is not unique to the City of Pittsburgh. Currently, the neighborhood’s population is just 17% of its peak of 35,000, leaving nearly 2,000 vacant lots and 600 empty buildings in the majority Black neighborhood. The blight has been more persistent than in other neighborhoods due to structural racism, elevated crime activities, and lack of investment, leaving Homewood slower to rebound than other neighborhoods within the City.

That didn’t stop the neighbors from taking action on their own. Kenneth Stubbs was one such neighbor dedicated to changing the narrative of the neighborhood he was so proud of. At first, he was weary of Demi, a young woman originally from North Dakota. His hesitation soon faded and they formed a strong and unlikely friendship.

Tragically, that friendship came to an end when Kenneth was murdered in 2014.

In his honor, Demi purchased a vacant lot that he had owned and turned into a safe, accessible, informal outdoor gathering space: an idea born from countless conversations with him. She named it Kenny’s in his honor.

“I named the space Kenny’s to keep Mr. Stubbs’ dedication to the community giving and service alive,” explains Demi, “Every time a person asks me ‘Why the name Kenny?’ I get to tell them about my friend and they work he did in the community.”

Kenny’s website describes the space as a “community and cultural gathering space”. The intent is to give a platform for the great activities that are going on in the neighborhood.

One night in June, Demi’s former employer, Operation Better Block, hosted a summer kick off potluck. Residents brought dishes, kids chased each other on the grass and neighbors met one another, many for the first time.

For Robert Bey, resident and former friend of Kenneth, Kenny’s space means an opportunity to get to know his neighbors. He is thankful for the access to the space so he can program it for the kids in his neighborhood.

“If I want to host barbecue or something like that, all I have to do is contact Demi and ‘BOOM!’ – we bring the barbecue grills out here and cook hamburgers and hot dogs for the kids and have something for them to do.”

The Vibrancy Funds will be used to continue such programming the space throughout the summer so everyone will be able to participate in the events on site.

Kenny’s sits on a corner, with a bevy of energetic children to one side, and the older residents who remember what Homewood once was on the other. In addition to the Vibrancy Funds, Demi has secured funds from Lively Pittsburgh to offer additional programming centered around building connections between the generations.

Kenny’s is always going to be about resident-driven ideas and programming, Demi vows. It’s about giving the neighborhood a positive, open atmosphere to promote health and wellness, art and culture, entrepreneurs and existing businesses

Much like Mr. Stubbs himself, Kenny’s the space, is not there to work for the community, but rather with the community.

You can check out a full list of upcoming events at Kenny’s here.

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The Vibrancy Funds are made possible by a gift from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation.

Interested in finding out how we can help bring your idea to life? Contact us.

Ignite Northside Profile: Kate Kelley of Brighton Arts fights for a kid-friendly community

Posted on October 31, 2017 by Scott Wolovich

Written by: Brian Conway

When Kate Kelley moved to Brighton Heights from Bethesda, MD 15 years ago her new neighborhood was a very different place.

At the time, the median age was somewhere in the mid-60s; today, it’s in the mid-30s, thanks to an influx of young people who, like Kelley, moved to the Brighton Heights and started a family.

“When I moved in I was not married and had no kids, so it was the perfect, cheap, close to the city place to live,” she says. “Then suddenly I’m married and I have kids and I have to start thinking of schools.”

Today, Kelley, is one of three community leaders behind Brighton Arts, a project of the Families, Youth and Children’s Committee of the Brighton Heights Citizens Federation.

“Brighton Arts is a collaboration between some artists and parents in Brighton Heights to try to provide some creative experiences for the youth in our neighborhood, because it’s largely a desert when it comes to activities for kids in our neighborhood,” says Kelley.

Some 800 area children go to schools outside of Brighton Heights, including her own, and Kelley feels strongly that there is a need for enriching after-school experiences for all local kids, regardless of where they receive their education.

“All the kids need something creative and productive to do,” she says.

Before forming Brighton Arts, Kelley, a grant writer, successfully secured $3,000 in funding from a Seattle nonprofit to pay for drums for children at Pittsburgh Morrow, the local K-8. She then secured another grant to pay for indoor playground equipment, like basketballs and volleyballs.

Another grant helped to secure a school garden, which was eventually overseen by Grow Pittsburgh. There was a community arts night at John Morrow in 2015, and in 2016, her work helped to secure a KaBoom! Playground right by the school.

Kelley is the first to say that her work is a group effort. She serves as Executive Director for Brighton Arts, alongside Program Director, Stacey Roa, and School Programs Coordinator, Donna Nyambe, who also happens to be President of Pittsburgh Morrow PTO.

Their top priority is to create a community space, somewhere that is permanent, visible (so kids know where to go), and walkable.

“There are a lot of creative experiences down in the Northside at the Mattress Factory, or the Carnegies or whatever,” she says, “but if you can’t get there on your own, if you’re 8 or 10 years old you’re not taking the bus down there by yourself.”

They thought they had found that permanent home, but after talks with mentors at Ignite Northside, realized it was too big a risk.

“[Ignite Northside Program Manager Ebony McQueen-Harris] is a coach but she’s also a business expert. She made us realize taking on that big of a building on our own would be a huge liability and not sustainable.”

One option for a permanent home may be the underused, 20,000 sq. ft. Brighton Heights Senior Community Center.

On Saturday, August 21, 120 Pitt students and other volunteers helped to clean the structure. Kelley laughs that the building is covered in vines “like the temples in Cambodia,” and that revealing the historic architecture and obscured murals, in a symbolic way, represent the reclamation of a neighborhood at large.

In the meantime, Kelley, who also owns a vintage store, Mustard & Relics, on Brighton Road, will persist. Two new Sprout Fund grants will pay for a pair of programs for middle and high school students: one focused on cooking and crafts, the other photography.

And she will continue to seek advice and mentorship from her peers and facilitators at Ignite Northside.

“For a fledgling business or organization, this is crucial,” she says. “We can’t pay for professional advice.”

For more information on the workshops and how to get involved, visit www.newsunrising.org/ignite-northside or email ebony@www.newsunrising.org.

Ignite Northside is an initiative by New Sun Rising in partnership with the Buhl Foundation and One Northside, working together to help neighborhoods gain control of their narratives and opportunity.

NSR Projects hit the 2017 Maker Faire

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Scott Wolovich

This past weekend, the annual Maker Faire took place on the lawn of the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and spilled over into the Buhl Community Park at Allegheny Square. Over 100 organizations and small businesses participated as exhibitors with projects ranging from fiber-arts and screen printing, to drone racing and VR dream illustration.

From the Maker Faire website regarding this year’s Pittsburgh installment:

“Maker Faire is a gathering of fascinating, curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do. From engineers to artists to scientists to crafters, Maker Faire is a venue for these ‘makers’ to show hobbies, experiments, projects.

We call it the Greatest Show (& Tell) on Earth – a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity, and resourcefulness.

Maker Faire Pittsburgh is produced by Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and made possible by Presenting Sponsors Chevron, The Grable Foundation and MAKE.

Maker Faire originated in 2006 in the San Francisco Bay Area as a project of the editors of Make: magazine. It has since grown into a significant worldwide network of both flagship and independently-produced events. Read more on Maker Faire history, the Maker Movement, as well as how to start a Maker Faire or a School Maker Faire where you live.”

Deco Resources, a graduate of New Sun Rising’s Launch Hilltop cohort, exhibited at the Maker Faire. Their mission is “to integrate sustainability into a project or organization from the original design through full implementation. We help guide eco-conscious choices through engineering and construction. We facilitate green practices in the commercial setting and improve metrics in energy, water, transportation, and air quality.” Anthony Stewart of Deco reported that “At maker fair, we were demonstrating our green tech solutions that demonstrate how we support gardening and urban agriculture. We displayed a solar panel and asked guests to use a pump to move water using solar power.” Check out their website here.

Prototype, a NSR fiscally-sponsored project, was also an exhibitor. Prototype is a “feminist makerspace with shared tools, space, events, knowledge, and support. All genders and disciplines are welcome to join.” They report that over the weekend, “We had a lot of fun at Maker Faire showing kids and adults how to use our CNC vinyl cutter, 3D printer, and laser cut stamp kit.” Check out their website for upcoming Open Swim nights and volunteer training sessions here.

Source: PrototypePGH Instagram