Program: Fiscally Sponsored

NOMA PGH

Our Project Pipeline Programming is designed to provide educational and mentoring opportunities for minority students as they matriculate through grade school, college, and the process of becoming licensed architects upon graduation.

We currently facilitate education programs for youth in Middle & High School through our annual architecture camp and design workshops. Providing students with exposure to architecture at a young age gives each child an opportunity to discover their artistic and technical passions early in their educational development. Students, parents, teachers, and counselors can then place students in classes that will build on the student’s interest in architecture and design.

As our older students enter college, we provide mentoring opportunities, portfolio reviews, and job shadowing experiences to give students a chance to walk a day in the shoes of an architect. We also encourage college students to join or even start a local NOMAS student chapter at their respective colleges and universities.

After college, we support emerging professionals through the Architectural Registration Exams by providing access to study materials, mentoring and study cohort groups. Our Licensed professionals have the opportunity to serve as mentors, grow as business owners and become key players at some of Pittsburgh’s most respected architecture firms.

Vigilance Theater Group

Vigilance is an immersive theater group dedicated to creating intimate, experiential productions. Drawing inspiration from high art and pop culture alike, Vigilance is determined to explore the boundaries and possibilities of the growing immersive theater movement.

Currently, Vigilance is preparing the second-play in a three-play series, “The Moon Phase,” about power and memory in a world overseen by guardian spirits. The first show, “Hollow Moon,” had a sold-out run in November of 2018; in it, twelve strangers gathered in a historic (and possibly haunted) house for a deadly game. In “Welcome to Moonside,” which will premiere in August, a group of chosen humans are called to the otherworldly place filled with conflicted spirits, to try and save the ghosts from a grim fate.

All of Vigilance’s productions put the audience at the center of the action, treating our patrons as characters in the show. Our audiences don’t merely observe the events around them; they have the chance to interact, explore and even change the outcome of each show. It’s our goal to provide an experience that’s equal parts theatrical and interactive.

PGH Map Lab

PGH Map Lab is a social enterprise that empowers neighborhoods, non-profits, and municipalities to make data-driven decisions through the creation of maps, apps, and storytelling tools. We are motivated by healthy, equitable, resilient communities. It is our belief that a holistic approach to community development starts with good planning, which requires the best data possible. Our interest is to help organizations and municipalities find, use, and analyze this data to make better informed decisions.

PGH Map Lab is dedicated to enhancing the GIS capacity of individuals and organizations for the benefit of the greater good. Our vision of the Map Lab is an accessible, hand on learning space to test out innovative geospatial and data technologies. We will connect social justice, art, environment, and land use planning through the use of maps. It is our hope that these unique applications will provide clear communication and positively impacting local communities.

Melanin Mommies

Melanin Mommies Pgh, Inc is an organization that centers historically marginalized African American, pregnant or parenting mothers. Our goal is to assist these mothers to address and overcome intergenerational trauma and combat negative family cycles through connection to resources, mental health advocacy and mentorship.

Beauty in Brokenness

Beauty in Brokenness is a peer mentoring program that gives women the tools to create a safe space that will allow them to address life issues such as self-care, relationships, and an intentional spiritual journey beyond self.

Through a community-centered support system focused on teaching preventive measures to help strengthen families, the program promotes healing and wholeness that targets the decline of out of home placements for children.

We Are All Related

Countering the growing divisiveness currently exploding in our world, our nation, and in our city, We Are All Related is a passionate visualization of heart strong humanity presented through photographer Andrea London’s black & white studio portraits, accompanied by the subjects’ stories told in their own voices and native languages.

We Are All Related presents compelling stories of human resilience, the shared struggles and triumphs of individuals and families; it confirms the deep connection springing from our life experiences of oppression, equity, loss and love.

“Andrea London has always been a poet of the eyes.

Her portraits of men, women, and children from various ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds are the very definition of intimacy. Her images loosen the floodgates of empathy and erase ‘the Other’ from our vocabulary of swirling categories.

All of these portraits are invitations to a deeper communion. They deserve the same attention great paintings warrant when you visit them in the world’s great museums.

Andrea London is a master at reminding us that we’re not doomed to be wandering souls. There’s a common humanity at play all around us if we only learn to look for it. There is no ‘Other’ because, as her portraits eloquently remind us, we are all related.”

–Tony Norman, Columnist and Book Editor, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

We Are All Related is available as a gallery exhibition, a public art installation, a video, a speaker’s presentation, and a book which can be ordered at the link below.

andrealondon.com

Twitter – @AllRelatedPhoto
Instagram – @WeAreAllRelated.Photo
Facebook – WeAreAllRelated.Photo

A Letter Compiled From All Letters

A Letter Compiled From All Letters
As tools for communication shift from pencil and paper to keyboard and screen and definitions for what is actual and virtual continue to blur, the creators for A Letter Compiled From All Letters consider connection and communication in a digital age. This new, evening-length, contemporary dance work conceived of by collaborators Maree ReMalia (director/choreographer), Gigi Gatewood (multimedia artist), and Lillian Cho (performer) merges live performance and video projection. The collaborative team works with cross-disciplinary cast members David Bernabo, Joseph Hall, Moriah Ella Mason, Jil Stifel, understudy Sarah Friedlander and set designer Natalia Gomez and costume designer Emily Vallozzi.
Maree ReMalia, Gigi Gatewood, Lillian Cho & collaborators
New Hazlett Theater
June 13-15, 2019 | 8:00pm
photo credit Bill Shirley
photo credit Kitoko Chargois

Pittsburgh Personalized Learning Network

PLPGH Overview

While schools are exploring many new strategies, personalized learning is gaining traction as an integral part of a broader K-12 transformation. Educators are increasingly recognizing the urgency to change, but it is difficult for individual schools to unilaterally tackle the complex systemic change needed to move to a more student-centered and personalized model – one that’s better aligned with the rapidly shifting demands of today’s workforce.

Recognizing the need for better and deeper collaboration, progressive leaders in Southwestern Pennsylvania have joined forces to create the Pittsburgh Personalized Learning Network (PLPGH). The team includes six members of the prestigious Digital Promise League of Innovative Schools and a range of pioneering educators from across the region. PLPGH is also a partner with Remake Learning — a nationally recognized network of nearly 500 schools and organizations in SWPA that have embraced the future of teaching and learning.

Shulayim L’Shalom

Shulayim L’Shalom (From Margins to Peace) is a Jewish youth group for teens ages 12 – 18! We welcome Jewish youth with diverse backgrounds and identities. At Shulayim L’Shalom, we celebrate the richness of our participants’ varied beliefs, economic statuses, races, sexualities and genders. The passions, curiosities and needs of our participants guide the content of our programming. We specifically uplift the unique needs of LGBTQ+ Jewish youth and their allies. In our curriculum, we emphasize the values of B’aima (spiritual awe), Nosay B’ol Im Chavayro (sharing the burden with one’s friends) and Shmirat HaGuf (caring for the body). With these values as an inspiration, we explore concepts of religious practice, community building, social justice and maintaining positive mental and physical health. We host monthly events that include social activities, educational discussions, field trips, panel discussions and holiday celebrations. Check out our website to learn more: https://shulayimlshalom.wordpress.com/ 

Professional Barber Institute

Overview

The Professional Barber Institute (PBI) is a school where certified barber teachers instruct students for the 1250 hours of practical and theory training needed to take the Pennsylvania State Board Exam to obtain a barber license. The mission of the Professional Barber Institute (PBI) is to provide affordable and accessible barber and entrepreneurial training to under-served residents in Pittsburgh’s East End community. Students are also paired with mentors who are experienced barbers and barber shop owners. PBI offers haircuts and other barber services to the general public performed by PBI students under the supervision of a licensed barber teacher, at a reasonable cost. This teaching environment mimics that of a real barber shop, allowing students to practice barbering with greater confidence. The 1250 hours of practical and theory training is covered in a 10 month program.

After completion of the required nine month program of study, PBI requires an additional month of training designed to prepare students for the Pennsylvania barber licensing exam by providing a thorough review of the program material, and instruction in test preparation and test taking strategies. Students who have passed the licensing exam will be provided with resume and portfolio preparation assistance, as well as help with all aspects of their job search. With their barber licenses, our graduates will be able to obtain living wage employment and/or open their own barbershops. A comprehensive database is being utilized to track and measure the outcomes and successes of PBI students.

Student Assistance Needed

In order to assist our students with completing the barbering program, we are looking for agencies and organizations to sponsor a portion of their tuition costs, barbering supplies and textbooks.

Location

Professional Barber Institute is located at 8862 Frankstown Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15235 and is easily accessible by the 77S/L Port Authority Bus. PBI is adjacent to the Homewood area and minutes away from East Hills, Penn Hills and Wilkinsburg.

Hours of Operation

PBI operates Monday thru Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. Hours will soon increase to include evening and weekend classes as well.

Contacting PBI Staff

Casey Droege Cultural Productions

Casey Droege Cultural Productions is an artist-run/woman-owned business dedicated to building the Pittsburgh arts community by offering accessible, quality art experiences that connect the local and the global, encourage the growth of a local arts economy, and build a diverse arts audience. Along with our keystone programs, we support creatives and businesses through exhibitions, public programming, and consulting services.

slowdanger

Multidisciplinary performance duo, slowdanger, fuse sound and movement through improvised contemporary and postmodern dance frameworks. We use found material, electronic instrumentation, vocalization, physiological centering, and ontological examination to produce performance works. The more we engage in this collaborative work, the more we recognize the manifestation of our work as a non-binary entity that is one body amassed of multiple bodies in space. We work with an engaged and deepened understanding of energy, synergy, action, gender, time, and storytelling. slowdanger is an organism that uses performance and collaboration as ritual practice to delve into circular life patterning such as effort, transformation, and death.

Our work has been featured in venues ranging from proscenium theater and gallery, to nightclub and dive bar. From directing music videos to scoring plays, we transform our shape to adapt to a variety of different containers.

slowdanger is one of Dance Magazine’s 2018 ‘25 to Watch’ and emerging choreographers for Springboard Danse Montreal 2018. They’re residencies and awards include The Opportunity Fund 2017, Heinz Endowments Small Arts Initiative 2016, Sidra Bell Dance New York’s MODULE Guest Artist in Residence 2018, PearlArt Studio’s Pearl Diving Movement Residency 2017, The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh’s F.I.N.E. Residency 2016, The New Hazlett Theater’s CSA Series 2016, City Theatre’s Belfry Artist Series 2016, and The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater’s FreshWorks Residency 2015. They have presented at the VIA festival, The Andy Warhol Museum, The Carnegie Museum of Art, theCURRENTSESSIONS, Hot Mass, The Pittsburgh Biennial, and BAAD!

Alongside our performance work, we cultivate our voice as educators and facilitators.Teaching allows us to observe the necessity of movement and non verbal communication methods to be made available to the public. We believe if a viewer has been given a personal movement experience, they will be more open and sensitive to noticing their kinesthetic reactions that happen naturally while viewing performance. We question how we can incentivize participants and audience members to invest deeper in themselves without establishing and enforcing the traditional hierarchical systems of dance performance traditions.

Anna/Taylor have created with Bill Shannon, Jasmine Hearn, Maree Remalia|merrygogo, Beth Corning, Mark C. Thompson, The Pillow Project|Pearlann Porter, Jil Stifel, Shantelle Courvoisier Jackson (s+vois), Annalee Traylor, Gia Cacalano, and MICHIYAYA Dance. Their work has been seen at the VIA festival, The Andy Warhol Museum, the Carnegie Museum of Art, Kahlon, theCURRENTSESSIONS, Honcho (PGH), The Pittsburgh Biennial, BAAD, Triskelion Arts, The New Hazlett Theater, and Kelly-Strayhorn Theater’s NewMoves Contemporary Dance Festival. They have facilitated workshops at Middlebury College, Point Park University, and Carnegie Mellon University. Anna and Taylor alongside David Bernabo are curators of Lightlab Performance Series, a platform for experimental performance in Pittsburgh (www.lightlabpgh.com). As sound designers and musicians slowdanger has created with Sidra Bell Dance New York, Colleen Hooper, Maree Remalia, the moon baby, Bill Shannon, La Squadra Records, MISC Records, and Hatch Arts Collective.

design by Sara Coffey Designs
photo credits: Audrey Gatewood; Ryan Micheal White; Nate Guidrey (last two)