Strategy: Culture

The 2020 Vibrancy Awards

Join New Sun Rising to Celebrate the People Building Vibrant Communities

New Sun Rising (NSR) is pleased to invite you to the 2020 Vibrancy Awards – live streamed from the Millvale Food + Energy Hub on June 20, 2020.

We understand that the past few weeks and months have been extremely difficult. Please join us for an evening of reflection, restoration, and celebration through the critical work being done by nonprofits and social enterprises throughout the region. The event will be hosted by Day Bracey, co-founder of Fresh Fest and Drinking Partners Podcast.

RSVP Now

View Sponsorship Opportunities

Virtual attendees will enjoy segments with the 2020 Impact Awardees in Culture (Brown Mammas), Sustainability (Triboro Ecodistrict), and Opportunity (South Hilltop Men’s Group), and wrap with a restorative DJ set and dance performance with virtual lounges. Make it a special night and invite some friends to enjoy a catered meal from Sprezzatura and special infused tea mixer from Tupelo Honey Teas (pre-order by 6/18 at 5PM)

Community Partner Awardees for Planning (Sharpsburg Community Vision Plan), Resources (Breathe Project), Connectivity (RiverWise), and Identity (Casop: A Requiem for Rice) will also be honored.

In this time of great pain we see the opportunity to rebuild something better. We ask that you join us and show support for the nonprofits and social enterprises who keep our communities sustainable and vibrant. Whether purchasing a ticket, making a donation, or joining as an event sponsor, NSR appreciates your commitment to helping us to strengthen the organizations and communities we serve.

Since 2005, NSR has been a champion for community-driven change by supporting nonprofits, businesses, and coalitions to create a better future for Southwestern Pennsylvanians. NSR works hard to provide accessible training, funding, and networking programs which are inclusive of underinvested populations and their neighborhoods.

Each year, over 170 innovative leaders benefit from NSR capacity building support. Since 2005, our Vibrancy Funds initiative has provide over $4.5 million in early stage funding and financing through fiscal sponsorship, grants, loans, and awards. Your contribution through the Vibrancy Awards will allow us to provide these training and funding programs at low or no cost.

The Vibrancy Awards are made possible through the generous support of:

2020 IMPACT AWARD SPONSORS

 

 

Learn More About Sponsorship Opportunities

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

The Moo Ha Halloween Fundraiser returns!

Just three years ago, something sinister brought an end to the Moo-Ha. A demon that was running amok and infiltrated the former Moose. A CMU Professor, Dr. Cecil Poe, a distant relative of the famed poet, has been investigating the strange events of 2019. He has poured through historical documents for clues and has excavated various areas (particularly during the construction of the Purple Onion) of the former Moose in search of what he believes may be a portal to another dimension.

He texted his graduate Assistant, Hillary Smarts, that he had found a major clue to the mystery. Three hours later he was fo und dead. His body was found in a weird position at the foot of the stairs near the basement stairs. He was clutching a piece of paper.

You have been summoned to the Millvale Food and Energy Hub to investigate the Professor’s murder with the help of Pittsburgh’s famed Inspector Paddy O’Malley. His reputation for solving crimes precedes him but this case has him stumped and though he will not admit it – a little spooked as well.

Buy Tickets Here before October 31st, 2022

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

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/ 

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.

 

Transformative Teaching Artist Awards

Introduction

The New Sun Rising with support from The Heinz Endowments is pleased to announce this Request for Proposals as part of the Transformative Arts Process (TAP), a Heinz Endowments’ grants program focused on fostering the careers of teaching artists and bringing transformative arts experiences to youth.  TAP’s specific goal is to move towards a more Just Pittsburgh by invigorating the field of teaching artists and arts organizations that have a demonstrated practice of challenging structural inequities, bringing transformative arts centered experience to youth in and from African American/ distressed communities. 

 

Transformative Teaching Artist Award Program Description

The Transformative Teaching Artist Awards recognize that quality teaching artists should be recognized for the important work they do in Pittsburgh’s African American and “distressed” communities. Teaching artists play critical roles in the lives of the youth they serve, providing not only artistic skill building, but caring, support and mentorship.  Yet those teaching artists who have chosen this as their life’s work face great challenges in building teaching artist careers. Most of our teaching artists are underpaid and under recognized; the delivery system for teaching artist instruction is fragmented; and arts instruction is often not assigned a high priority in public or out of school time programs.

The Transformative Teaching Artist Awards have been created to add another validation, strengthened networking and increased visibility for the artists who choose to do this work amazingly well.  It is our hope that these recognition awards can play a part in acknowledging teaching artistry designed to play a transformative role in the lives of youth living in African American, Black, and “distressed” neighborhoods, as an important and recognized profession.  The Transformative Teaching Artist Awards program will provide ten teaching artists in the field with a cash award of $5,000. The awards are recognition awards which may be used in any way the recipient deems fit.

 

Program Goals

  • Recipients have an increased sense of being appreciated and confidence in their work as a teaching artist.
  • Recipients will join the TAP network and build relationships with colleagues they did not know and strengthen their own practice in the process.
  • Local media will feature the work of recipients and highlight the importance of teaching art & culture in African American and “distressed” neighborhoods.

 

Eligibility

Eligible applicants will be teaching artists who meet our definition of a teaching artist as noted in the cover sheet accompanying this RFP.  That is, they have a track record of combining artistic skill and the complementary skills of an educator. By track record we mean those teaching artists who have worked at least 1 day a week in an African American, black, or “distressed” neighborhood (the list of eligible neighborhoods is listed at the end of the proposal), for a period of at least 9 months each year for the last two years. In addition, we are looking for applicants who are teaching artists of color.

Teaching artists and other TAP awardees who have previously received the award are not eligible, but welcome to participate in the Teaching Artist awards day.

 

Selection Process

The decision-making process for this program will feature two components.  In the first award component, the 10 strongest applicants will be chosen by a local peer panel. Each recipient will receive an award of $5,000 in recognition of their work as a teaching artist.

The criteria the panel will use for selection follows:
Love: Emanate love and dedication for children and have the ability to build relationships beyond the artistic training components.
Merit: Practice art, have engaging and effective teaching styles that reach students across diverse developmental levels, stimulate quality student work, possess a strong understanding of learning standards in the arts, and have substantial experience working in school classrooms or in out of school time programming.
Justice: Help youth deconstruct issues of oppression in ways that empower and enable them to avoid many of the traps of Black/African American and “distressed” neighborhoods.
Preparation and Adaptability: Demonstrate professionalism, including the ability to plan with others, articulate goals and objectives, and adapt to varying student populations and school environments.

In the second component, awardees themselves will be asked to participate in a day of celebration and learning. Each awardee will demonstrate their work and all participants will engage in the activity chosen for the day by the awardee. The goals of this part of the process are to strengthen the relationships among the cohort by facilitating their learning more about one another’s work and to strengthen the work of the teaching artist through the process of critical review from their colleagues.  Awardees will receive an additional $500 award for their participation.

 

Applicant Support

 

Application Guidelines

The deadline for this application was 2018. Applications can be submitted in writing, video, or audio.  In order to be considered, please include the following:

Proposal: While these questions are short, please answer them as fully as possible, so that your fellow teaching artists will understand your work.

  1. What neighborhoods do you work/live in?
  2. Describe the path you travelled to become a teaching artist.  Give us a sense of your artistic practice AND your teaching experience.
  3. Describe what motivates you as a teaching artist: What is your approach to teaching?
  4. Please describe your preparation before students enter the room.
  5. Please provide brief example of a time when student learning made you proud and another example of when it made you not so proud of yourself as a Teaching Artist.
  6. How would you assess yourself as a Teaching Artist? What are your strengths and where do you have room for growth?
  7. Whom or what inspires your artistic practice/artwork and why?

Distressed Neighborhoods List: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B019MINNIui6dDZtREV4dkdHYlk/view?usp=sharing

Letter of Support: Please include a letter of support answering the question: Why is this applicant a transformative Teaching Artist?

Work Samples: Provide samples of your work as a teacher, including lesson plans, examples of student work and ways you assess student learning (where applicable).

Resume or CV: Provide a copy of your resume or CV with your email, phone, and address.

Submit your completed proposal (and/or attachments) to  2018 . Transformative Teaching Artist Awardees will be selected by a peer panel in consultation with The Heinz Endowments. 

 

Questions about the award? Technical questions on applying?

Contact Daniel Stiker at New Sun Rising: vibrancyfund@newsunrising.org

 

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)

Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Neighbors Helping Neighbors is a community-sharing network in North Braddock and Braddock, PA. We uncover our community’s hidden skills and resources and help our residents share those assets with their neighbors. Past projects include a snow-shoveling day; sharing circles in Recycle Park and in a senior housing complex; training teenagers to door-knock in the neighborhood, asking residents about their needs and offers; and neighborhood block parties.

This summer, combining two successful past projects, we will collaborate with the Braddock Summer Youth Project to train four local youth to organize community block parties on their own blocks. These gatherings will give residents a space to come together as a community and talk about their needs, skills, and resources, and to share their vision for the neighborhood.

For more information, contact Alice Leibowitz, 860-899-4300, aliceactivist@gmail.com

#notwhite collective

THE #NOTWHITE COLLECTIVE IS A GROUP OF 13 WOMEN ARTISTS WHOSE MISSION IS TO USE NON-INDIVIDUALISTIC, MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ART TO MAKE OUR STORIES VISIBLE AS WE RELATE, CONNECT AND BELONG TO THE GLOBAL MAJORITY.

WE ARE BI/MULTI-RACIAL/CULTURAL, IMMIGRANT OR DESCENDANTS OF IMMIGRANTS INVESTIGATING THE MANY WAYS WE ARE SEEN OR NOT SEEN, HOW WE SELF-IDENTIFY AND HOW WE SEEK LIBERATION THROUGH SHARING SPACE AND STORIES; RESEARCH AND ART-MAKING; DISCUSSING THE HISTORY OF IMPERIALISM AND ITS EFFECT ON US, ON THE WHOLE NON-WHITE WORLD. WE ACTIVELY REJECT COLONIALISM THROUGH OUR NON-HIERARCHICAL PROCESS.

THE #NOTWHITE COLLECTIVE EXPRESSES THE HYBRIDIZED AND MULTIFACETED ASPECTS OF SELF-DEFINED LIBERATION; WE ACCEPT CULTURAL FLUIDITY AS A MEANS OF SEEING AND BEING SEEN, EACH MEMBER DECLARING THEIR EXISTENCE, INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY, THROUGH OUR VOICES, BODIES, AND ART.

EXCAVATING HISTORIES. EXPOSING REALITIES.

EXORCISING OPPRESSION.

#notwhite collective members are: Christiane Dolores, Fran Flaherty, Veronica Corpuz, Geña, Maritza Mosquera, Carolina Loyola-Garcia, Liana Maneese, Amber Epps, Sarika Goulatia, Maggie Negrete, Sarah Tang, Alison Zapata and Zena Ruiz.

Photo credit: Veronica Corpuz.

Launch Culture Grant

The Vibrancy Funds support people building culture, sustainability, and opportunity within their community.

New Sun Rising is pleased to announce a new funding opportunity to launch organizations and collaborations who build Vibrant Communities. Through the generous support of the Henry L. Hillman Foundation, the following program seek proposals which promote innovation, engagement, and equity in the Pittsburgh region.

LAUNCH CULTURE

New Sun Rising believes that embracing the unique characteristics and knowledge of people is critical to promoting equitable change in our region. By building awareness of our culture, we can better understand the shared values that lead to trust and resiliency.

Projects which engage, explore, or express culture in their communities are encouraged to apply for a $5,000 to $10,000 Launch Culture Grant. While not necessary to apply, preference may be given to NSR Vibrant Communities (Allentown, Beltzhoover, Etna, Knoxville, McKees Rocks, Millvale, Northside neighborhoods, Sharpsburg, Stowe Township, Wilkinsburg), NSR fiscally sponsored projects, and Ignite Culture workshop participants.

In addition to the grant, Launch Culture Grantees will be provided 3 monthly coaching sessions. Questions will be answered by emailing vibrancyfunds@newsunrising.org or attending one of the following information sessions at the Millvale Moose, 112 Sherman St, Milllvale, PA 15209:

  • April 4, 2018 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
  • April 24, 2018 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Projects supported by this grant can start May 1st, 2018 and must end by November 30th, 2018.

CRITERIA

In acknowledgment of the importance and role of culture in our rapidly changing region, successful applicants will be established non-profit (or fiscally sponsored) organizations with a project demonstrating the following:

Equity: activities are aligned with, help to identify, or create community values
Collaboration: creates connections or opportunity for those with barriers
Adaptability: incorporates human-centered design by positioning clients as decision makers

Application deadline is 11:59 PM on April 25th, 2018. Grantees will be notified on May 1, 2018.

RUFF Writer Books

Are you looking for ways to connect with children and elderly family members through
positive life stories? Share RUFF Writer Books in libraries, homes, school/after school
programs and personal care homes.

RUFF stands for Relationships Using Facts and Fantasy. It serves multigenerational
families and communities through “Memory Café” activities of reading, crafting, and
handwriting “RUFF” draft book pages — one page at a time — to create treasured
keepsakes with nature themed illustrations to color. (Open the link below for a sample.)

Listening to a child read aloud may help prompt memories that lead to treasured
family moments. Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias sorrowfully impact many
families. Building relationships with an elderly person can be life enhancing for both
ends of the generation spectrum.

Crafting creates hand to brain connections and provides “something” to do while talking
meaningfully about the stories we all have in common that comfort us through “life
storms.” Finished crafts are suitable as table favors made by groups of children for
residents in a personal care home.

Music and movement are important, too, as the elderly and children engage in helping
build and maintain cognitive connections that go along with positive life lessons through
stories. In a good story, “something” happens that is a problem to solve, as in our theme
song Lemons into Lemonade.

Sponsorships provide free memory café materials for library sites that are the anchor
or intersection of this project. Smaller donations of $30 provide RUFF Writer Book KITS
(a book to make with cardstock pages) to communities in need of additional resources.

We are truly grateful to all helpers in nurturing this project. Our hope is that families
can find ways to transform some rough times into “RUFF” times. While growing up on a
farm in Ohio, I learned that one person can make a difference in another person’s life
and small efforts add up, like the blocks of a handmade quilt that endures for
generations.

As a grandmother, I hope to pass on the joy of connections and help inspire our young
ones to turn their “lemons” into lemonade with the help of positive stories. For any
questions, as well as signing up for a year of monthly emailed materials, contact us
at ruffwriterbooks@gmail.com.
RUFF-spectfully,
“Grammar” Jane Miller

Donate Here

 

Sample a RUFF Writers Memory Kit below. The kit includes “take-out” pages (1 – 5) of a craft/writing templates and signage for a book and “RUFF Spot,” the place where visitors can read and relax. Contact us at ruffwriterbooks@gmail.com to sign up for 12 PDF kits. This kit has the book’s title page with the 9 themes of relationships that bring comfort for all ages.

1A. RUFF Writer Books - Final RUFF Draft

 

Sponsorship Information HERE.

Find monthly school year posts of RUFF Writer Books on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Thank you to our generous sponsors:
House of Bouvs—https://www.houseofbouvs.com