Unabridged Press elevates the stories of people who don’t typically receive media attention–but should! Through events and online content, Unabridged Press has two projects, Standup Sisters, featuring inspiring stories of heroic Catholic sisters; and Look Who’s Here! All-Abilities Media, in which people with disabilities play a prominent role in covering activities and issues about their community.
“Our Way Home” is a student produced, professionally filmed documentary follows the homecoming stories of nine veterans from WW2 to present day. “Our Way Home” focuses on the psychological effects of war, specifically Post Traumatic Stress. The film will directly show how the nation’s culture affects Veteran’s homecomings. This project will benefit veterans, their families, and community members nationwide. Our premier will be at Soldiers and Sailors Pavilion on November 12, 2015. During the day, we will host the screening to university students followed by an optional discussion group. At night we will host the premier for the Pittsburgh community followed by an interactive discussion panel.
There are dozens of organizations working on behalf Post Traumatic Stress in the Pittsburgh area alone. The difference between Our Way Home and those organizations is that they offer aid and services, while we hope to create a community for veterans to engage in dialogue about their illness and educate the community about PTS through the film and discussion panels.
PearlArts Studios|STAYCEE PEARL dance project (PAS|SPdp) exists to interpret and mirror culture and community through dance and dance centered multi-media experiences. With diverse casting and programing, PAS|SPdp explores innovative conceptual possibilities while participating in meaningful collaboration with artists, educators, musicians, choreographers, and activists.
UpTo is a pop-up creative firm, helping neighborhood businesses by raising the awareness of good design & writing services. Small business owners & entrepreneurs benefit from high design & quality communications services, sparking creative change on main streets. Freelance designers, writers & new media specialists are encouraged to apply & participate in upcoming UpTo events.
UpTo intentionally leverages the power of creativity to serve a community’s interest while driving an agenda for social change & transformation in a way that also builds a quality of place. Business owners need quality artistic, marketing & design services. UpTo staff are experienced designers, communicators & marketers. Together we are re-imagining main street. Learn more about upcoming events & services from UpTo.
The Storyburgh is a not for profit community storytelling platform that seeks to foster discussion and engage the community with under-reported, under-told stories including topics involving humanities such as in social justice, arts & culture, innovation, education/academia and marginalized demographics.
The Storyburgh is open to both professional and citizen journalists through a collaborative platform for photographers, writers, and other visual storytellers to document local stories. The stories are then: 1. Used to promote variety of discussions with the community and 2. Further utilized by other organizations to enhance their missions or messages to the communities.
The South Hilltop Men’s Group is a organization on a mission to reclaim our streets, restore our community pride and repair the damage that was done by years of disinvestment and neglect. We seek to provide healthy alternatives to the destructive behaviors that harm the community. Our approach to healing the neighborhoods is through educational, spiritual, and economic empowerment. We provide programming that encourages responsible entrepreneurism, workforce development, and case management support with a focus on building community. The South Hilltop Men’s Group provides opportunities for training, certification, field experience, and living wage employment through community partners such as Construction Junction and Hilltop Rising. They are the lead developer in the Beltzhoover Institute for Arts & Sciences renovation project.
Jmar Bey of South Hilltop Men’s Group (2020 Vibrancy Award Winner) shares thoughts on what opportunity means, where he sees vibrancy in the community, and what makes him hopeful about the future:
Partnering with New Sun Rising on the Allentown Equity Cafe series promoting conversations to build community:
Learn about Pittsburgh’s Hilltop Revival including South Hilltop Men’s Group in this Postindustrial article.
Founded by Mara Nadolski in 2013, Pittsburgh in the Round is “a directory of every single venue & company and a calendar of every theater, dance & opera event happening.”
But it’s not just lists & links. Latest PITR blog posts include thorough coverage of this year’s Pittsburgh Fringe Festival, play reviews (The Flick at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, Laws of Attraction by Attack Theatre), and a multi-part mini-series “on why Pittsburgh artists lose their heads over Shakespeare’s works.”
Nadolski had covered the Fringe in previous years & already knew Dan Stiker, NSR’s Director of Fiscal Sponsorship & ArtsMODE. ArtsMODE presented an opportunity to learn how to make PITR sustainable. “I definitely didn’t know how to do it myself,” she says. “I’ve learned a ton about how a business or nonprofit runs. This is by far the most beneficial thing I’ve gotten myself into!”
With its extensive directories, all-inclusive event calendar, and articles & reviews on current local theater events, Pittsburgh in the Round is already… well-rounded. Next steps include fiscal sponsorship and expanding the site to include advertising.
“In the long run I’d love to be an artistic director of a small experimental theater company,” Nadolski says. “But before [that I’ll] try and bring together the city’s theater community through Pittsburgh in the Round.”
Storypearls LLC combines the power of custom-tailored author programs & residencies with the power of personalized autographed books, primarily for children from low socio-economic backgrounds. Storypearls brings to life the power of these words: imagination, culture, and kindness.
Imagination: Author Sydelle Pearl demystifies the author process by describing details of her process from inspiration to publication in order to empower students to write & tell their own stories.
Culture: The author demonstrates how other books thematically connect to her highlighted book in order to make relevant connections between books to foster a love of reading & to expose children to the larger world.
Kindness: At the culmination of the author visit or residency, every class and/or every student receives a gift of a personalized autographed copy of the book that sparked Sydelle Pearl’s author journey with them in order to inspire them to read.
The International Free Expression Project is an independent NGO dedicated to building public support for free-expression rights at a time they are under grave threat around the world. IFEP seeks to leverage the work of other free-expression organizations in new high-profile ways that move people to action, especially young people. It comprises:
An iconic symbol of free expression: The project will sponsor an international design competition to build the world’s first signature work of public art representing a free press and free expression. It will rise above one of the most recognizable locations in America – the confluence of three rivers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – at the redeveloped site of one of America’s most historic newspapers – the 232-year-old Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Marketplace of Ideas: The block-long, 40-foot-high PG pressroom – visible through 30-foot arched windows – is envisioned as a Marketplace of Ideas featuring rebuilt presses, artworks, food stands, coffee carts, musicians and the like – an explosion of expression. Among its singular elements: a rail system that weaves throughout the floor and I-beams above that can carry 50-ton loads – such as art installations – in and out of the building. The project has purchased 90 tons of press artifacts to reintroduce into the building and has sponsored the creation of hundreds of artworks and photographs. One goal is to support artists while making the Marketplace financially self-sustaining, with revenues from retail sales, event rentals, performances, beverage and food sales, and other sources.
Education and Engagement: Sprinkled throughout the Marketplace will be interactive displays, e-games and robots that entertain while driving home the elemental importance of free expression. These will constitute the International Center for Free Expression. The center’s newly invented educational tools will be road-tested in the Marketplace and then made available online for the use of teachers and free-expression advocacy organizations around the world. Some already are under development at the Carnegie Mellon University CREATE Lab.
Supporters: Advisory board members so far include actor Michael Keaton, Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich, Washington Post editor Marty Baron, historian David McCullough, Omar Rabago Vital of the International Free Expression Exchange and Vietnamese singer/activist and Havel Prize laureate Mai Khoi. Local supporters include the mayor of Pittsburgh, Allegheny Conference for Community Development, Carnegie Museum of Art, Andy Warhol Museum, the Pittsburgh Office of Public Art and The Pittsburgh Foundation.
Contact: freeexproject@gmail.com
Greg Victor, executive director / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1-412-576-1253
Sara Longo, co-director / Carnegie Mellon CREATE Lab, 1-412-965-9301