Arts-based community development investment awarded in Pittsburgh
Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Office of Public Art and City of Pittsburgh are included in the list of 64 National Endowment for the Arts Our Town projects selected nationwide
Pittsburgh, PA - National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced 64 awards totaling $4.3 million to support projects across the nation through the NEA’s Our Town program. The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Office of Public Art in collaboration with Welcoming Pittsburgh and the Department of City Planning is recommended for an award of $200,000. These funds, along with matching grants, will be used to produce four artist residencies in the public realm with Pittsburgh’s immigrant communities. The Our Town grant program supports creative placemaking projects that help to continue the transformation of communities into lively, beautiful, and resilient places with the arts at their core. The NEA received 240 applications for Our Town this year and will make awards mostly ranging from $25,000 to $100,000.
“For six years, Our Town has made a difference for people and the places where they live, work, and play,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Projects, such as the one led by the collaboration in Pittsburgh, help residents engage the arts to spark vitality in their communities.”
“A commitment to art has long been part of Pittsburgh's renaissance, and this grant is a great opportunity to bring the city's regrowth into more Pittsburgh neighborhoods. I want to thank GPAC’s Office of Public Art, the City Planning Department and Welcoming Pittsburgh for all their work on this project," Mayor William Peduto said.
Pittsburgh has received national and international attention for its revitalization, moving beyond the old stereotype of a smoky, steel town. Part of this revitalization is welcoming new people from across the globe to our region, including new waves of immigrants from Bhutan, Burma, Iraq, Somalia, and Mexico, among others. Welcoming Pittsburgh seeks to create opportunities for our newest residents to become civically engaged, develop a sense of ownership of their new city, and to have these contributions recognized and celebrated by native Pittsburghers and fellow immigrants alike.
"Art has the unique ability to transcend language and cultural barriers, to bring visibility to issues and people who we may not otherwise acknowledge," says Mayor's Office, Deputy Chief of Special Initiatives, Betty Cruz, adding, "These four residencies will further integrate our immigrant and Latino communities and unlock opportunities for our city to connect as a whole."
"This program, in which artists will engage directly with the city's neighborhoods, is an innovative paradigm for connecting people, place, and the arts,” states Ray Gastil, Director of City Planning. The Office of Public Art’s Artist in the Public Realm Residency program was identified by the City of Pittsburgh as the framework needed to instigate civic engagement and cultural exchange. For over five years, OPA has tested and employed their program to connect artists and communities to develop a program of two-year residencies to build relationships, collaborations, and ultimately creative projects. Welcoming Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh’s Department of City Planning partnered with the Office of Public Art to develop this iteration of the program, in which four artists will be paired with four organizations that serve immigrant communities in Pittsburgh to develop creative projects in the public realm over the next two years. The NEA funds must be matched with other project contributions.
Welcoming Pittsburgh, Department of City Planning, and the Office of Public Art will release a Request for Proposals for community organizations in August 2016. Once organizations are selected, they will participate in choosing an artist to be in residence in their community. The call for artists will be released in the winter of 2016 and will be open to visual, literary, and performing artists. Organizations who are interested in receiving the RFP can contact publicart@pittsburghartscouncil.org. Artists who would like to receive the call for artists can sign up for the Office of Public Art’s artist opportunities list or email artopps@pittsburghartscouncil.org.
“We will be looking to pair artists and organizations that are interested in working together to develop creative projects that have a positive impact on the social and physical connectivity in the neighborhoods they are produced in”, says Renee Piechocki, Director of the Office of Public Art. “We want to foster agency in new immigrants and existing residents in decision making and creative processes. We seek to develop their abilities to collaborate in the public realm and participate in the development of their community.”
During the first year, the artist will work within the community, collaborating with new and existing residents to develop a creative project that will be implemented in the second year. Welcoming Pittsburgh, Department of City Planning, and the Office of Public Art will be part of the team to assist with the implementation of the creative projects.
For a complete list of projects recommended for Our Town grant support, please visit the NEA web site at arts.gov. The NEA’s online resource, Exploring Our Town, features case studies of more than 70 Our Town projects along with lessons learned and other resources. To join the Twitter conversation about this announcement, please use #NEAOurTown16.
About Welcoming Pittsburgh
Welcoming Pittsburgh is a part of Welcoming America, a national, grassroots-driven collaborative that promotes mutual respect through cooperation between foreign-born and U.S.-born Americans. In May 2014, Mayor Peduto launched the Welcoming Pittsburgh initiative, convening a diverse, distinguished 40-person Advisory Council from more than 100 applicants to collaborate in developing priorities and recommendations. The process included seven Advisory Council planning sessions, as well as a broad public-outreach initiative that engaged more than 3,000 people to ensure a community-driven planning process. Community input and direction from the Advisory Council provided the basis for the Welcoming Pittsburgh Plan, which will be used to improve the lives of all immigrants by creating more informed, diverse, and welcoming experiences throughout our city; while ensuring Pittsburgh is most livable for all.
About the Office of Public Art
The Office of Public Art was founded in 2005 to provide technical assistance and educational programs about public art in the Pittsburgh region. The program is a public-private partnership between the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council and the City of Pittsburgh Department of City Planning. For more information, visit www.publicartpittsburgh.org
About the Department of City Planning
The City Planning Department is responsible for strategic planning, zoning and development review, geographic information systems (GIS), Community Development administration, and Public Art for Pittsburgh. The Public Art division staffs the City's Art Commission and works with communities, city agencies and civic partners, including the Office of Public Art, to sustain existing public art and to the planning and implementation of new work on city property.