01 THOMAS J AGNEW
Project Name
Navigating as a Black Creative in Pittsburgh
Project Description
While having some success as a black creative in Pittsburgh has happened, it hasn't been consistent enough. Not for myself, not for my peers, not for our creative community as a whole. "Navigating As A Black Creative In Pittsburgh (working title)," is a piece that will include visual interviews with 5 entrepreneurs who have had ups and problematic downs as artist, freelancers, curators, and business owners having to consistently prove they're qualified for jobs, fight for equal pay, work triple time to get half the notice as their white peers for opportunities to further display their ingenious skill sets. These interviews will be recorded, edited, and release online.
The other two parts consist of posters of the interviewees with a strong quote, their names, occupations and they'll be placed in spaces to build a larger awareness of the interviews and creatives. Last, we will show the interviews and have a talk in BOOM Concepts about the topic and how we put action into businesses we interact with to be more aware of how they treat the creatives they write off as extra-curricular occupations.
Bio
Thomas Agnew is a designer and cultural entrepreneur based in Pittsburgh, PA. Agnew is Co-Founder of BOOM Concepts Gallery, a co-working and community arts space in Pittsburgh, and EIC of JENESIS Magazine, a media outlet focusing on youth culture lifestyle and young creative entrepreneurs. Through JENESIS Magazine and BOOM Concepts’ national networks, Agnew has produced numerous arts and culture events, in collaboration with high level partners such as the Carnegie Museum, Rocksmith Clothing and the Thrival Festival in Pittsburgh.
02 ETHER
Project Name
The Afrofuture Has Arrived
Project Description
The project is a concept album consisting of 20 tracks already outlined and related to issues and up lifting the black state of being, Afrofuturism, Postmodern Afro centrism, different Black experiences and history of the black experience, community ties and upbringings, and most importantly being black in Pittsburgh tied together with honesty, creativity, and love.
03 ANQWENIQUE KINSEL
Project Name
JUST SING! A Vocal Intensive with Anqwenique
Project Description
This space is created to envision a world where black motherhood is regarded with the highest esteem and priority. With the space created, I wish to hold multiple sessions of intense vocal work for community members to wish to learn more about healthy vocal production. We will also work on singing for self-care, in which participants will be guided through a series of exercises to be used in daily life practice to heal, destress and meditate.
Bio
Pittsburgh native, ANQWENIQUE is an extremely versatile vocalist and educator specializing in opera, classical music, jazz and soul. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Voice Performance from Indiana University of PA. Ms. Wingfield is the founder and director of Groove Aesthetic, a Pittsburgh based multidisciplinary artist collective experimenting with contemporary performance and collaborative processes. She has performed across the Pittsburgh Region including with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 2018 celebrating the legacy of Black artists in Pittsburgh’s historic Hill District. Anqwenique has been recognized with many awards and opportunities for her creative work. In 2017 she was named “Best Singer” by the Pittsburgh Magazine readers poll, listed among Who's Next in Music by The Incline and 40 Under 40 by Pittsburg Magazine and PUMP. In collaboration with digital media artist Julie Mallis, Anqwenique was featured in the 2016 CSA Season by the New Hazlett Theater in a performance titled: A Love Supreme. 2015 Ms. Wingfield was recognized as one of Whirl Magazine's 13 under 30, and in 2018 was nominated for the Carol R. Brown Award as an Emerging Artist. Anqwenique has been very active in the arts and education community as teaching artist, consultant, program manager and advisor. Currently she serves as Education Director of Pittsburgh Festival Opera. She is also the Studio Manager of BOOM Concepts working to provide affordable studio space and resources to artists and creative entrepreneurs.
04 D.S. KINSEL
Project Name
Totems, Shrines and Sacraments
Project Description
Totems, Shrines and Sacraments is a series of creative happenings in the form of community workshops, street art installations and exhibitions providing experience around the world of creating, installing and documenting unsanctioned street art specifically tied to jujuism and Afro futurism.
Bio
D.S. Kinsel is an award winning creative entrepreneur and cultural agitator who was recently identified as one of the Incline’s Who’s Next Pittsburgh 2018 in Arts and Culture. He expresses his creativity through the mediums of painting, window display, installation, curating, action-painting, non-traditional performance and #HASHTAGS.
Kinsel’s work puts focus on themes of space keeping, urban tradition, hip-hop, informalism and Cultural Re-Appropriation. He is the curator of #ACTIVISTprint, a collaborative public art program of The Andy Warhol Museum and recently served as the Senior Producer at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater. D.S. is the co-founder of Boom Concepts, a creative hub dedicated to the advancement of black and brown artists representing marginalized communities. BOOM Concepts focuses on youth, Community Artists, neighborhood partners to identify contemporary expressions of social justice through drama, dance, music, visual art, and technology.
05 AMOS LEVY and KAY BEY
Project Name
There Are Black Teens in the Future: Afro Sci-Fi Storytelling at YMCA Lighthouse
Project Description
Calling all teens who love storytelling and are interested in using multimedia for afro sci-fi world building. We will explore the opportunities and threats for Black Pittsburgh, 100 years into the future. During this 8 week, 8 class course, students will collaboratively author an original sci-fi story, and then tell different parts of that story using the art form of their choice. We’ll then share our story with the world through a public art installation in the middle of Homewood, a multimedia presentation at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, and a website. Our goal is that this story will plan for a story that continues to be developed by our teen authors and others far beyond the end of this course.
Bio
The course will be taught at the YMCA Lighthouse by Teaching-Artists, Kay Bey and Amos Levy, who have decades of teaching experience and expertise in songwriting, story writing, graphic art, beat making, and audio engineering. The YMCA Lighthouse Project is a year round out-of-school time program at the Homewood-Brushton YMCA that empowers young people through media arts and leadership. The mission of the Lighthouse is to develop young people that are creative, connected and career/college ready. The Lighthouse provides students the opportunity to engage in a range of artistic fields including music production, filmmaking, graphic design, dance and visual art. Students express themselves through music, videos and poetry and use these art forms to better their community. While these classes are open to all teens, we primarily serve teens from Homewood, Wilkinsburg, Swissvale, Lincoln, Larimer, East Liberty and Highland Park. The YMCA Lighthouse Project is a program of the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh.
06 LUCAS MICKENS
Project Name
blackMAN
Project Description
This project is hiphop. There are three connected works of art that this project will create. These works of art will help remind people that there were black people in the past, that these black people did contribute many great things to human civilization on Planet Earth, and that there are, indeed, black people in the future.
a song - the song is titled “Blackman.” There are 3 other Pittsburgh artists featured. The hook reads, “and his sister’s brother from another/ blackman lookin’ out// and his whips a mu******in’ shuttle/ blackman in the clouds// hit the switch we outterspace/ yeah that blackman dimmensional// thats a really really real thing you just said to me just now//”
a visual - we will then shoot a video for this song in East Liberty. This video will include - in the form of cut scenes or interludes - opinions and perspectives of people we encounter in East Liberty on the days we decide to shoot. I hope to get left thoughts and right thoughts. This video will also include a commentary of the artists involved in the song: I am thinking we will set up a good-looking, minimalist table, some chairs, a carpet and coffee and/or water on the corner of Highland and Baum. Then we will sit, and discuss.
a long sleeve t-shirt - the Pittsburgh-bred conscious clothing line VUDU will be designing a t-shirt that reads on the back, in a futuristic, galactic-transmission looking font “There are black people in the future.” This t shirt will be given freely to those people who decide to share with us their opinions and perspectives about the gentrification of East Liberty, of America, of the world, and also, of course, about the phrase on our beloved billboard.
Bio
The team behind the blackMAN project, led by Lucas Akira, includes intellectuals in the form of MC’s, audio engineers, a designer and a visual artist, who exist for the purpose of spreading the Truth.
07 ONIKA REIGNS
Project Name
The Black Dream Escape
Project Description
The Black Dream Escape is an immersive, sensory napping experience that caters to the rest needs of black people. Through meditation, sound, and liberating practices, Rest Doula Onika Reigns and local artist Windafire create new ways of resting and understanding the cultural significance of relaxation.
Bio
Onika Reigns is a Black Queer/Lost Native rest doula and a licensed therapist, helping people repair their relationship with rest and sleep. She is based in Pittsburgh, PA, where she is co-caretaker of three guinea pigs, two dogs, and a cat.
Fifteen year old, Windafire is an emerging designer, musician, performer, and healer whose work has been well received nationally.
08 FELICIA SAVAGE FRIEDMAN
Project Name
I Am Beautiful! I Am Strong! Raja Yoga: Relevant and Radical Racial Conversations Swathed in Love
Project Description
I Am Beautiful! I Am Strong! Raja Yoga: Relevant and Radical Racial Conversations Swathed in Love, is an Interdisciplinary professional development on teaching the lesson plan designed to integrate: adaptable and accessible movement, drawing at ability level, reading and writing, story-telling and listening with inquiry-based interaction, and mathematical-logical skill practice.
The professional development sessions will prepare teachers, social workers, caregivers and parents with self-care tools and strategies grounded in love and universal understandings to deliver the I Am Beautiful! I Am Strong! Lesson plan with humility and confidence. The lesson will demonstrate what caring for our community looks and feels like. This lesson forms the foundation as a portal to talk about how we get our beautifully diverse skin shades and set the tone to talking about race and racism. The lesson will emphasize that There Are Black People In The Future Because I See Myself In The Future! We will collect pictures of all students’ puzzles and compose a Zine for all to access.
We will create a sanctuary with the physical environment and body movements with breath awareness using essential oils, Reiki and restorative poses to hold the pain of such vulnerable documentary viewings and discussions. We will introspectively and within small groups explore our results on the Harvard Implicit Bias tests to see where we are and what is our vision for ourselves and our community. We will investigate Internalized Racial Oppression in us all.
Bio
Felicia Savage Friedman, MEd, 200-hour Experienced-Registered Yoga Teacher (E-RYT), 500-hour RYT and a Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider. Felicia has purposely practiced Raja Yoga for over 30 years and taught Raja Yoga for 23 years with her business, YogaRoots On Location, LLC, which is on a mission to teach and train Trauma-informed, Raja Yoga practitioners by integrating: yoga-based movements, essential oils, Reiki - Japanese relaxation technique, Universal Meditation, and AntiRacist organizing techniques to address our violent and toxic history and practices of Patriarchy, Capitalism and Racism through practicing authentic relationship building through Unconditional Loving. This powerfully vulnerable practice addresses symptoms of historical trauma that include: Chronic Pain, Anxiety, Nausea, Insomnia, Constipation, Exhaustion, Anger and Rage. Felicia has graduated 55 yogis from her 200-hour AntiRacist Raja Yoga Teacher Certification Training. She is currently in the 3rd certification training flight, teaching Raja Yoga to the staff and youth at Shuman Juvenile Detention Center and staff at the University of Pittsburgh Office of Child Development among other community organizations that want to create spaces of sanctuary for all to have these transformative conversations of speaking truth to light in order to reclaim our precious humanity.
09 AYANA TOUKAM
Project Name
Journey of a Mystic (working title)
Project Description
My project is comprised of 3 parts, 1 being a Sip n Chat where Mystic Moms and Wild women gather for an informal panel discussion with local sheros and a national guest to network, learn and celebrate from each other. I plan on using the text “There are Black People in the Future” by creating tee shirts that will say “There are black people in the future and Wild Women are molding” and “There are black people in the future ~Brought to u by Mystic Mamas”. Tee shirts will be used as merchandise for the Sip ns Chat and other events. The last component is a Oya themed photoshoot in the tee shirt, prints will be sold as merchandise and also used to curate the space at the Sip n Chat.
Bio
Singer, Songwriter, Poet, Actress, West African Dancer. My mission is to serve and build community organically through my artistic expression, humble leadership, cultural events, workshop and classes.
I have performed at Howard University, Seton HIll University, IUP University, The Kelly Strayhorn Theater , The Rex Theater, Carnegie Museum of Arts, The Children's Museum, the Carnegie Library Oakland, Smiling Moose, Hambone, Spirit Lounge, Hambone, Kauffman Center, and the Homewood Library , indigo hotel.
I have had the pleasure of opening for Etana 2013 and Ziggy Marley 2014.
I have danced professionally with Mama Kadiatu and Balafon West African Dance Ensemble for 3 years, Mito Camera for 1 year (West African Dance) and I am currently dancing with AZA African Dance Troop.
10 WOODROW WINCHESTER III
Project Name
Art+Engineering: Towards the Humanistic Technologist
Project Description
“We can use art to think about the potential dystopias we want to avoid”-Ashkan Soltani, former Federal Trade Commission chief technologist
Not only is technology being more deeply embedded in our lives and our daily activities; but, it is also being called upon in responding to some of society’s greatest challenges. While technological solutions hold much promise in addressing these challenges, their complexity implore the engineer to grapple with both technical considerations and the often more consequential social, political, and cultural implications of their design and eventual deployment. The afforded narrowed perspective can cultivate exclusionary design and engineering decision-making that can lead to biased solutions that are devoid to the needs and considerations of diverse user groups. As articulated by Nicol Turner Lee, in her March 2019 congressional testimony, the “tech sector must be more proactive in developing solutions that reduce, or better yet, eliminate bias from newer and emerging technologies in part through employing tools that ensure that cultural biases are identified upfront and checked throughout the process”.
The visual arts, as a tool for reflexivity, could aid the engineer as technologist to more deeply reflect on their design decisions and their implications/repercussions [4]. In examining this premise, this effort develops a plan for a 2020 speculative art exhibition - by area Black artists - that explores the future of East Liberty’s Black community through the lens of the area’s growing tech industry presence (i.e. bubble). Leveraging the statement, “There Are Black People in the Future”, the intent of the exhibition and analogous designed experiences is to make visible how different the impact of tech can have within the communities of which they emerge and inhabit. It is the hope that the exhibition will spur “bubble bursting” interactions that lead to methodological and practice changes that not only “check” the technologist’s thinking but bring a greater awareness for acting more inclusively and consequentially in design.
Bio
Woodrow W. Winchester, III, PhD, CPEM is an Associate Professor of Engineering Management and Coordinator of Engineering Graduate Programs at Robert Morris University, Moon Township, PA. He has over eight (8) years of academic and academic enrichment (experiential learning) program planning, design & leadership experiences. He also has over twelve (12) years of teaching and course development (online and on-ground) experiences within the disciplines of industrial & systems engineering (ISE) and engineering/technology management. A trained human factors engineer, Certified Professional in Engineering Management (CPEM), fitness enthusiast & advocate, and budding Afrofuturist, Dr. Woodrow W. Winchester, III brings with him a strong passion for the health & wellness space with interests that seek to advance an understanding of consumer connected fitness technologies (devices) in improving health outcomes especially among marginalized populations. Analogously, he actively seeks interdisciplinary experiential learning and academic program development opportunities that make real the value of diversity of perspective and viewpoint in product and technological design.
11 BRETT WORMSLEY
Project Name
There Are Black People in the Future: Creative Expression Contest
Project Description
Students will express their view of the statement There Are Black People in the Future. To get their view and feelings about the statement across students can use the creative medium of their choice. All entries will be judged by their peers, students I have taught in the arts previously. After talking to management at Carnegie Libraries of Pittsburgh, this contest will be open to any student grades 6-12 at the East Liberty and Homewood branches.
Bio
From graffiti art to filmmaking, Brett C. Wormsley has participated in and taught many types of art making. He began his career at a young age creating art for marketing brochures. Later he began doing mural work for businesses and private residences. A short time later, he was drawn into videography as a Production Assistant then into filmmaking, starting as a Cameraman then Film Editor. During a stint with Apple Inc., he also produced internal corporate videos for training and product launches.
One of the company’s Final Cut Pro specialists, he taught/trained employees and customers, appearing often at tech conventions. On his own, he developed a program, Graffiti to Graphic Design, to teach at-risk youth various art forms. He created other art education programs at libraries and other non-profits including Steeltown Entertainment Project where he was Director of Education and Talent Development.