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Balafon West African Dance Ensemble has received $20,000 through the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh grant program to support a residency and partnership with Hope Academy in East Liberty, where classes for ages 10-15 will include a range of traditional dance movements and rhythms.
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Pittsburgh's African-American artists and arts groups receive more than $427,000 in grants

Renee Rosensteel

Pittsburgh's African-American artists and arts groups receive more than $427,000 in grants

Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh has awarded grants totaling more than $427,000 to advance individual and institutional projects and help with organizations with operating costs during 2019.

A partnership of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments, Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh has bestowed $5.2 million since the program’s inception in 2010 to support “excellence in presenting and producing artwork rooted in the black experience.”

The announcement Wednesday noted that new in this latest round of grants are three $10,000 grants for special projects and nearly $50,000 more than was awarded in the spring to individual artists and residencies.

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The diverse projects include Brett Wormsley’s feature-length documentary on the past, present and future of the Hill District; Kim El’s new, full-length play, “The Sunday God Gave Me,” to debut in October during Domestic Violence Month; Muffy Mendoza’s Brown Mama Monologues, featuring the stories of 10 moms of color telling their stories; and Kyle Holbrook’s completion of a mural on the Clemente Museum building in the Strip District.

 Sandra Gould Ford, a recipient of an Advancing Black Arts grants, will be will be putting her funding toward developing 20 new short stories for publication.
Elena Rose
Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh receives $229,000 grants for black artists, agencies

Grants totaling $215,000 to support operating costs for cultural institutions in 2019 went to Hill Dance Academy Theatre ($35,000); Afrika YETU ($30,000); 1Hood Media Academy, Afro-American Music Institute, New Horizon Theater and Reed Dance Ensemble ($25,000), Legacy Arts Project ($20,000) and Sembene: The Film & Arts Festival ($15,000).

Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg. Sign up for the PG performing arts newsletter Behind the Curtain at Newsletter Preferences.

First Published: January 9, 2019, 7:54 p.m.

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Balafon West African Dance Ensemble has received $20,000 through the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh grant program to support a residency and partnership with Hope Academy in East Liberty, where classes for ages 10-15 will include a range of traditional dance movements and rhythms.  (Renee Rosensteel)
Muffy Mendoza received $15,000 from the Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh grant program, to support the "Brown Mama Monologues," described as a redefining the American motherhood narrative to be more inclusive of Black mothers."  (Courtesy of Muffy Mendoza)
Renee Rosensteel
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