The Pittsburgh Foundation

Event

Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards

Monday, December 4, 2017 6:00 pm

August Wilson Center, 980 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Join us for a special evening at the August Wilson Center elevating local artists and honoring national luminaries.

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The Heinz Endowments, The Pittsburgh Foundation and friends in the arts community on Monday, Dec. 4, at the August Wilson Center held a celebration of artists. The evening began with the presentation of this year’s Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards honoring established artist and costume designer Susan Tsu and emerging visual artist Sarika Goulatia. In recognition of exemplary artistic achievements and the promise of future work, each honoree received a grant of $15,000 and an award object designed by sculptor Thaddeus Mosley. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Tony Norman emceed the event.

Carol R. Brown, who was president of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust from 1986 to 2001, oversaw the transformation of a 14-square-block area of downtown Pittsburgh from a red-light district to a nationally recognized model for arts-based community redevelopment.

Immediately following the awards presentation, David Oresick, executive director of Silver Eye Center for Photography, took the stage to facilitate the lively and provocative panel discussion “On Making” where artists LaToya Ruby Frazier, Sandra Gould Ford and Lynn Nottage discussed creativity and context. Western Pennsylvania artists Frazier and Ford, born a generation apart, spoke about their collaborative exhibition, On the Making of Steel Genesis, which was organized by Silver Eye, and its connection to themes from Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Sweat

On the Making of Steel Genesis, on view at the August Wilson Center through Dec. 30, explored Ford’s work as an artist and former clerk at the J&L Steel Company, which inspired her to create a stunning archive of photographs and company documents. Frazier, Ford and Nottage are all women artists of color known for elevating the voices and representation of African American women in the arts and beyond. Frazier and Nottage are MacArthur Foundation Fellows, as part of the program informally known as the “Genius Grant” awards.

The celebration concluded with a reception in the August Wilson Center lobby. 

EVENT DETAILS

When: Monday, Dec. 4, 2017 from 6 to 9 p.m.
Where: August Wilson Center, 980 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA  15222

The Artists

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Susan Tsu 
Established Artist Award 
Theater
Sarika Goulatia
Emerging Artist Award
Visual/Multidisciplinary

The Panelists

 

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About the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards: The Carol R. Brown Award is presented to one emerging and established artist each year, honoring the former president of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust who during the late 1980s through early 2000s oversaw the transformation of the Cultural District into a nationally recognized model for arts-based community redevelopment. One of the few programs in the Pittsburgh region that provide direct philanthropic support to individual artists, the awards and panel discussion are free and open to the public.

About Silver Eye: Silver Eye's mission is to promote the power of contemporary photography and visual storytelling to inform, engage and inspire diverse audiences and communities. Central to our mission, and our greatest strength, is the creation of innovative exhibitions and programs that bring forward issues, ideas and perspectives relevant to our times. www.silvereye.org.

 

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