The Pittsburgh Foundation

Two artists to be named Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Award honorees at Dec. 13 virtual event

PITTSBURGH, dEC. 6, 2021 -  Two artists will soon be chosen from among six finalists to receive the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Award. The awardees will be named at a virtual awards ceremony taking place online from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 13. The event is free of charge and open to members of the public who register online. Each awardee will receive $20,000 to use however that individual chooses. The finalists, selected by a committee from a field of 170 nominations from the public and featured in this video.

Emerging Artists
  • Movement artist and choreographer Theodore “Teddy” Alexander describes his work as “voracious artistry.” Recent works include “Face the Sun,” “Racing Tomorrow,” and “Rouge.” Personable and expressive, his work is created with a purpose that comes from what he describes as divine meditations.
  • Multi-faceted musician Danielle “INEZ” Walker has gained major attention for her singing, music production, arranging, songwriting, drumming, audio mixing, mastering and engineering. Named "Pittsburgh Music Artist of the Year" for 2020 by Pittsburgh's WYEP 91.3 FM, INEZ released her debut album “Voices and Conversations” in 2019.
  • Visual artist Janel Young is a painter, muralist and community leader on a mission to inspire through creativity and play. She splits her time between Pittsburgh and New York City and is currently the Community Artist in Residence at Pittsburgh’s UrbanKind Institute. Her recent work includes the “Pathway to Joy” asphalt mural at Allegheny Overlook in Downtown Pittsburgh, and “Heroes on the Horizon” at Bakery Square in the city’s East End.
Established Artists
  • Poet and essayist Dawn Lundy Martin is the author of four books of poems, including “Good Stock Strange Blood,” winner of the 2019 Kingsley Tufts Award for Poetry, and “Life in a Box is a Pretty Life,” which won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry. She is the Toi Derricotte Endowed Chair of African American Poetry at the University of Pittsburgh and the director of the university’s Center for African American Poetry and Poetics.
  • Mikael Owunna, a queer Nigerian-American multi-media artist and engineer explores the intersections of visual media with engineering, optics, Blackness, and African cosmologies. His work has been exhibited across Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America, and featured in media ranging from The New York Times to CNN, NPR, VICE, and The Guardian. In 2021, he directed the dance film “Obi Mbu (The Primordial House): An Igbo Creation Myth” with Marques Redd.
  • Choreographer and visual artist Staycee R. Pearl is the co-artistic director of PearlArts and STAYCEE PEARL dance project and Soy Sos, where she creates artful experiences through dance-centered multimedia works in collaboration with her husband and artistic collaborator, Herman Pearl. She is currently working on the National Dance Project-supported “CIRCLES.”

Download images of the finalists for media usage.

The Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards are co-sponsored by The Heinz Endowments,  The Pittsburgh Foundation and the Opportunity Fund. The program is guided by a shared belief in artistic excellence, creative development and the need for continuous career advancement. Learn more about the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards.  

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