On September 20th, the 6% Place Advisory Committee visited a group of artists are who worried they will lose the space they have been working in along Penn Avenue. The advisory committee toured their studio, talked, listened, and offered some strategies for staying put in the future.
Next door there is a company converting engines to run on bio-diesel. All in a days’ work in Garfield.
Local artist and author Eric Lidji is publishing a daily cartoon newspaper at Assemble Gallery in Garfield through the end of the month, the Assemble Daily News.
Each day in September, Eric posts a set of new cartoons reporting on small moments observed around Pittsburgh; the news items are geo-located on large maps in the gallery with yarn. They are a sight to see in person, and excerpts from them are on Eric’s website, where he keeps a blog with photographs, drawings, and stories heard around the city.
Check it out!
The 6% Place is “an innovative path to socially compassionate community change” says Rob Stephany, director of the Heinz Endowments’ community and economic development program. “We want to see vibrant neighborhoods with strong market forces at work and to make sure that low-income people clearly benefit from that vibrancy.”
Read all about the next phase of cityLAB’s 6% Place project in Diana Nelson-Jones’ Walkabout column in today’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
And now we are getting on with it. With the help of $49,350 awarded to the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation by the Heinz Endowments and the energy of our newly-formed 6% Place committee, we are building the 6% Place.
The Heinz Endowments supports efforts to make southwestern Pennsylvania a premier place to live and work, a center for learning and educational excellence, and a region that embraces diversity and inclusion.
We’re excited. We’re rolling. Watch for updates!
The 6% Place Advisory Committee met for the first time last Wednesday. Made up of creative workers, Garfield residents, and potential neighborhood in-comers, this feisty group will steer the implementation of the 6% Place, including the first-ever Garfield Creative Census, strategizing about the reuse of an empty school in Garfield, and other future projects.
Want to be a part of the committee? Know someone who does? Let us know at info@citylabpgh.org.
The rain slowed enough last Thursday to screen our last film, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth. We popped lots of corn and filled the house. Thanks to everyone for coming down, to the Toonseum for hosting us and to the Benedum Foundation for their support.
Shall we do it again next year?
Hello! In light of tonight’s severe weather advisory, we are cancelling tonight’s screening of The Pruitt-Igoe Myth.
Please join us for a rescheduled screening of The Pruitt-Igoe Myth next Thursday, August 2 at 8:30 PM at 947 Liberty Avenue. Thanks!
A forest has popped up in the ToonSeum’s courtyard at 947 Liberty Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, next door to cityLAB’s offices!
The Urban Forest, planted by Project Pop Up: Pittsburgh, in conjunction with The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, the ToonSeum, and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, will be open until July 12th with tables, chairs, and free comic books; read more about it here.
And starting on July 13th, come back to the courtyard for cityLIVE!’s free courtyard film series screenings; RSVP at http://bitly.com/LHIpbv
Save the date! Eve Picker, cityLAB’s intrepid CEO, will be a panelist at a discussion on low-income neighborhoods and how they participate in regional economies, including their untapped market potential, at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Pittsburgh branch on June 20th. Eve will be giving a presentation on cityLAB’s 6% Place experiment — find more about the event here and register for it here.
Connecting to Markets Series:
Exploring Low-Income Neighborhoods in the Regional Context
Wednesday, June 20, 2012, 11:00-3:30pm
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Pittsburgh Branch
717 Grant Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
We hope to see you there!
(The event is sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland and the Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development.)
UPDATE 6/21/12: See a photo from yesterday’s event here.
