LEAP (Leadership, Excellence, Access, Persistence)

LEAP is an educational program that uses storytelling to empower under-resourced high school students to become agents of social change.

This year-round program provides a supportive learning environment for students to engage with issues of equity and justice in their lives and communities. Students are paid to learn with local artists, activists, and scholars who are working to create positive change in the world. They participate in hands-on learning experiences in the arts and humanities focused on personal reflection, artistic expression, and civic engagement. Students work individually and collectively to cultivate self-efficacy, a love of learning and creating, and the confidence to envision and build a better future.

Questions? Please feel free to contact Program Director, Sarah Ceurvorst.

The Pittsburgh Queer History Project

The PQHP is an ongoing oral history and media preservation initiative.

Begun in 2012 as an investigation of after-hours nightlife in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh, its collection has revealed new histories of LGBT individuals and a unique community formation within the city’s ethnic and industrial social structures. The first exhibition of artifacts was presented in June of 2014 at the Future Tennant Gallery in Downtown Pittsburgh, titled “Luck After Dark.”

With the goal of including this history in the larger public discourse of the city, the project curator Harrison Apple and Senior Curator Dr. Tim Haggerty are continuing to conduct research interviews and plan a print version of the exhibition catalogue.

For more information contact Harrison Apple or visit Pittsburgh Queer History.

Jóvenes Sin Nombres

Jóvenes Sin Nombres was a project composed of first-generation Latinos from Mexico, South America and the Caribbean.

While Latinos are Pittsburgh’s fastest growing immigrant population they remain largely invisible to the larger population.  Jóvenes Sin Nombres aimed to strengthen Latino youths’ engagement with Pittsburgh through arts projects that allow them to explore the relationship between their cultural traditions and the history of the city they now consider home. The Jóvenes aim was to stimulate new ways of thinking about issues and misconceptions that are at the heart of urgent national debates relating to the border, immigration, and citizenship. The group organized a series of workshops with local artists, activists and academics, and planned and prepared a mural for display at the Latino Family Center in Squirrel Hill.