Five Pittsburgh Artists Receive $10,000 in Professional Development Funds from Arts Council

Pittsburgh—December 16, 2019 – Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council announced five local artists will receive $10,000 total in awards as part of its December 2019 round of Artist Opportunity Grants. These grants provide financial support for artists to access professional development opportunities to support their creative careers.

Five artists were awarded grants ranging from $1,880-$2,100 for technical needs and travel and lodging associated with international artist residencies. GPAC awards Artist Opportunity Grants three times a year through a panel comprised of local arts professionals. The purpose of the grants is to remove financial barriers between artists and critical experiences that will advance artistic careers.

December 2019 Artist Opportunity Grant Awardees

1. Tuhin Das received $2,100 to assist with fees to translate his short stories, essays and children's stories from Bengali to English.
2. Max Gonzales received $2,020 to assist with travel, lodging and food while attending a graffiti art and muralism residency in Chicago under the guidance of Nicole Marroquin, an interdisciplinary artist, researcher and teacher educator at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
3. Centa Schumacher received $1,880 to assist with residency fees for the Can Serrat residency program in El Bruc, Spain.
4. Harriet Steinbrock Smith received $2,000 to assist with fees for the Arquetopia Foundation’s printmaking residency in Puebla, Mexico, which is a self-guided production residency that allows artists to work on-site at Arquetopia and the Erasto Cortés Printmaking Museum.
5. Peter Roduta received $2,000 to assist with transportation and fees to take person piano lessons with Nik Baersch, Zurich-based pianist, composer and producer, in Zurich, Switzerland, as well as attend a “Music Training, Meditation and Aikido” workshop.

Artists who are 18 years or older and live in the following counties may apply: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Mercer, Lawrence, Somerset, Venango, Washington and Westmoreland. Artists enrolled in undergraduate programs are not eligible.

For more information on grant eligibility and guidelines, please visit our grants page. Artist Opportunity Grants are made possible thanks to support from The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation.

Photos are available for media use courtesy of the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council. Please download photos of each artist here: https://we.tl/t-rouMODQZlX 

###