CONTACT: Jake Goodman, Executive Director, 917-613-1509, jgoodman [at] theopportunityfund.org
PITTSBURGH, PA, June 12, 2020 — The Opportunity Fund announces support totaling $638,500 in its ninth cycle of funding. The Board of Directors, along with two community panels and a panel of advisors, funded 53 out of 103 requests that were seeking a total of $1,512,418. A complete list of awarded grants can be found below.
Including the current grant cycle, the foundation has awarded 524 grants totaling over $6.5 million since its inception in 2015. Grant cycles take place twice a year. Letter of Inquiry deadlines are around January 15 and July 15 each year. Full information about applying for grants is available in the “For Applicants” area of our website.
1Hood Media ($10,000) to support the general operations of Young Black Motivated Kings & Queens (YBMKQ). YBMKQ engages high school-aged youth in becoming the leaders of tomorrow while serving the community.
Alia Musica Pittsburgh ($10,000) to support the fourth edition of the biennial Pittsburgh Festival of New Music.
Alia Musica Pittsburgh ($7,500) to support general operations for Afro Yaqui Music Collective including development of a new jazz opera and an album release. Afro Yaqui promotes a progressive, humanistic, antiracist, feminist, and ecologically oriented musical practice that is both locally grounded and globally oriented.
Allegheny County Parks Foundation ($20,000 over three years) to support the creation of the Sculpture Garden at Hartwood Acres by restoring the current sculpture collection and relocating most sculptures to a newly designed, pedestrian-friendly sculpture garden.
Allegheny Health Network’s Center for Inclusion Health ($5,000) to support the Women’s Health Access Fund which will provide reproductive health services for homeless, uninsured, and underinsured women (not exclusively cisgender women). Services will include STI testing, prenatal care, contraception, routine gynecological care, hygiene products, and pregnancy termination.
Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall ($7,500) to support general operations for the Music Hall in Carnegie, PA in 2020.
Assemble ($10,000) to support general operations. Assemble builds confidence through making by uniting communities of artists, technologists, makers, and learners.
barebones productions ($7,500) to support general operations. barebones facilitates the growth of local theater artists through the production of challenging, entertaining, and thought provoking plays; and attracts new theater audiences by employing minimal production elements for maximum impact.
Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation ($7,500) to support BOOM Concepts’ exhibitions and residencies that encourage field-building, knowledge-sharing, peer-to-peer mentorship, and storytelling for creative entrepreneurs representing marginalized voices.
The Brew House Association ($5,000) to support general operations, including artistic development programs that provide space and mentorship to regional emerging artists and curators, as well as exhibition programming.
Bricolage Production Company ($12,500) to support general operations as the organization undergoes strategic planning, collaborates with local artists to create participatory theatrical experiences, and innovates accessibility solutions that can positively impact the broader Pittsburgh and national theater communities.
Bridgeway Capital ($20,000 over two years) to support the ORIGINS Initiative which provides intensive business development guidance and transformative opportunities to help the region’s African American artists, makers, designers, and craftspeople realize meaningful business growth and financial resiliency.
Casa San Jose ($25,000 over two years) to support general operations and long-term sustainability as the organization provides programming to empower the Latinx community in the Pittsburgh region through community organizing, youth organizing, civic training and engagement, advocacy, and leadership development.
Casa San Jose ($12,500) to support the Guerrero Glass Youth Program, which will provide free glassblowing for youth in our immigrant and underserved communities.
Center of Life ($10,000) to support general operatations to ensure that youth and families receive the life-skills, education, training, and resources to be strong and to make their communities strong.
Chatham Baroque ($12,500) to support the 2020/2021 Season. Chatham Baroque connects diverse audiences to the passion and depth of the music of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, and Early Classical periods through vivid and compelling performances and educational experiences.
Circles Greater Pittsburgh ($10,000) to support the infrastructure and growth of The Wellness Collective, which provides needs-based resources to neighbors throughout Allegheny County.
Circles Greater Pittsburgh ($3,000) to support Soil Sisters Plant Nursery’s summer programming. Soil Sisters provides access to naturally grown vegetables, herbs, and flowered seedlings targeting food apartheids and neighborhoods that are lacking agricultural resources.
City Theatre Company ($15,000) to support the participation of mid-sized arts organizations (including City Theatre, Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and others that demonstrate a willingness to lead with equity as value) in an artEquity-facilitated regional cohort focused on EDI practices in Pittsburgh.
Jean B. Purvis Community Health Center ($10,000) to support free medical, dental and behavioral health care to those who are uninsured or under-insured in Butler County, PA.
Community Human Services Corporation ($15,000) to support the expansion of Project Silk’s arts-based programming to offer clients an avenue to creative expression, as well as therapeutic and HIV preventative services.
Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) ($10,000) to support craft artists and help them safeguard their studios, protect their careers, prepare for and recover from emergencies.
Crisis Center North ($10,000) to support general operations and the ongoing provision of critical services and programming to victims and survivors of domestic, intimate partner, and dating violence in the Greater Pittsburgh region, especially the northern and western regions of Allegheny County.
Dreams of Hope ($12,500) to support Hatch Arts Collective‘s 2020-2021 season of performance programming and development. Hatch Arts Collective makes socially-engaged theater and works across disciplines and differences, activating communities through meaningful arts experiences.
East End Cooperative Ministry (EECM) ($7,500) to support general operations. EECM addresses the issues that impact the area’s most at-risk, disadvantaged, and underserved populations, and implements programs to help those populations become self-sufficient..
Eden’s Farm ($7,500) to support a Drop In Center that provides care and respite programming for victims and survivors of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation
Focus On Renewal Neighborhood Corporation ($17,500) to support the Community Resource Center. Focus On Renewal’s programs and partnerships connect children, adults, and families with relationships, resources, and opportunities to develop and sustain a thriving community.
The Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh ($10,000) to support the 1926 Murray Avenue project, where adults of diverse abilities can find employment and friendship opportunities, and teens can seek stigma-free mental health care.
Front Porch Theatricals ($5,000) to support general operations. Front Porch provides professional, high-quality musical theater productions featuring Pittsburgh’s diverse actor, artistic and technical talent base.
Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank ($40,000 over three years) to support general operations. Via its ongoing programs and services, the Food Bank provides fresh produce and nutritious food to support the health and wellbeing of neighbors in need, connects people to community resources to help stabilize their lives, and eliminates waste in the food system.
Grounded Strategies ($5,000) to support the CommunityCare Support program which provides neighborhood residents with resources and information to take direct action to improve their community through the stewardship of public greenspace.
Hill Community Development Corporation ($12,500) to support the general operations of Nafasi on Centre, an artist co-creating and living space.
International Documentary Association ($5,000) to support Ghost Lights: Reclaiming Theater in the Age of AIDS, a documentary film about the enduring force of the theater community as the AIDS crisis cut a swath through its brilliant ranks, leaving an emotional, artistic and developmental void in the industry.
Kamratōn ($10,000) to support a production of the new opera, “The Strange Child,” by composer Julia Werntz and librettist Kim Adrian. Other artistic collaborators include Daniel Curtis, Shana Simmons, Quince Ensemble, Paul Pinto, and Robert Frankenberry.
Lighthouse Arts, Inc. ($5,000) to support the Beacon of Jazz series that showcases jazz as an artform by featuring talented regional artists; and Brilliant Corners, which explores a variety of topics in jazz in a manner designed to engage participants and help them gain more listening enjoyment
Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild ($45,000 over three years) to support general operations of MCG Jazz. MCG Jazz preserves, promotes, and presents jazz music.
New Sun Rising ($7,500) to support Inside Our Minds’ “We’re Speaking. Are You Listening?” series. The series will include collective community narrative workshops and digital collage, highlighting the history of mental health storytelling and the importance of centering the voices, experiences, and perspectives of people with lived experience when speaking about mental health.
Pennsylvania Women Work ($10,000) to support general operations. PA Women Work supports employment and economic opportunity for women who struggle to find their place in Pittsburgh’s expanding economy.
Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble (PNME) ($10,000) to support general operations. PNME commissions, performs, and presents new music in ways that challenge, engage, and inspire.
Pittsburgh Youth Chorus ($7,500) to support the world’s first youth production of “Crossings,” a multidisciplinary performance piece by Ysaÿe Barnwell and David Roussève presented in collaboration with Hill Dance Academy Theatre and Afro-American Music Institute.
Pittsburgh Youth Concert Orchestra ($7,500) to support the Perspectives Chamber Music Festival, a festival that will foster collaboration between classically trained Pittsburgh musicians and equally talented local and national classically trained musicians of color.
Planned Parenthood of Western Pennsylvania (PPWP) ($45,000 over three years) to support general operations and the replacement and enhancement of PPWP’s security in their downtown health care facility.
POORLAW ($12,000) to support general operations. POORLAW advances a social justice framework for improving the quality of life for Hazelwood residents through strategies that increase opportunities, foster access to resources, and provide education and training.
POWER ($15,000) to support general operations. POWER helps women reclaim their lives from addiction and related emotional health issues and improve the well-being of future generations.
RealTimeInterventions ($7,500) to support general operations, including theatrical events and public experiences that depend upon the immediate nature of live and real-time art: events that come to life when people come together.
Repair the World ($7,500) to support general operations of Pittsburgh-based programming, mobilizing thousands of young people all backgrounds to serve, learn, and meet pressing needs with local partner organizations.
Resonance Works ($5,500) to support the second production and Pennsylvania premiere of “I Am a Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams”. Resonance Works is an artist-driven, collaborative, multi-modal performing arts company dedicated to exploring the confluence of artist, audience, music, and space through performances that empower musicians and engage audiences.
Squonk Opera ($25,000 over two years) to support general operations and Squonk’s strategic development as a resource in Pittsburgh to invigorate public spaces through live performance with music, multimedia spectacle and humor.
Thomas Merton Center ($3,500) to support the Harambee Ujima Black Art and Culture Association, created to celebrate and give visibility to Black arts while acting as an economic generator for local artists and small businesses in and around Three Rivers region.
Unique Projects, Inc. ($12,000) to support slowdanger’s collaboration with MICHIYAYA Dance to create ‘weighted sky’— a new, full-length, multidisciplinary performance work.
Universities Allied for Essential Medicines (UAEM) ($5,000) to support general operations. Funding will support UAEM’s collaborative campaign to pressure universities, governments and pharmaceutical corporations to ensure that all publicly funded diagnostics, treatments and the eventual vaccine for COVID-19 will be sustainably priced, available to everyone and free at the point of delivery.
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art ($10,000) to support the exhibition Border Cantos | Sonic Border, which will be displayed at The Westmoreland Museum of American Art from May 30 to August 22, 2021.
Willissae’s Agency for Vision and Empowerment (WAVE) ($10,000) to support general operations for WAVE’s housing counseling services. WAVE empowers individuals who face barriers to discover and reach their potential through education, counseling, social services, and long-term support.
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