Center for Creativity

Welcome Back | Spaces & Places

photo of printing press with text laid out ready for printing

Welcome, Class of '24, and welcome back to campus – in whatever form that takes for you this fall – to all of our students, faculty, and staff!

We know you're eager to find out when our physical spaces – The Workshop, on the lower level of The University Store on Fifth, and our brand new Text & conText printing and book arts studio in Hillman Library, in partnership with the University Library System – will be open.

Here's the scoop: throughout the fall, we will continue to offer the majority of our programs virtually, including workshops, open mic nights, and some other special events we have in the works. When the University moves to Guarded Risk, we will work with our building partners to determine how and when we can re-open our physical spaces! 

We'll share re-opening info as it becomes available here and on social media, as well as on our website. These are also the places to discover the great programs we're lining up to make sure you don't get distanced from your creativity during these days.

Thanks so much for supporting the C4C, and we look forward to seeing you online and/or IRL! 

The Art of Diversity Competition Winners

Art of Diversity banner logo

The winners of the 2020 Pitt Diversity Forum's Art of Diversity Showcase amd Competition were announced at the "Turn the World Inside Out: Art as Activism" session on July 29.

We received almost 200 submissions from the University and regional communities — from Pitt faculty, staff, students, and alumni, as well as local artists and creators of all kinds — and entries spanned the range of creative work: poetry and spoken word to short film, visual arts of all kinds (including digital, fabric art, assemblages, photos, drawings, and paintings) to dance, music, and theatre.

It was a stunning display of talent and dedication that made our review panel's job very difficult, in the best way possible.

In the end, we selected one winner and two honorable mentions in each of three categories: Social Justice, Sociocultural Topics, and Cultural Identity. Our review panel identified one Reviewers' Award for a piece not included among the category winners, and the public cast over 1200 votes for the People's Choice Award.

Social Justice

  • Winner: Chant, by Bria Walker (faculty, video monologue)
  • Honorable Mentions: The Black Struggle, by Dhael Monfiston (student, video) and Our Boys, by Shooooz (student, video/spoken word)

Sociocultural Topics

  • Winner: Viral Blame, by Lori Huang (student, visual art)
  • Honorable Mentions: Thrift, by Jasmine Green (staff, poem) and You remember this day when your father cried, by Alivia Vaughns (student, poem)

Cultural Identity:

  • Winner: End of Winter, by Yanchen Ge (student, short film)
  • Honorable Mentions: Emerge, by Morgan Overton (alumni, painting) and Food Is Culture, by Alyssa Khieu (student, drawings)

Reviewers' Award: Queen, by INEZ (community, music)

People's Choice Award: We have been enslaved in this country far longer than We have been Free. We have not seen Liberation... yet, by René LaPointe Jameson (community, painting)

To see the winners and honorable mentions, and to access the gallery pages including all the submissions, visit the Office of Diversity & Inclusion's Showcase webpage,

The Center for Creativity and Office of Diversity & Inclusion thanks our review panel and every creator who submitted their heartfelt, affecting, and skillful pieces to the Showcase. We look forward to working with these and other makers this year to help find new platforms and audiences for their work and amplify their voices.

Get Involved!

graphic image of sunset in a beach cove

Do you write, collage, draw, paint, doodle, or make comics or other forms of 2D work? Check out our digital zine, The COVe! While we can't access all the cool tools in our Text & conText space just yet, we've started a digital zine to curate the work you're making now. Send us your submissions!

Or maybe you'd like to try a new challenge? Each month, we assemble makers of all skill levels for a fast creative project that might send you rummaging for materials in your kitchen or ask you to find inspiration in that broken umbrella you haven't thrown out yet. Watch our first two challenges, and then throw your hat (or scarf, or umbrella) into the ring to become a participant!

Hispanic Heritage Month

banner graphic reading Hispanic Heritage Month, Sept. 15 to Oct. 15

What does it mean to be Hispanic/Latina/e/o/x in the United States? For those of us who identify with these terms, we often ask ourselves this question, while non-Latin American, Hispanic, Latina, Latine, Latino, or Latinx individuals also wonder what these terms mean.

An upcoming Hispanic Heritage Month Showcase will help address this question by inviting all members of the Pitt and CMU communities, and the Pittsburgh community-at-large, to submit artifacts relevant to their Hispanic/Latina/o/e/x racial, ethnic, and cultural identity. Submissions are encouraged regardless of race, ethnicity, birthplace, immigration story, language(s) spoken, and more.

Artifacts may include but are not limited to poems, songs, dance, recipes, art, photographs, narratives, and souvenirs, and will be displayed online with attribution to the artists throughout Hispanic Heritage Month 2020.

Watch the webpage for the official Showcase announcement and link for submissions!

Art of Diversity Open Mic

photo of three performers and text Art of Diversity 2020 Virtual Open Mic Night hosted by the Center for Creativity

Did you miss our Art of Diversity Open Mic Night in late July? We've got you covered! Watch the night unfold on YouTube, with four featured and two open mic performers giving us poems, music, essays, and spoken word. Will you be inspired to share at our next one?

What's Next?

We're jumping into fall with both feet! Watch for our schedule of fall online workshops coming soon, plus the season two launch of our podcast, Processing... Also headed your way: a super-short film festival, the business of creativity, a fall open mic, and more!

Creativity Around the Community

picture of banjo and info on Pitt Bluegrass Ensemble

Join the Bluegrass Ensemble

Bluegrass, a form of American roots music, is an Appalachian-based genre that draws on immigrant traditions, blues, gospel, and folk. Engaging with Black Lives Matter, #metoo, and queer movements, Bluegrass Ensemble augments the University of Pittsburgh world music ensemble program by offering a platform for diverse music making.

 
 

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