The Pittsburgh Foundation

First annual Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards celebrated at Cultural District’s O’Reilly Theater

Artist John Peña and Poet Toi Derricotte to be Honored at Free Event Open to the Public

PITTSBURGH, Pa., November 28, 2012 - The first annual Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards will be celebrated at a free public ceremony and reception on Monday, December 3 at 6:00 p.m. at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Avenue, in the downtown cultural district.

Multi-disciplinary artist John Peña will be honored as Emerging Artist and poet Toi Derricotte will be honored as Established Artist. Each will receive a cash award of $15,000 in recognition of exemplary artistic achievements and promise for future work. 

The Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards are jointly sponsored by The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments as part of a major initiative, Investing in Professional Artists: The Pittsburgh Region Artists Program, that provides resources to professional artists for the breadth of the creative process, from concept to completion.

Candidates for the awards were nominated by artists and arts leaders from the region and chosen by an independent panel that reviewed applications and work samples. Twenty-five nomineesrepresentingthe fields of dance, film and video, literature, multi-disciplinary arts, music, theater, and visual arts submitted applications. 

The awards honor the achievements of Carol R. Brown, who led the cultural and economic transformation of downtown Pittsburgh’s cultural district as President of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trustfrom 1986 to 2001. During her tenure, a 14 square block area of downtown Pittsburgh, formerly a red light district, was transformed into a nationally-recognized cultural districtwith theaters, galleries, world-class public art, and public spaces.

“An artists awards program in Carol’s name is the perfect match, since her on-going concern has been that our region’s wonderful individual artists are too often invisible to us,” said Janet Sarbaugh, senior director of the Endowments’ Arts & Culture Program. “She has promoted them as a treasured resource, making Pittsburgh a more exciting place to live.”  Sarbaugh said the Endowments is proud to support a program that recognizes the critical role artists play in making Pittsburgh a place where people want to be.

The Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards continue the Achievement Awards program tradition that Ms. Brown herself established in 1999 at the Trust to recognize achievements of artists in the region.

“I am thrilled and honored by this recognition,” said Carol R. Brown. “A strong cultural community begins with the artists. The community is facing similar economic challenges today as in 1999 and artists across the country are increasingly finding it difficult to raise the funds necessary for quality production.”

John Peña arrived in Pittsburgh for graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University after growing up in the Pacific Northwest. “Pittsburgh is a great place for artists, very livable and the community is accessible and helps you make things happen.”

Through his artwork, Mr. Peña attempts to communicate with nature and in many ways emulates it as well. “I grew up with migrant worker parents in Yakima, Washington and I believe I have been exploring nature ever since. Never in a million years would I have expected to win this award, competing with such a wide range of talented people. I am shocked.”

Toi Derricotte has published five collections of poetry, most recently, The Undertaker's Daughter (2011). “It is a rare gift for an artist to have this validation of their work. Never would have imagined this would have happened for me.”

Ms. Derricotte co-founded Cave Canem Foundation, an organization devoted to African American poets. She is a Professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh and serves on the Academy of American Poets' Board of Chancellors. 

“Undertaker’s Daughter was the final act of writing about memory and childhood that was twenty years in the making. I feel I can leave the pain of childhood behind and look for subjects that are alive and gritty, living in day to day moments,” said Ms. Derricotte.

Reservations for the awards ceremony are requested, but not required, and may be made by visiting www.pittsburghartscouncil.org/crbrownawards

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