In The News

Mac Miller had a vision of helping give young people the chance to explore the arts and perhaps even build creative careers. He wanted to have this positive impact in his hometown of Pittsburgh and in communities throughout the country. In the wake of his untimely death at 26 in September of last year, the Mac Miller Fund at The Pittsburgh Foundation was set up to fulfill that vision. Last spring, two $50,000 grants to music programs in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles were announced.

The New Pittsburgh Courier has learned that Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh, a joint program of The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments, has awarded $388,000 to individual artists and art programs for the initiative’s fall 2019 grantmaking cycle. Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh is dedicated to supporting excellence in presenting and producing artwork rooted in the Black experience.

For the first time since their revival, in 2012, the Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards have gone to a pair of artists whose medium is words. Both nonfiction writer and performance poet Adriana Ramirez and poet Cameron Barnett explore the ways historical events resonate across time and geography. The awards are sponsored by The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation.

Two local writers with insightful worldviews are being recognized for their literary contributions. Adriana Ramirez and Cameron Barnett are the winners of this year’s Carol R. Brown Creative Achievement Awards. They’ll be honored Dec. 9 during a public program at Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Playhouse. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the ceremony begins at 7 p.m. featuring a musical performance by Bernice Johnson Reagon and her daughter, Toshi Reagon. The accolades — named for Carol R.

In the spirit of the holiday season — and the tax season that follows right after — some high-income senior citizens who can afford to donate money are using a loophole that allows them to make bigger charitable contributions. The planning technique known as qualified charitable distributions is a way to beat the tax system, helping those who have reached the age of 70½ to make cash donations directly from their individual retirement accounts to IRS-approved charities.

The Newspaper Guild’s byline strike at the Post-Gazette is entering its third week, and it’s getting harder to not notice. Unlike a strike in which employees stop working, employees in a byline strike continue to create content but they withhold their names. So far, the union says its members have withheld more than 657 bylines from stories, photographs and other content in the print and digital editions of the newspaper, not counting the website, mobile app or PG NewsSlide.

Two Pittsburgh writers focused on racism and xenophobia in America are receiving grants to help them complete their current projects, courtesy of the Carol R. Brown Achievement Awards.  

Multiple Black artists and arts groups in Pittsburgh have received a boost from The Pittsburgh Foundation and The Heinz Endowments as part of a grant program. The Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh initiative has awarded $388,000 to local artists and art programs for its fall cycle.  

Giving now, while the markets are still high, neutralizes this volatility. Donations of appreciated stock or mutual fund shares (held for more than a year) provide greater tax advantages than gifts of cash. The only difference is that donors are making the gifts they would normally make a few weeks earlier than planned.

Jaime Guerrero received a grant in 2018 from The Pittsburgh Foundation and created exhibition work during a nine-month residency at the center. He continues his work with youth in affiliation with Casa San Jose, a community resource center which coordinates actions and serves as a support base for recent Latino arrivals to the region.