Arts Greenhouse Workshop Announcement
Time To Build: Hip-Hop And Community
“A Queen and Pittsburgh Teens Present the Positive Potential of Hip-Hop”
On Friday, January 22, 5:30pm, teens, families, and community members are invited to participate in a free, two-hour concert/workshop at Homewood-Brushton YMCA. The event—presented by The Arts Greenhouse (Carnegie Mellon) and The Westinghouse Lighthouse Project (YMCA)—will feature award winning singer, poet, playwright, and rapper, Queen Godis, alongside performances by local teens. The event’s goal is to showcase the community building potential of hip-hop music.
The event will kickoff with an introduction from poet, educator, and activist Luqman Abdus-salaam. His talk will address the potential of hip-hop for community building by bringing people together and carrying empowering messages. Examples of positive hip-hop will be performed by teens from 4 different after-school programs, Arts Greenhouse, Westinghouse Lighthouse, Hip-Hop on L.O.C.K. and Community Empowerment Studios. Visiting Pittsbugh from Brookyn, NY, for this Friday evening performance, Queen Godis will take the stage to present her own music and messages. Throughout her career, Queen Godis has mastered the art of bridging diverse audiences with art that is as spirit moving as it is thought-provoking. She has worked as an education consultant, youth mentor, and guest lecturer at schools and universities across the US. In 2007, she coached a NYC teen poetry slam team to the top 3 in national competition.
All teens, parents, and interested community members are invited to come! Admission is free. Attendees will also have the chance to learn more about the participating organizations and ways teens can get involved to learn to make their own hip-hop music.
The partnering organizations believe that hip-hop can be a valuable source of empowerment for teens. It can help them build communities that are based upon sharing music, messages, and good times. Helping teens develop artistic, social, and economic empowerment goes hand in hand with creating strong and healthy communities. This potential of hip-hop culture is often obscured by the sensational images of hip-hop that reach magazines and TV. The Arts Greenhouse and Westinghouse Lighthouse are committed to building the positive community potential of hip-hop culture from the ground up by working directly with teens.
Staff from all partnering organizations will be supervising the workshop, and parents are welcome to attend. The Homewood-Brushton YMCA is located at 7140 Bennett Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15208.
For more information about Time To Build, visit www.pghbeatmakers.org.
The Arts Greenhouse is a free hip-hop music education program serving Pittsburgh teens through the resources of Carnegie Mellon. Thus far, this goal has been met through music technology classes, workhops on special topics relating to hip-hop, and performances that bring socially conscious artists to Pittsburgh. The Arts Greenhouse holds music technology classes at Carnegie Mellon, and workshops around the Pittsburgh area. Pittsburgh teens, ages 13 to 19, are welcome to attend.
The Westinghouse Lighthouse Project is an after school youth development program that uses performing arts and multimedia technology to educate and empower youth. The Lighthouse Project currently offers visual art, architecture, poetry, music production, video production, martial arts and step team. Additionally, the Lighthouse provides students with academic support including tutoring, strategic goal planning, college preparation and job shadowing experiences. The Lighthouse is a free program open to all high school students living in the 15208 area code.
The Homewood-Brushton YMCA provides programming for all ages and income levels. The new facility includes a state-of-the-art health and wellness center, full gymnasium, meeting rooms and computer lab. The outreach programs and services include tutoring, counseling, youth prevention, family support center and a food pantry. The Homewood-Brushton YMCA is part of the YMCA of Greater Pittsburgh.
The Hip-Hop on L.O.C.K. program is implemented by each student being given an executive position of a “MOCK” record label to create a music CD project from conception to completion. Upon completion of the Hip Hop on L.O.C.K. Project, students receive a certificate of completion followed by a live performance where students display their completed work in front of friends, family and the entire community. Moreover, apprenticeships and internships are created through partnering organizations throughout Allegheny county. Lastly, upon completion of The Hip Hop on L.O.C.K. Project, the graduates will have a full understanding of the art of Hip Hop as well as the entry-level skills needed to operate a business of their own.
