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The Legacy Arts Project is a place where you can learn the artistic traditions of Africa & the diaspora, while adding your life experience from other places.
Photos by Erin Perry
The mission of the Legacy Arts Project, Inc. is to preserve, promote, and create Africana arts that honor the history, heritage, and cultures of Africa diaspora in ways that advance healing and wellness, education, and community empowerment.
The origins of the LAP begin with its founder Linda ‘Imani’ Barrett and her love of the arts. An avid dancer and arts enthusiast, she was influenced by Selma Burke, an artist during the Harlem Renaissance, who created an arts center in Pittsburgh as an arm of her art center in Harlem, New York. There Sister Imani was exposed to a range of art forms that allowed her to experience the power of the African legacy. Around the same time, Sister Imani joined the Pittsburgh Black Theater Dance Ensemble, led by the late Bob Johnson. Here they experimented with art, delving into dance forms inspired by Africans throughout the Diaspora.
These experiences became a part of the foundation and formation of the LAP. From this platform, Sister Imani was able to bring together artists from the community to gather and share in expression. Drummers and dancers, elder and youth, played rhythms and danced. Interspersed with that has been spoken word, poetry, singing, and visual art. The LAP has been a space used to cultivate and share a variety of art forms, bringing the community together to grow.
Leadership
Board Of Directors
LEA BLUMENFELD, Interim Chair – Librarian, 9-years
ANTHONY B. MITCHELL, Interim Vice Chair – Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), Langston Hughes Society of Pittsburgh, Ph.D Professor of African Studies, 8-years
BEKEZELA MGUNI, Secretary – Dreams of Hope, Program Manager, 6-years
TINA DANIELS – Concrete Rose Construction, Owner, 1-year
TIFFANY GARY-WEBB – University of Pittsburgh-School of Social Work, Associate Dean, 1-year
K. CHASE PATTERSON – Urban Academy Charter School, Chief Executive Officer, 1-year
KNOWLEDGE BUILD HUDSON – U.S. Department of Commerce, Federal Program Officer, 1-year
Our Executive Director
Erin Perry, Executive Director
Since 2011, Erin Perry has been the executive director of the Legacy Arts Project. As a graduate of the Katz Graduate School of Business, she applies her academic training within a community setting, utilizing arts as a tool for transformation both individually as well as collectively. Miss Perry has been an active member of Legacy since 2005, participating as a member of the dance ensemble through present day. With an extensive background in teaching, Miss Perry has impacted children and adults from Wilkinsburg to Taiwan, teaching classes in English, Math, Photography, and Movement. As a mother of 3 growing children, two boys and a girl, her focus continues to be grounded in the upliftment of humanity through knowledge of self.
Funders
The Heinz Endowments
The Pittsburgh Foundation
Eden Hall Foundation
McElhattan Foundation
PA Humanities
PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency
Community Development Block Grant
Grable Foundation
The Opportunity Fund
PA Council on the Arts
Stauton Farms Foundation
Partner 4 Work
Allegheny County Department of Children’s Initiatives
RAD
Partners
At the Legacy Arts Project, we’re a part of a family of arts organizations that collaborate on performances, share office and studio space, swap resources, and more. Below are a few of the organizations that currently work with us. We’re always growing the list, so contact us to see how you can get involved.
Assemble
Pittsburgh Glass Center
WQED
Partner 4 Work
Ujamaa Collective
Pittsburgh Public Schools
URBAN Academy Greater Pittsburgh Charter School
Reviews, Advertisements, Promotions, Press
https://issuu.com/michronicle/docs/1.1.25_full
https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2024/12/26/pittsburgh-kwanzaa-events/stories/202412260099
http://www.coalhillreview.com/dance-review-dance-africa-pittsburgh-at-the-kelly-strayhorn-theater
http://www.nextpittsburgh.com/next-wave/advancing-black-arts-in-pittsburgh
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/short-list-april-23-april-1/Content?oid=1746263
http://wesa.fm/post/dance-africa-promoting-cultural-heritage-through-dance#stream/0