Tag Archives: Free

Art All Night Turns 21 and Moves to the South Side

Art All Night poster from 2008

Art All Night turns 21 this year and like many Pittsburghers who turn 21, Art All Night is heading to the South Side to celebrate.  Thankfully, the Carson Street metaphor ends there.  Everything about the event is the same, except for the location.  To get to Art All Night this year, you will have to cross a river (or two depending on your route) to the South Side.  The 21st annual Art All Night will be held at the Terminal Buildings (which have been renamed The Highline, but this is a Pittsburgh blog and we prefer to give directions that would make sense to most Pittsburghers.)  Art All Night everyone is invited to submit one piece of art to be displayed in the show.

Last week, I caught up with an old friend for lunch where we reminisced about local politics, talked about Hq2 and waxed poetic about the transformation of Pittsburgh from then to now. Pittsburgh has changed a lot in the past 30 years and one of the neighborhoods that has undergone the biggest transformation is Lawrenceville. If I had to pick one event that created a ripple effect for years to come – Art All Night might be that event.  (I would love to hear your thoughts on events that had an impact on Pittsburgh! Please share in the comments below).  You can read more about the history of Art All Night here.

Everything you need to know about Art All Night

    • To attend: stop by any time between 4 pm on Saturday (April 28, 2018) and 2 pm on Sunday (April 29, 2018) – yes, this event is 22 consecutive hours of art. The entire event is free to attend.
  • Location: Terminal Buildings/Highline – 198 S. 4th Street, Pittsburgh PA 15203
  • To display your art: register online here and drop off your art between 10 am and 2 pm on Saturday, April 28, 2018.
  • Follow the Facebook event here and @ArtAllNight on Twitter here for updates.

Volunteer Here: Art All Night is looking for volunteers

This is a 100% free event.  If you would like to help make sure this event is a success sign up to volunteer here.

Volunteers are needed to help with:

  • Registration: Register artists and check in their artwork, move art to the staging area.
  • Parking and Traffic: Help control the road and pedestrian traffic by the buildings.
  • Security: Oversee event space area to ensure no accidents occur and that safety and security protocols are met.
  • Hangers: Move the artwork from the staging area to the appropriate display area and curate/hang the art.
  • Green Team: Help keep Art All Night Green! Manage the recycling and trash receptacles.
  • Art Sales Table: No sales take place, but staff the table in order to collect contact information of interested buyers so they can be given to the artist when they pick up their artwork after the show.
  • Sales Table: Assist in the selling of merchandise.
  • Volunteers: Help the volunteer captains manage incoming volunteers and ensure all volunteers receive their t-shirt upon volunteer check-in.
  • Kitchen: Collect food donations as they come in for the volunteer team, keep food area neat and clean up at the end.
  • Stage: Assist bands and performers at the stage area.
  • Take-down: Remove art from the displays at the end of the show on Sunday at 2 pm.
  • Art Pick-Up/Check-Out: Checking artists’ IDs to make sure the right person has the correct piece of art.
  • Tear-down: Take down the display panels, pack our supplies, and clean the building on Sunday afternoon.
  • Children’s Activities: Help facilitate the children’s activity areas. This includes interacting with children to get them involved in art projects.
  • Interactive Art Assistants: Aid and monitor attendees in d.i.y. art projects.
  • Artist Assistants: Help facilitate onsite artists. Duties may include moving canvases and art supplies.
  • Onsite Art Clean Up: Assist with cleaning up lots and lots of paint, washing brushes and moving canvases late Saturday night.
  • Art Auction: Help out with a live auction and enter bids into a computer system.

Advice from Art All Night: Art is everything my parents told me not to do

At the 2013 Art All Night there was a giant timeline and visitors were asked to add their Art All Night memories to the board.   While there were lots of interesting memories stuck on to the board, this post-it note jumped out at me. In case you can’t read the post-it…

  • Green Note: “Art is everything my parents told me not to do”
  • Grey Note: “SAME HERE! It’s a damned shame I listened to them.  I’m 56 now and finally I’m enjoying art + LIFE”

Read our previous posts about Art All Night here: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014. 

Free Dental Clinic Pittsburgh

FREE Dental Clinic this Friday & Saturday – Open to all, No one will be turned away

Have you been to the dentist this year? Have you been avoiding going to the dentist because you don’t have dental insurance? Do you know someone who has a tooth that has been bothering them?

Good news! There is a FREE, totally free, dental clinic this Friday & Saturday (July 28 & 29, 2017) in Pittsburgh at the AJ Palumbo Center.

Take it from me, you need to go to the dentist. I skipped those cleanings for a few years and ended up with a broken tooth, a lot of pain and a lot of expense. Not only can tooth pain be very painful, but it can impact your overall health. (Check out this fascinating article from Men’s Health about root canals and heart health).

Free Dental Clinic Details

Free Dental Clinic Pittsburgh

Date: Friday, July 28, 2017 & Saturday, July 29, 2017

Time: 7am to 4pm

Location: A.J. Palumbo Center, 1304 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh PA 15282 (Free shuttles buses are available, click here for map & shuttle schedule)

Facebook Event

Follow @MOM_PGH on Twitter

Dental Treatments Available:

  • diagnosis by a dentist
  • minor restorative fillings
  • extractions
  • cleanings

Patient info:

  • No eligibility or income requirements
  • No appointments or registration necessary – First come, first served
  • One procedure per patient per day
  • Open to children (Ages 2 to 17) and adults

Please visit the Missions of Mercy patient info webpage for a complete FAQ for patients.

Patient Info

Who is behind the free dental clinic?

The Free Dental Clinic in Pittsburgh is being organized by the following people:

  • Daniel Pituch, chief of oral and maxillofacial surgery at UPMC Shadyside and Mercy
  • Michael Zamagias, CEO of Teletracking Technologies Inc.
  • Richard M. Celko, dental director of UPMC Health Plan in 2016

You can read more about the free dental clinic in the Post-Gazette here. Some fascinating stats about the impact of lack of dental care from the article:

You wouldn’t expect someone needing dental care to land in the hospital emergency room. But that scenario has played out nearly 3,000 times at UPMC hospitals in the Pittsburgh area in the last year.

Ice Cream Sundays at East End Brewing

One of the best kept patio secrets in Pittsburgh, is the patio at the East End Brewing Brewery in the Larimer neighborhood. Last year they transformed the parking lot into a delightful beer garden.

The East End Brewing Brewery has always been a family-friendly spot for spending an afternoon. The patio makes this a great place for everyone to spend a hot summer afternoon with a cold beer (or root beer, which they usually have on tap). Just a heads up that East End Brewing also has a location in the Strip District, the East End Brewing Taproom, so make sure to point your GPS to the East End Brewing Brewery on Julius Street if you are looking for ice cream.

Ice Cream Sundays at East End Brewing

Well the good folks over at East End Brewing have come up with a way to make Sunday afternoons even better… ice cream. Starting this Sunday, July 9, there will be a different ice cream vendor at the brewery.

Here is the line up of tasty frozen treat vendors….

Keep an eye out for some limited-edition beer-inspired flavors of ice cream and my sources say there may even been some beer & ice cream floats.

If you aren’t an eat dessert first kind of person, the Tango Food Truck will be on site each week* so you can have something savory before a sweet treat.  *(Tango food truck will not be at the Brewery on August 6.)

Good Beer, Delicious Ice Cream, Really Nice Neighbors

I can’t say enough good things about East End Brewing. Scott Smith who is the owner as well as everyone who works there could not be nicer. This is by far one of my favorite businesses in town and they also make some great beers. If you have not yet had an ice cream sandwich from Leona’s Ice Cream, you are missing out. Last week I arrived at the market in Aspinwall, Feast on Brilliant, just as they were closing for the day. I was determined to pick up some Leona’s ice cream sandwiches. So I talked the poor clerk into letting me come inside to buy some ice cream sandwiches before they locked the door. Like Scott Smith, the owners of Leona’s are also incredibly nice people. Leona’s is also local, just down the street in Wilkinsburg, they have been an active participant in some of the redevelopment activities.

The best way to keep up on the Ice Cream Sundays at East End Brewing and all of the other food vendors that stop by the brewery is this “Come Hungry” calendar on their website, which is also a Google calendar you can subscribe too as well.

What’s that you say? You need a better way to keep track of tasty cool treat happenings? How about a twitter list of ice cream shops in Pittsburgh! You can find that list right here.

 

Urban Hike Heads to Allegheny Center & Deutschtown (Jane’s Walk Pittsburgh)

Urban Hike is a free guided walk around one (or several) of Pittsburgh neighborhoods. The guided hike is led by a group of volunteers who carefully research each route and invite experts from the neighborhood to come speak to the group on local history and neighborhood development. If you like history, exploring or you are looking for a way to learn more about Pittsburgh, then Urban Hike is for you.

I have attended many of the past Urban Hikes, which has led to discovering all kinds of secrets about Pittsburgh. The John Woods House, aka the 2nd oldest house in Pittsburgh which I posted about earlier this week was a find from the Urban Hike in Hazelwood two years ago.

The first Urban Hike of the 2017 season will be exploring Allegheny Center & Deutschtown. If you aren’t familiar with these neighborhoods, they are on the Northside, just North of the area where PNC Park is located.

Urban Hike = Jane’s Walk Pittsburgh

English: Mrs. Jane Jacobs, chairman of the Com...

English: Mrs. Jane Jacobs, chairman of the Comm. to save the West Village holds up documentary evidence at press conference at Lions Head Restaurant at Hudson & Charles Sts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This Saturday’s Urban Hike coincides with Jane’s Walk. Jane’s Walk is an annual event in celebration of Jane Jacobs, author of the book The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Amazon affiliate link), which many consider this book to be the bible of urban planning. Jane’s Walks are free walking tours talking place in cities across the globe to support walkable neighborhoods and to encourage people to learn more about their communities. Pittsburgh has hosted several Jane’s Walks over the past decade and this weeks Urban Hike is currently the only Jane’s Walk scheduled for Pittsburgh.

Interested in learning more about Jane Jacobs? Pittsburgh Filmmakers will be showing the documentary Citizen Jane: Battle for the City from May 12-May 18, 2017.

Urban Hike: Allegheny Center & Deutchtown

  • Date:Saturday, May 6, 2017
  • Start Time: 9:30am
  • Starting Point: Arnold’s Tea on East Ohio Street

Check out the email from Urban Hike and the Facebook event for more information and parking suggestions.

Follow: @UrbanHikePGH @JanesWalk

Made Local: Jake Oresick & Book Release for The Schenley Experiment

After 156 years as a social incubator in a largely segregated city, the improbably successful Schenley High School was controversially closed in 2011. This spring, The Schenley Experiment (Amazon affiliate link) breathes life back into Schenley, telling the story of Pittsburgh and its public school district—of race, class, ethnicity, and collaboration—through the prism of its oldest and most dynamic high school.

Schenley alumnus and attorney Jake Oresick tells this story through interviews, historical documents, and hundreds of first-person accounts drawn from a community indelibly tied to the school.

Join four former Schenley teachers for a panel discussion of The Schenley Experiment: A Social History of Pittsburgh’s First Public High School and their careers in the classroom, moderated by the book’s author.
-Carol Dyas, Schenley English teacher, 1983-2000
-Fred Lucas, Schenley Physical Education teacher, 1972-2000
-Carol Sperandeo, Schenley Math teacher, 1970-2005
-John Young ‘53, Schenley principal, 1979-1991