Pittsburgh, PA— Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) Youth & Arts is proud to present a community service project and exhibition by the 2008–09 Arts Leadership & Public Service (ALPS) interns. On view from March 23 – April 26 at MCG’s satellite gallery, Perry Hilltop: Back Again is a student-curated exhibition that reveals how teamwork, talent, and creativity produced a mural that will help bring a message of hope to residents of Perry Hilltop.

Join us at MCG@800 Penn Avenue for a free public reception on Friday, March 27 from 5-7:30 p.m. This student-organized celebration will honor the achievements of the ALPS interns and the community commitment to a bright future in Perry Hilltop. Food and refreshments will be served at this special occasion!

“Being an ALPS intern has really changed my perspective about art. When we visited the mural site and asked the neighbors what they wanted to see on the mural, most people said bright colors—this could help bring the neighborhood back to life. Now I think about art as transforming something plain into something extraordinary,” says Shayla, MCG ALPS Intern and Pittsburgh Perry High School Freshman.

In response to a request from the Perry Hilltop Citizen’s Council, MCG’s ALPS interns have pulled together an arts-based project that benefits their local community. The ALPS interns have gone from concept development through public art proposal, and to installation of a mural that will beautify the boarded windows of a vacant storefront that was once the M. A. Lucas market.

Remaining members of the Lucas family, Larry and Catherine, share their sentiments about the mural project: “Before gangs and drug dealers started ruling the streets, the Lucas store was a neighborhood icon. Just the thought that a group of people was inspired to carry out this mural project, and recognize our parents and grandparents, is so gratifying to our family. When I drive down Wilson Ave. or Burgess St. and see all the vacant lots, and can pretty much recite the names of the families who lived there (I delivered groceries to most of them), it makes me sad. I hope that this mural conveys to current and future residents what it once was like and still could be if the street crime is eliminated.”

Over the course of the project, the ALPS interns have wholeheartedly embraced the challenge to apply their creativity and artistic skills in a way that helps prove that positive change is possible in distressed Pittsburgh neighborhoods. MCG is proud to see Perry Hilltop: Back Again come together as the result of the students’ commitments to meet the needs of their local community.

Supported by a grant from the New York-based Surdna Foundation, the ALPS internship is part of MCG’s Apprenticeship Training Program after-school arts courses. This stipended experience requires that students maintain a “C” average in school and contribute at least 8 hours a week to MCG while developing students’ leadership skills and their identities as civically engaged citizens through the arts.

The Perry Hilltop Citizens’ Council is a non-profit organization that seeks to stimulate civic and social action on a non-sectarian, non-partisan and interracial basis to improve the quality of life for all residents and business enterprises in the neighborhood.