By Kurt Shaw, Tribune-Review Art Critic

“Reduce-reuse-recycle” might have been the mantra of the 1990s, when many recycling programs in this country and others began. But an art exhibit at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in the North Side proves that the three R’s still are with us, and here, made manifest in the most creative of ways.

From recycled and reclaimed materials to familiar images, “Altered Meanings” explores the unique art-making processes of Cat Chow and Jesse McLean. Two young contemporary artists, Chow and McLean both collect and repurpose to produce compelling and innovative works of art….

For the full Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/s_598063.html

With ease, Nancy Wilson will command your attention. This songstress, storyteller, star, and self-proclaimed “song stylist” is so striking, she demands all eyes on her, even in silence. “Nine out of 10 times, she gets a standing ovation just for walking onstage. Before she sings a note. It’s … it’s stunning. When Nancy Wilson walks on the stage, the entire energy in the room rises. It’s something you just have to experience,” says Marty Ashby, executive producer of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild Jazz….

For the full WHIRL Magazine article:
http://www.whirlmagazine.com/current_month/feature1.pdf

By Jill King Greenwood, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

…Mentoring programs that involve children in positive activities and provide role models beginning with grade schoolers are a critical component to keeping kids from going down a path toward gangs, guns and violence, said Bill Strickland, founder of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild and Bidwell Training Center.

For the full Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_594048.html

“The Fabric of Our Community: 40 Years of Changing Lives” was celebrated Sept. 24 at the Bidwell Training Center with a reception and program attended by 400.

For the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette clipping:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08278/916871-461.stm?cmpid=news.xml

By Jean Horne, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

This is our concept of a school … without armed guards, metal detectors or bars on windows. Without an act of graffiti or a drug incident. Where everyone is treated with dignity and respect,” so sayeth Bill Strickland, founder of Manchester Bidwell Corp., at Wednesday’s swelegant celebration of Bidwell Training Center’s 40th anniversary. He was speaking of Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild’s remarkable school that rescues teens from broken homes and neighborhoods by using the arts to teach them life skills. As well as the equally remarkable BTC that “teaches careers” to displaced adults.

In a North Side area where hope had lost its meaning, there now stands the house that Bill built … a beacon of hope which does, as the title of his newly published book declares, “Make the Impossible Possible.”

For the original column in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/living/fanfare/s_590613.html

Since taking over MBC, his name has been a synonym for the best and bravest in social entrepreneurship. Bill dreams with his eyes wide open, and other cities are clamoring to replicate those dreams. He has obliged with models in San Francisco, Cincinnati, Grand Rapids … while Nova Scotia, Ireland and Israel are waiting in the wings. We thought then as we think now — there’s nothing he can’t do.

Orchids to Bill and Rose Strickland and such others among MBC’s 400 heavy-lifters as Dr. James Robinson and Betty; Jesse Fife; Val Njie; Eddie Edwards; George Fecter; Burr Wishart; Cliff Rowe; Elise Hyland; Claudette Lewis; George Miles; Nancy Rackoff; and master quilter Ruth Ward.