We love pizza, we love poetry, and we love Pittsburgh. We know you do, too.
As teachers and artists, Stephanie Brea and Kyle Kline have made it their mission to engage their students in community-minded activities. With a combined 20 years of experience in their respective fields, they wanted to implement a project that combined their interests and got students excited to participate.
Pizza Poems PGH is a celebration of poetry and
pizza that takes place in April for National Poetry Month. Students from Visual Arts 2: Public Art at Pittsburgh
Milliones University Prep (UPrep) in the Hill District, as well as students
from the afterschool art club at Westinghouse, will write poems that are
inspired by, or in celebration of, one of the most beloved foods – PIZZA. They
will make screen-printed artwork that is inspired by their completed poems. The
poems/art will be screen-printed onto pizza boxes, and the boxes will then be
used to distribute pizzas on specific days in April. The best part is that you do not have to opt in to participate – ANY pizza that goes out of a distribution site on the designated day will come in one of these boxes. People who have NO IDEA about the event will inadvertently be participants.
The first distribution
event is April 1st at Spak Brothers Pizza. We will be printing on site, thanks to Commonwealth Press. Plus: student readings and a collaborative performance by the UPrep marching band and the May Day Marching Band thanks to Pittonkatonk's Young Musicians Collaborative.
We want to get these boxes into the hands of folks who reside in as many different neighborhoods as possible (and to do this again next year with more distribution sites), so all of you Lawrencevillians, Bloomfielders, Friendshippers, Stanton Heights-ers, East Liberty-ians, order some pizza!
The second pizza distribution event will take place at the Hill House. For this event, we will be giving away slices of pizza and the students will be reading their work, talking about their process and reflecting on what they learned. They will make a collaborative pizza poem with attendees.
And if that wasn't enough, the box art will be on display at Art All Night in Lawrenceville at the end of the month!
What We Need
While we were honored to receive a $1,000 Grand Ideas grant from the Sprout Fund to partially fund this project and fiscal sponsorship by New Sun Rising to actually implement it, we still need to raise a little bit more money to make it a success.
Funds raised will go towards:
purchasing more pizza boxes, supplies and materials for printing, and pizzas for the Hill House outreach event. We want to make sure that not only do these specially designed boxes go out into the world, but that each student can take home a box that he or she is proud of.
We want to reach a large audience, feed as many people as we can at the Hill House, and spread the love of pizza poetry across the city of Pittsburgh.
Why Pizza? Why Poetry?
We believe that poetry is for everyone, but oftentimes people are intimidated by it or think that they won’t or can’t understand it. They shy away from it, or simply aren't exposed to it. However, you gotta admit, most people love pizza.
The Pizza Poems PGH project illustrates that poems are for everyone, and they can be fun and easy to understand. It makes poetry easily accessible to everyone. Both the students and the larger community audience will have a greater appreciation for poetry after the event.
The students have been/will be involved in all aspects of the project, from pitching proposals to logo design to promotion to day-of engagement activities.
Other Ways You Can Help
While we love donations, we would also love it if you spread the word about our project. And please show up to support our students Friday, April 1st, 5-9 pm at Spak Brothers!
