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Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging (2018) Print
2018 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Public places
└ Public art installations
└ Public art installations
To bring vibrancy to Pittsburgh's Beechview neighborhood, the Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging engaged residents in a public art project. The result was Color Beechview. With the guidance of a local artist, community members wore LED lights on bodies, which they used to create light paintings through long-exposure technology. The resulting digital art depicts the silhouettes of Beechview residents, including children and older adults. SWPPA then displayed the art throughout the neighborhood, including on the sidewalk pavement in front of the senior center, on the side of light rail cars and along neighborhood fences. Organizers say key goals of the project were combatting social isolation and creating intergenerational connections. We encouraged people who didn't know one another to reach across generations and across ethnicities to connect, Lively Pittsburgh's Ted Cmarada said.
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See More Projects Like This One
Jacksonville, FL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Public art installations
Description: This project will install lit gateway markers throughout the Cathedral Hill neighborhood to enhance safety and wayfinding. The markers will also support gathering spaces within the community.
Frederiksted, VI
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2021
Project Category: Public art installations
Description: To highlight the culture, history and traditions of the island of St. Croix, the VI Council on the Arts created a new mural. A local artist blocked out the artwork's design, then project organizers engaged volunteers -- including retired community members and people with disabilities -- to help paint. Installed in a busy area frequented by local fishermen, the mural depicts fish and coral native to the Virgin Islands. In the future, the Council plans to work with the community to create more murals.
Washington, DC
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2024
Project Category: Public art installations
Description: To advance positive images of aging, this temporary public art initiative will create posters featuring photographs of older adult residents and their caregivers. The images will then display at an assisted living community during a citywide art festival.
Nearby AARP Community Challenge Projects
Pittsburgh, PA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Roadway/sidewalks/crosswalk improvement
Description: This project will train people how to advocate for their neighborhoods to receive traffic calming improvements to protect cyclists and pedestrians, as well as people with disabilities and older adults.
Pittsburgh, PA
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Micromobility enhancements/management
Description: This project will provide seven accessible bikes specifically suited for older residents and people with disabilities, which will be available for rent in Pittsburgh's Southside neighborhood along the Great Allegheny Passage.
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