project leader
Toby T
location
2105 Hazeltine Way
(Millvale, East Liberty/Highland Park, Oakland, North Side)
latest update rss
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the project

Produced by RealTime Interventions, “Khūrākī” was created by Molly Rice in collaboration with a group of recently-resettled Afghan refugees in Pittsburgh. Commissioned by the Office of Public Art as part of their Artists in Residence program* and supported by Pittsburgh’s refugee resettlement community and many other partners, Khūrākī (meaning “eat” or “meal” in the Afghan language Dari) will take place in four locations across Pittsburgh from late March to early May. The series will celebrate the beauty of Afghan culture, music, and food through "theatrical portraits" of five strong women who will forever be Afghan but have recently become Pittsburghers as well. What do they miss about their homeland? What have they been able to preserve in the flight from home--in their traditions, in their cooking, in their hearts? What do they hope to cultivate here in Pittsburgh? And what do they want you to know about the beautiful country where they were born?

 

*Office of Public Art residencies are produced with support by the City of Pittsburgh, The Fine Foundation, The Buhl Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Opportunity Fund, Pittsburgh Partners for the Arts, and the Our Town program of the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. Additional funding support has been provided by a Community Development Block Grant and Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts.

the steps

Times, places and dates:

Program 1:
Saturday, March 23 at New Sun Rising’s Millvale Moose, 112 E Sherman St, Millvale, PA 15209
Saturday, April 6 at the Union Project, 801 N Negley Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15206

Program 2:
Monday, April 22 at the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, 4100 Bigelow Blvd, Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Monday, May 6 at City of Asylum, 40 W North Ave, Pittsburgh, PA 15212

“Program 1: New Year” will be performed at 7 PM on March 23 and April 6, and will center around traditions of the Afghan new year (Nowruz) and the women’s personal stories of home.

“Program 2: Change and Permanence” will be performed at 7 PM on April 22 and May 6, and will focus on the ways Afghans mark life changes (birth, death, coming of age, marriage) as well as Ramadan traditions, again told through the women’s stories.

why we're doing it

Molly Rice is one of four local artists who were commissioned in 2017 to work with Pittsburgh's refugee populations.  Each artist was paired with an organization that specialized in dealing with specific refugee populations and/or needs.  Unfortunately, due to the current political climate, the organization that Molly was paired with made the decision to shut down operations last year, and shuttered its department's doors in December 2018;  it had been the largest refugee resettlement organization in Pittsburgh.

Fortunately, RealTime Interventions was there to step in, and the project continues.  Working together with over two dozen community partner organizations and countless individual volunteers, RealTime is bringing Molly's vision to life for four exclusive events occurring from March 23rd to May 6th.  The Office of Public Art and various partner organizations have been generous in their support and funding of this project, but we need a little push from supporters like you to help us make it to the finish line and deliver these events in their ideal form.

The women involved in this project want to share the beauty of their homeland with their new home/land.  While American media reports on war, strife, and the darker side of military conflict, that is not the narrative these women want to reinforce.  They would like their American audience to experience a taste of the beauty and diversity of their country, a country that has served as the crossroads of many cultures through the centuries, and has developed its own culture in the meantime.

The end goal of this project is to make the women of Pittsburgh's Afghan refugee population feel welcomed into the greater community, through telling their stories and sharing their food.  They are also learning about how to start a food business, and part of the proceeds from these events will go directly back to the women in an effort to help them achieve this goal.

Together we can help reinforce the image of Pittsburgh as the welcoming City we all know and love.  Building Bridges, Not Walls.

budget

Disbursed Budget:

Videography for the Event- $509.25



TOTAL RAISED =

$525.00
ioby Platform Fee waived
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $15.75
TOTAL TO DISBURSE= $509.25

Original Budget:

Ingredients for the dinners- $500, Fees going to Afghan women- $4,000, videography for the event- $500



PROJECT FUNDING NEEDED = $5,000
ioby Platform Fee $35
ioby Donation Processing Fee (3%) $156
TOTAL TO RAISE = $5,191

 

updates

Sorry, but this project doesn't have any updates yet.

photos

This is where photos will go once we build flickr integration

donors

  • Jeffrey Diamond
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • James McNeel
  • Clare Caroline Drobot
  • Kara Kimicata
  • Melanie Marshall Gulasy
  • Anonymous