Manchester Craftsmen's Guild

ISSUE AREA: JOBS

City: Pittsburgh, PA
Workforce Development - Community Development - Urban

Contact:
Greg Schooley
Communications Manager, MCG Arts and Youth
Manchester Bidwell Corporation
1815 Metropolitan Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15233
(412) 323-4000 x165

Date Published: October 2006

In 1968, amid riots and post-industrial depression, college student Bill Strickland founded Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) as an after-school program teaching pottery skills to at- risk kids, seniors and the emotionally and physically handicapped. Recognizing the success of MCG through Strickland’s leadership, Bidwell Training Center (BTC), a vocational training program, asked Bill to take over the center, he immediately saw the power in the overlap. Today, although the two programs are run separately, they share common board members, the same president, and state-of-the-art facilities and cannot be viewed separately. Arts inform job training and economics drive art programs.

MCG uses the arts to educate and inspire inner-city youth to become productive citizens; to preserve, present and promote jazz and visual arts; to stimulate intercultural understanding, appreciation and enhancement of the quality of life for audiences; and to equip and educate leaders to further demonstrate entrepreneurial potential. MCG operates a number of apprenticeship and training programs which support this mission of connecting artistic expression to occupational placement. MCG has a number of arts and youth programs including the Arts Apprenticeship Training Program, the Arts Collaborative Program, and the Artist in Schools Program.

The Arts Apprenticeship Training Program teaches inner-city public school students the technical and aesthetic elements of ceramics, photography, drawing, painting and computer imaging while providing guidance and support for students to pursue long term goals. Personal and career counseling help students to meet the challenges awaiting them beyond high school. Students can also taste the college life-style through Guild-sponsored visits to area campuses. The Arts Collaborative Program integrates arts throughout the high school curriculum. The goal is not to produce artists. It is to find an individually tailored approach to learning that will redirect troubled young people and get them into college and onto productive lives. The Artist in Schools Program provides the opportunity for resident artists to share their technical expertise and unique artistic perspective with students and teachers.

Bidwell’s Vocational Training Programs include preparation for a career as a business travel counselor, medical claims processor, medical secretary, medical transcriber, pharmacy technician, informational services provider, chemical laboratory techniques and culinary arts. Reading, math and computer instruction, plus GED preparation are also offered. Financial aid is available to all students and Bidwell’s training does not affect welfare or unemployment benefits.

The programs have grown into a more than $3 million-a-year operation, with a combined staff of 110 people. Funding for these programs is primarily secured through state and national grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Allegheny Regional Asset District. The programs reach 475 adults and 400 kids age 11-19 each year, of which over 75 percent of the kids go on to college and 78 percent of the adults who graduate from BTC find jobs. Students of the Arts Collaborative Program, which seeks to incorporate art throughout the high school curriculum, have seen success in the higher attendance and grade point average levels than students from local public schools. Bidwell graduates can compete with college graduates for jobs. The one year chemical laboratory technician program, for example, has trained more than 100 students, of which 81% have found jobs in a field where the annual minimum starting salary is between $20,000 and $25,000.

MCG recieves funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the Allegheny Regional Asset District. On top of funding from arts and cultural councils, the Manchester Bidwell Corporation enjoys funding from a host of national corporations including, Ebay, Heinz, Eckerd, and IBM.

Resources:

www.manchesterguild.org/about_mcg.htm
www.manchesterbidwell.org
www.bidwell-training.org