Manchester Craftsmen's Guild
Manchester Craftsmen's Guild (MCG) is a nonprofit art, education, and music organization established in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1968.
Courses include ceramics, photography, digital arts, and painting to over 500 young people each year and 3,400 additional students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. Ninety percent of the students receive high school diplomas, and eight-five percent of those students enroll in college or some other secondary education. The Guild's programs also include MCG Jazz, MCG Youth, and the Denali Initiative. MCG Jazz's mission is to preserve, present and promote jazz.[1] MCG Youth offers art courses to Pittsburgh public school students. The Denali Initiative is a program that teaches nonprofit executive directors how to develop business and financing plans for social enterprises.[2]
The organization was conceived by Bill Strickland. In 1987, he expanded MCG with a $7.5 million capital campaign to construct a 62,000-square-foot (5,800 m2) vocational education and arts center. It includes a 350-seat concert hall, an art gallery, classrooms, and workshops. MCG Jazz hosts concerts and has a recording studio and record label.
References
- Strickland, Bill (with Vince Rause) (2007). Make the Impossible Possible: One Man's Crusade to Inspire Others to Dream Bigger and Achieve the Extraordinary. New York: Currency Books of Random House. ISBN 978-0-385-52054-6.
- http://mcgjazz.org/_wp/about
- Corilyn Shropshire, "Denali Initiative helps nonprofits make a difference on their own ", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Sunday, December 30, 2001.