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Mission Statement
A Little Bit of History
Meeting Date and Time
Membership
The Arts and Heritage Festival
2004 Creative Marketplace and Blues on Main Street
Carnegie Painted IV
Hound Hike 2004
MISSION STATEMENT
Carnegie Renaissance is a social
organization whose membership is drawn from the business owners
and citizens of Carnegie Borough. Our mission is to position the
town as a cultural area, and to promote the town as a whole by
combining the resources of its cultural and social assets with
our restaurants and social outlets. We hope to enhance the experience
of visitors to our community, increase customers to our cultural
events and our businesses, and thereby attract new businesses
and new residents.
A LITTLE
BIT OF HISTORY
In January 2003, to make a break
with the former goals and move forward with new plans, a core
group of citizens and business owners decided to name a new group
with new goals "Carnegie Renaissance". In the year 2003,
we accomplished more than we thought was possible for a fledgling
group:
• sponsored a gallery walk almost every month
• included other performance events on those weekends as
well
• assisted in the addition of another gallery and art organization,
South Arts, to our Main Street
• sponsored a community art exhibit, Carnegie Painted
• founded a Writer's Group
And probably most notably and visibly along Main Street, Mansfield Boulevard, Washington Avenue and several other streets, we ran the program for businesses to sponsor a banner welcoming visitors to Carnegie, and which features the business's name. Forty-six businesses purchased banners, and more are on their way in the spring of 2004.
Carnegie Renaissance began in 2001 when a group of local business owners got together to found a business development authority to help revitalize Carnegie's business district after the reopening and renovation of Main Street. The organization, called "Carnegie Community Development Team", met regularly and assembled the information needed to begin the process. However, the process itself is complicated and time-consuming, and as most business owners will recognize, you hardly have the time to do the things you need to do, let alone volunteering for a committee and reading complex legal documents. In addition, the BDA has requirements for membership, that representatives from various professions be on the committee, and that every member be a business owner in the business district in question, which was almost impossible to maintain. After consulting with people experienced in other boros and small towns, the group decided to give up the BDA idea for now and just begin to do things that would help provide entertainment for Carnegie residents, bring visitors to Carnegie, and bring more patrons to businesses in town. In time, this would lead to more businesses in town and more success for businesses already here.
MEETING
DATE AND TIME
DAY: Third Thursday of every month
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
PLACE: Historical Society of Carnegie, 1 West Main Street, Carnegie
(this is located right across from PNC Bank, at the end of the
bridge next to the creek)
Meetings are kept to 90 minutes. Food is welcome, but not necessary.
Guests are also welcome, and you need not be a member or become
a member. If you'd like to attend a meeting, please contact Carnegie Renaissance
beforehand to make sure no changes have been made to the meeting
day, time or place.
MEMBERSHIP
This will be updated in May 2004!
Carnegie Renaissance doesn't have a set membership, and we are
only beginning to choose officers, but here is a list of the persons
who have attended at least two meetings and who have been instrumental
in getting events together in the past few months.
Bernadette Kazmarski, Project Coordinator
for Carnegie Renaissance and self-employed freelance artist*
Joanne Letcher, J&L Travel and Chestnut Corner Consignments,
Treasurer
Marcella McGrogan, Historical Society of Carnegie
Scott Venetti, CVS Pharmacy, former owner of Eagle Drug of Carnegie
Dorothy Kelly, Carnegie resident and Boro Council member
Peg Bowman, director of the Concerned Citizens and Taxpayers of
Carnegie and resident
Phil and Jean Salvato, 3rd Street Gallery
Mary Ann Paff, Fidelity Bank
Carol Schneider, Executive Director, Carnegie Community Development
Corporation
Pat Linkowski-Jander and Bill Jander, Renaissance Gallery
Joanne Vandenhengel, Imagine Yoga
Maggie Forbes, acting Executive Director of Andrew Carnegie Free
Library & Music Hall
Tim Volk, Carnegie resident and Carnegie Boro Council member
Jennifer Prion, Carnegie resident and Carnegie Boro Council member
Many others participate in events as well.
*Bernadette also designed the logos and most of the promotional materials used for events, along with the web site.
