Pittsburgh Film Office and Pittsburgh Public Theater launch training partnership Create PA
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis walked to the podium, mentioned the word “persistence” and looked directly at Dawn M. Keezer.
“When you look up that word in the dictionary you will see a picture of Dawn Keezer,” Davis said Wednesday morning inside the O’Reilly Theater, Downtown, referring to the Pittsburgh Film Office’s director who has led the city to a movie and television making mecca the past 29 years. “Movies and television shows are an asset to Pittsburgh.”
And now Keezer is expanding her reach to the theater.
The film office is collaborating with the Pittsburgh Public Theater to form Create PA: Film and Theater Works! It’s a partnership to attract, develop and retain talent in the film, theater and entertainment productions industries to support the growing entertainment arts environment.
It’s a venture that is second only to one being done in New York.
The program is being funded in its first year through $750,000 in grant money from the state and the Richard King Mellon Foundation, Keezer said, and will be offered for people to develop skills for behind-the-screen and behind-the-stage crew positions. They will learn skills such a electric, hair, wardrobe, carpentry and set decorating. Additional funding will be needed to support future years.
The program will be led by workforce director Morgan Overton. The Penn Hills native starts Monday. Overton is the former inclusion, diversity, equity and access manager for Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey. Overton said as a young Black woman she can now see a path for others like herself who want to make a career in this business. The program will also mentor film and theater students and offer internships. She said with Pittsburgh being a city of bridges this is a way to connect residents who want to learn about the arts now have the opportunities to develop the skills needed to make a living being part of a growing industry.
“It’s not rocket science,” Overton said. “We are here to open the door.”
The film industry is a vibrant and growing sector of our region’s economy, said Keezer, who has continually searched for ways to offer tax credits to those looking to shoot movies and shows in Pittsburgh. Posters of films she helped bring to Pittsburgh — “Fences,” “The Dark Knight Rises” and “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” — were displayed near the podium where she talked inside the O’Reilly, home of Pittsburgh Public Theater.
The film office recently held a training class for set lighting technicians.
Pittsburghers need to be ready for the jobs of the future, said Mamie Stein, IATSE president, Local 489. This partnership will help prepare a pipeline of new workers for family-sustaining jobs in creative industries.
Keezer’s tireless devotion and passion will create experiences for people to remain in Pittsburgh said U.S. Sen. Camera Bartolotta, founder and chair of the Pennsylvania film caucus and a former actor and producer.
“You all are shining a light on this incredibly rich theater niche that we have right here in Pittsburgh,” Bartolotta said. “This truly is a creative endeavor, and it’s so meaningful to know that there are now going to be thousands more people who are going to be able to stay right here in Southwestern Pennsylvania. They will continue on this journey to bring us beauty and history and emotion and drama and connectivity that you don’t get anywhere else but in the arts.”
Deputy chief of staff to Mayor Ed Gainey Felicity Williams said the mayor supports the arts and culture as an economic driver. Monica Bowin, director of production and operations for Pittsburgh Public Theater, said one of the keys to the partnership is unions.
“We depend on the skill and expertise of staff who belong to our production labor unions,” Bowin said.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who is in his final term, offered a possibility for his upcoming free time to be a stunt double for his look-alike actor Jeff Daniels of “American Rust,” which filmed in Pittsburgh. He talked about the movies that have been filmed here from the first modern zombie film “Night of the Living Dead” in 1968 to the 2016 Academy award best picture nominee “Fences,” a film adaptation of playwright August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play. Fitzgerald said people such as Wilson, Billy Strayhorn, Gene Kelly and Fred Rogers paved the way and made a tremendous impact on the arts in Pittsburgh.
Since 1990, the film industry in Pittsburgh has topped $2.5 billion, according to the film office.
“What better place than Pittsburgh to continue the growth of the industry,” Fitzgerald said. “This is such a wonderful opportunity where people can thrive and not have to leave the area for New York or Chicago or Los Angeles.”
Shaunda McDill, Pittsburgh Public Theater managing director, said this is a critical piece to connect with youth and create a future for them.
”There will be a variety of pathways and you don’t need a college degree,” McDill said. “This is so important to arts and culture in this region.”
Creative industries matter, Keezer said.
”We are starting here but definitely not stopping here,” Keezer said. “We want this to go statewide.”
Keezer and McDill discussed this idea when they met about Keezer joining the theater’s board in February.
“You are truly a person of your word,” McDill said of Keezer. “And I treasure that. We started talking about this in February and here it is happening in June.”
That’s persistence.
Details of the program will be available online at the Pittsburgh Film Office and the Pittsburgh Public Theater.
JoAnne Klimovich Harrop is a TribLive reporter covering the region's diverse culinary scene and unique homes. She writes features about interesting people. The Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist began her career as a sports reporter. She has been with the Trib for 26 years and is the author of "A Daughter's Promise." She can be reached at jharrop@triblive.com.
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