FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Joy KMT
Project Manager, Penn Avenue Creative
412.363.3000 x319
joy@kelly-strayhorn.org
KST Launches Penn Avenue Creative Lab with Moriah Ella Mason’s EveryBody Integrative Massage Pop-Up
Creates Accessible, Pop-Up Massage Practice for Community
PITTSBURGH, PA (January 21, 2016) — Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST) presents artist, choreographer and licensed massage therapist Moriah Ella Mason’s massage studio pop-up, EveryBody Integrative Massage, at KST's Alloy Studios from January 15–February 12. Each Monday, Thursday and Friday, Mason invites community members to schedule a 60-minute, Pay What Makes You Happy massage treatment.
During her residency, Mason also offers a workshop for social workers, non-profits and related fields on Friday, January 29 from 7–8 p.m., and workshops open to all community members on February 1 from 7–9 p.m., February 5 from 6–9 p.m. and February 17 from 7–8:30 p.m. View details about the workshops here.
Mason takes up an intentionally inclusive mobile massage practice to offer sliding-scale treatment to make healing bodywork sessions available to everyone, regardless of income. With a particular focus on the treatment of trauma, EveryBody brings together individualized massage treatments with education and advocacy programs to create a cohesive prescription for healing individuals and communities.
Mason says of her work, “I am a survivor of sexual and domestic abuse. I am also a white Jewish Queer Cis-woman, an intersection of identities that has exposed me to both hatred and judgement as well as incredible privilege. As an artist and activist I am passionate about unraveling the intersection of forces that come together within my life and finding ways to stand with POC and other queer people and religious minorities against the forces of white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism.”
Mason feels passionately about bringing what she and many other survivors, bodyworkers and artists have learned about trauma, embodiment and healing to the community. Mason desires to use her skills as an artist and educator to teach about these systems and hold community conversations about how trauma manifests in our neighborhoods and what we can do to repair ourselves and each other.
An expansion of the Penn Avenue Creative accelerator program, Penn Avenue Creative Lab residencies support the 2015 cohort’s transition from ideas to implementation in a supportive environment.
Starting this spring and continuing through the fall, the 2015 Penn Avenue Creative fellows use month-long residencies at KST to test their innovative ideas and share their answers with the East Liberty and Garfield communities. Mason will be testing new models of sustainability for her inclusive practice during this phase.
Penn Avenue Creative asks local creative leaders “How do you build better communities for all?” The program is the brain child of KST Executive Director janera solomon, who sees Penn Avenue Creative as a natural extension of KST’s seeding talent, ingenuity and creativity in the East End. “Creating inclusive whole communities is an intentional act and set of actions,” says solomon.
With generous support from The Heinz Endowments, solomon created PAC after attending the Heinz Endowments Transformative Arts Program. Penn Avenue Creative pulls inspiration from janera’s deep study of a multitude of schools of thought surrounding space, equity, and placemaking—particularly urban planner and National Council on the Arts member Dr. Maria Rosario Jackson’s idea of the cultural kitchen. Dr. Jackson considers cultural kitchens places where “members of geographic communities or communities of interest gather to be generative—to use their imagination, to make and experience art that nourishes, provokes and inspires... They take many forms...What they have in common is that they are beacons for collective creative activity."
Click for more information.
This program is made possible with support by The Heinz Endowments.
ABOUT MORIAH ELLA MASON
Moriah Ella Mason is a licensed massage therapist and interdisciplinary artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. Ella earned her massage license in 2010 after completing over 1,000 hours of training at the Finger Lakes School of Massage in Ithaca, NY. After spending several years in Tucson, AZ doing social justice and care work, Ella returned to her hometown of Pittsburgh and opened a private practice in East Liberty. Ella treats clients with a variety of goals with a particular focus on trauma treatment, chronic pain management, and injury recovery. She has training in Myofascial and Deep Tissue, Trigger Point Therapy, Shiatsu, Swedish Massage, Sports Massage, Oncology Massage, Prenatal and Infant Massage, Reiki, Polarity Therapy, and Aromatherapy
ABOUT KELLY STRAYHORN THEATER
Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST) uses the arts as a catalyst for community revitalization, and plays a key role in the transformation of East Liberty and nearby neighborhoods. In its 13th year as an organization, and seventh season of original programming, KST continues to demonstrate its commitment to Pittsburgh artists and audiences, supporting the presentation of risk-taking new work by emerging artists and arts organizations. KST operates two professionally-equipped venues along the Penn Avenue arts corridor. The historic Kelly Strayhorn Theater (formerly the Regent Theatre, 1914) is a 350-seat multi-arts venue, and the last survivor of East Liberty’s nine original theaters. Noted Pittsburghers and KST namesakes Gene Kelly and Billy Strayhorn are among the 80 area artists honored in the theater’s Gallery of Stars. Just blocks away, KST’s Alloy Studios play host to intimate performance events and provide creative space for artist residencies, Alloy School dance classes, and performance rehearsals, as well as community art and music programs.
Major funding for KST Presents is provided by The Heinz Endowments, Richard King Mellon Foundation, The Benter Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, and Allegheny Regional Asset District.
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