Westmoreland Museum gets grant for 2022 exhibition 'Stephen Towns: Declaration and Resistance'

The Westmoreland Museum of American Art has received an $8,000 grant to help support an exhibition opening next January that explores American history and the experiences of Black Americans over the past 300 years.

The Homestead-based Rivers of Steel grant will help the Greensburg museum present Stephen Towns’ solo exhibition, “Stephen Towns: Declaration and Resistance.”

The exhibition and related programs will help increase awareness about American history and the lived experiences of Black Americans from the 18th century to today, said Anne Kraybill, chief executive officer of The Westmoreland. Those related programs include artists’ talks, hands-on workshops, and programs geared towards students, Kraybill added.

The exhibition, which will open Jan. 31, 2022, and continue though April 24, 2022, will feature 41 works of paintings and quilts that explore the American dream through the lives of Black Americans, the museum said. It examines the history of labor by Black Americans in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia and will help to contextualize the often unacknowledged laborers who worked to create the region, the museum said.

The museum is one of nine nonprofits to share in $60,000 in mini-grants for organizations in the nonprofit Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area. The state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Community Conservation Partnerships Program and the Environmental Stewardship Fund provided money for the grants, according to Rivers of Steel.