CDCP x The Future is Black x WCDC Present: Vania Evangelique

Opening reception: Saturday, July 25, 2026, 12-3 PM

On view: July 25, 2026 - October 17, 2026
Gallery hours: Every other Saturday 12-5 PM

CDCP, The Future is Black, and WCDC are thrilled to kick off the 2026-2027 season of Art All Over with a solo exhibition by artist Vania Evangelique. We’re excited to partner with The Future is Black for this upcoming season and are looking forward to the future of this program under their vision and leadership.

Light and language; what it illuminates and what it does not is the means in which I position my subjects, capturing an experience lived in a moment. I do this through the mediums of photography and writing where I purposefully seek out still moments that are found in nature, the environments in which I am placed, and the intimacy of my own home. And by doing so the mundane, transitional, and stretching processes of life are able to be fully expressed. The pursuit of still moments was born out of my upbring in Brooklyn, NY and the stark contrast of my later youth in Bethlehem, PA. I spent time analyzing and digesting the difference of feeling between grass and hot concrete on my feet, the smell of pollen versus car exhaust, the subtly of voices amongst the city to the insects singing to the evening night, and how looking into the night sky lent itself to city lights versus the vastness of the stars. This dichotomic rhythm of existing was one that required me to be attentive to environments that were transforming outwardly and inwardly. It’s in this noticing that I have become more present to the current moment where I now use place as an anchor, bringing with it an awareness of space. Both my photography and writing takes on a narrative approach that is often emotionally expository, revealing itself my deeper thoughts, feelings and observations of the world that I encounter. No matter the medium, my intention is to present an invitation to pay closer attention to the world we occupy; and create within it a space to appreciate the beauty found in the unlikely of places.

About Vania Evangelique:

Vania Evangelique (b. 1996) is a photographer and writer from Bethlehem, PA by way of Brooklyn, NY. Since receiving her BA in Photojournalism in 2018 from Point Park University, she has participated in residencies such as Brew House Arts as an artist and curatorial resident, exhibited with the Associated Artist of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and was a studio artist with arts letters & numbers in Albany, NY. Curatorially, she enjoys fostering the voices of artists and has since served as an art installer apprentice with Casey Droege Cultural Productions, photographed arts news events with nextPittsburgh, and illuminated the Pittsburgh art scene through artist reviews with the commercial gallery Wick Monet.

About The Future is Black:

Ahmed Tacumba Turner Jr. is a Pittsburgh-based multidisciplinary arts professional, curator, and community development strategist. As Founder and Creative Director of The Future Is Black (2019–Present), he has produced 10 exhibitions and showcases across Pittsburgh's cultural institutions, distributing $15,000+ in artist stipends, facilitating $5,000+ in artwork sales, and engaging over 2,000 attendees — building a sustained platform for BIPOC artists in the region.

Tacumba's curatorial practice centers the visibility, economic sustainability, and cultural power of Black artists. In 2025, he served as Guest Curator and Moderator for Being Seen at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center — the first exhibition at that institution to feature a local guest curator — presenting 38 Pittsburgh artists. He also co-curated Fruits of Seeing (Mavuno) at Sweetwater Center for the Arts as part of their 25th anniversary programming.

Beyond the gallery, Tacumba brings a systems-level perspective to cultural work. He serves on the City of Pittsburgh's 2050 Comprehensive Plan Community Working Group, and holds advisory roles with Upstream, the Vital Village Network, and the O'Connor Campaign Arts Advisory Council. 

WCDC's Lohr Gallery
725 Wood St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15221

CDCP x WCDC Present: Jessica Peña Heberle

CDCP x WCDC Present: Jessica Peña Heberle

Artist Reception: Saturday, June 28, 12-3pm

On view: June 28-October 4, 2025
Gallery hours: Every other Saturday, 12-5pm

We’re thrilled to have Jessica Peña Heberle as our exhibiting artist for CDCP x WCDC Present: Art All Over

Jessica Peña Heberle (b. 1981) is a multidisciplinary artist from Erie, PA. She lives and works in her home studio in Wilkinsburg, PA. She spent her twenties back packing across Europe, traveling and moving around the US before calling Pittsburgh home. Her art process
includes painting, drawing, comics, zines, art books, and found objects. 

Jessica’s paintings depict figures in dialogue with the natural world—bodies of water, forests, and rock formations. These environments serve as emotional landscapes where figures drift between intimacy and detachment, engaged with their incorporeal selves, personal narratives, and the charged spaces they inhabit. Themes of anxiety, loneliness, physical trauma, and the influence of the unconscious mind thread through her work. These emotional states are not illustrated directly but emerge through gesture, posture, and atmosphere.

In the studio, Jessica embraces a process of uncertainty. Each piece begins without a fixed plan, evolving intuitively through layered experimentation. She works with various mediums, including watercolor, gouache, inks, colored pencil and graphite. Layering multiple mediums creates texture and movement within each piece and is a key component to her studio process. It is a vulnerable, creative practice where curiosity and obsessive mark making guide the form and feeling of each painting.

The show will be open to the public every other Saturday from 12-5 pm on the following dates:

June 28
July 12
July 26
August 9
August 23
September 6
September 20
October 4

WCDC's Lohr Gallery
725 Wood St.
Wilkinsburg, PA 15221

CDCP x WCDC Present: Charlotte Ka opens Saturday, March 1

CDCP x WCDC Present: Charlotte Ka

Artist Reception: Saturday,March 1, 12-3pm

On view: March 1-May 31, 2025
Gallery hours: Saturdays 12-5pm

We’re thrilled to have Charlotte Ka be our third exhibiting artist for the ‘24-’25 season of Art All Over.

Charlotte Ka is an artist who splits her practice between Pittsburgh, PA and Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Crestas Terrace, a small village east of Pittsburgh, Charlotte left for New York to study at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. A formative time for Charlotte, she became inspired by the Black Revolution of the ‘60s and the defiant spirit of the Black Power movement, which led to her immersion in a new lifestyle that included her Black and African heritage.

Inspired by her love of art, dance, and music, Charlotte’s work is about “the beauty of the spirit.” She uses her memories of her inspirations as a foundation to create her mosaic-like abstract pieces. She has exhibited her work in New York City, NY, Pittsburgh, PA, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Cuba, Jamaica, and Brazil. She is the recipient of the NYFA Award in Painting and the Advancing of Black Arts grant from the Heinz Foundation. She and her partner Errol Reynolds founded MOKA (Mecca of Kulture and Art), an art studio, gallery and residence in the Hill District of Pittsburgh. 

WCDC's Lohr Gallery
725 Wood St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15221

CDCP Founder Casey Droege Recognized by Small Business Administration

CDCP Founder and Director Casey Droege got a shout out from the Small Business Administration (SBA)!

The SBA recognized our recent milestone of paying $1,000,000 back into the local arts economy, our unique approach to art consulting, and how we reached this financial target in a short seven years.

To check out the full article, click the button below.

$1,000,000 and beyond!

Photos taken by Jasnoor Kaur

We’re looking back at our major milestone from this past year: making one million dollars for the local arts economy!

We celebrated at Brew House Arts with friends and collaborators we've worked with over the years who helped us make this goal. We're grateful for everyone who's supported us this year and beyond, and we're looking forward to making our next million for the arts economy.

Though we’re thrilled about this milestone, our team is also preparing for what’s to come in 2025. Our Executive Director, Casey Droege, took a moment to write down her thoughts on the future of the arts in the wake of this past November.

“Like so many of you, we are recouping from a pretty bad election hangover. As we try to regain our bearings, I can’t help but imagine the worst case scenarios. Still, I’m finding some strength as I look at what we’ve built already and to this arts community that we are woven into.

The thing that keeps giving me a little peace is the idea that we’ve already built a business that does things differently. We’ve come this far by working around broken systems and pushing for better. We are adept at pivoting and finding the loopholes and figuring out ways to keep our heads above water.

I’m tired- but I’ve been tired for a while, and I’m not giving up. Our team at CDCP is not giving up. We’re resting, replenishing and figuring out ways we can keep moving forward. We will continue to find ways to build our arts economy and support our arts community. We will question the existing structures, we will find ways to create supportive platforms, and we will generate income for artists and arts workers. We will take breaks as needed and we will probably complain - a lot. But I hope that our team’s work will help strengthen this arts ecosystem and make a positive impact during turbulent times.”

We’re looking forward to making a positive impact with you in 2025 and beyond.

Happy New Year!
The CDCP Team