For Immediate Release	Contact: Carol O'Sullivan
Feb 1, 2005	412-681-5449 x205
Pittsburgh Filmmakers Announces Local PCA Fellowship Winners in Media Arts (PITTSBURGH, PA) — Pittsburgh Filmmakers and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (PCA) are pleased to announce two local 2005 Media Arts Fellowship award recipients: James Duesing and Jesse McLean, each awarded $5000. Other winners this year in Media Arts were Warren Bass, Brent Green, Richard Hoffmann and Karl Staven. The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowships were announced in Harrisburg on January 31, 2005. This year awards were available in the following categories: Arts Commentary - Perspectives on the Arts; Folk and Traditional Arts - Craft Traditions and Apprenticeships; Literature - Fiction or Creative Non-Fiction; Music - Jazz/Blues/World or Non-Classical Composition; and Media Arts - Narrative and Animation. As a fellowship partner, Pittsburgh Filmmakers has administered PCA Fellowships in the Media Arts Program for over 20 years. The 2005 Media Arts Program awarded $30,000 in Fellowships. Jesse McLean, of Pittsburgh, is an artist member of Pittsburgh Filmmakers where she also works as an assistant manager of operations. She earned her BA in studio art from Oberlin College, with a minor in filmmaking. McLean's short film "Celebration of Lights" won a first prize from and was exhibited across the US in the 2004 Black Maria Film Festival. Her work has been exhibited in: Chicago, IL; Liverpool, England; Montreal, Quebec; New York, NY; and Buffalo, NY. James Duesing, of Pittsburgh, is an artist member of Pittsburgh Filmmakers, an accomplished animator and an Associate Professor of Art (electronic media) at Carnegie-Mellon University. He was recently honored as the Pittsburgh Center of the Arts 2004 Artist of the Year, and won a second prize from the 2004 Black Maria Film Festival. Duesing's work has been exhibited, among other places, in: New York, NY; Seoul, Korea; Zagreb, Croatia; Stuttgart, Germany; London, England; Brisbane, Australia; and on the nine-city Southern Circuit here in the US. He earned an MFA in Film/Video from the University of Cincinnati. For over 20 years the PCA’s annual Fellowships in Media Arts have been administered and judged not in Harrisburg or Philadelphia, but in Pittsburgh. Amy Robeson, who is the full-time Artist Services Coordinator at Pittsburgh Filmmakers, and an artist in her own right, works months on the process each year, starting with scouting for judges. They must not be PA residents, must be working artists, and must be diverse geographically, ethnically, by age and gender. Each year, the suggested judges must be approved by an extensive PCA screening process in Harrisburg. The 2005 Media Arts category received 32 applications. For more information about Amy Robeson and the PCA’s Media Arts Program, call 412-681-5449, ext. 246. For information on other PCA winners or the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, call 717-787-6883, ext.3029.