The IFCI has always sought to highlight the voices of the community and provide them opportunities. We have been offering arts education and been providing gallery space opportunities and support to artists for 15 years. We continue to add to the cultural landscape of Pittsburgh with exhibitions, classes, rentals, collaborations, summer camps and community outreach. 

Any donations we get allow us to give jobs to help staff our camps. With our camps largely serving BIPOC communities, we understand that it is often these communities that need the most financial assistance. We diversify our programs by collaborating with other organizations, like Kraynick’s Bike Shop, Assemble, and Cutting Root Farm and Apothecary. IFCI Collaborations has partnered with over 100 organizations over the years. In our camps, we often seek to engage our campers with heritage, craft and performance driven arts.  

Unfortunately, IFCI has fallen on some hard times, as our primary source of income at this point is space rentals and art sales. As a gallery and exhibition space, and venue for workshops and summer camps, IFCI serves a vital role to the East End community. The owner of IFCI, Sheila Ali, a local POC woman who has worked in the arts community for over quarter of a century, runs the space alongside one staff member. In order to keep IFCI going it is crucial we secure more funding. We appreciate it more than anything. Thankyou so much for your support ❤️

IFCI makes sure to hire our employees from our Pittsburgh communities with an emphasis on hiring people of color, and from the LGBTQ community. We support staff for their unique work. We want to continue to serve hundreds of kids throughout the years as long as we find funding to cover the costs of our at-risk and low income campers.