Offroute Art Biotech Fellowship Application

Spring 2026 Offroute Art BioTech Fellowship
Applications have closed.

The 2026 Offroute Art Biotechnology Fellowship is a paid, four-artist program that brings together art, science, and community. Centering youth voice and personal identity, the fellowship makes biotechnology more accessible and relevant while encouraging young people to see themselves as future creators and collaborators.

Fellows developed individual and collaborative digital artworks exploring the intersection of art, community, and life sciences. Selected projects were adapted into a limited series of keepsake items and shared with participants in the University of Pittsburgh’s Life Sciences Bridge Program, a paid workforce development program for 18–24-year-olds exploring careers in the life sciences.

In Spring 2026, four fellows between the ages of 18 and 24 were selected to take part in this program. Meeting monthly across Pittsburgh and through online conversations, they built a community where challenging ideas could be shared and explored. Together, they chose monarch butterflies as the central theme of their creative inquiry—an idea that became the heart of their final showcase.

Fellows' Showcase:
June 24, 2026 at OneValley in the Roundhouse on Hazelwood Green

Meet the 2026 Spring Fellows

Carlee Shreve

Carlee Shreve is a queer artist based in Pittsburgh. She is a 2023 graduate from Chatham University where she double majored in International Business and Graphic Design. Carlee uses personal experiences, nature, and truth to inspire all of her creations.

Sydney Cicchini

Syd Cicchini is a cinema major who has networked across multiple industries, like gaming, animation, robotics, and healthcare. They are often relaying advice from professionals to students worldwide. They have worked professionally in creative writing, gaming, technology, and acting within the city of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Regional Area and have connections with HBOMAX, Paramount+, Amazon MGM Studios, and META through pghFilms. When not in a professional setting, Syd enjoys gaming, writing, and illustrating in their downtime.

Sol Pino

Sol Pino is the creator of Seraph Artworks. His works are a blend of realism and dreamscapes. He is a SCAD graduate and a member of the Gila River Indian Community. His hopes as an artist are to pursue his artistry full time.

Angelo Dante

Fall 2025 Offroute Art Conflict Transformation Fellowship
Applications have closed.

“Crisis of Empathy / Limit of Empathy,” guided the artists as they created new work that reflects on both personal and social dimensions of care, conflict, and understanding. Their projects examine everything from inner struggles and emotional growth to the barriers that can make it difficult to feel supported, seen, and valued by others.

In August 2025, eight fellows between the ages of 18 and 24 were selected to take part in this program. Meeting monthly across Pittsburgh and through online conversations, they built a community where challenging ideas could be shared and explored. Together, they chose empathy as the central theme of their creative inquiry—an idea that became the heart of their final showcase.

Fellows' Showcase:
December 5, 2025 at Studio 4 Gallery

Meet the 2025 Fall Fellows

Spring 2025 Inaugural Offroute Art Biotech Fellowship
Applications have closed.

This fellowship is open to visual artists ages 18 - 24 who are interested in learning more about the intersections of art, life sciences, biotechnology, and ethics. This is an educational and creative opportunity for visual artists to create one or more projects over the span of 4 months, inspired by the cutting-edge biotechnology advancements taking place at the University of Pittsburgh.

Artists will be compensated up to $500 for their final project which will be purchased by the University of Pittsburgh.

During the January - March 2025 sessions, the meeting structure will be a combination of learning, group interaction, and time to work on your project. Our final session in April 2025 will be an art showcase event where your project will be publicly displayed within the Greater Hazelwood community.

This fellowship is created through a partnership between the University of Pittsburgh’s Office of Engagement and Community Affairs and Offroute Art, with funding provided by The Heinz Endowments.

Fellows' Showcase:
May 2, 2025 at Industrial Arts Workshop

Meet the 2025 Spring Fellows

Ivana Mensah-Agyekum

Ivana is an artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. She works with image, movement, sound, and space. Recently, she has been making drawings and songs that express awe. She is interested in Akan mythology, religious iconography, symbolism, Truth, subtle bodies, language, dreams, inward/outward looking, and how parts come together to create wholes.

Chesney Warden

Chesney Warden is a fifth-year senior pursuing degrees in Studio Art and Marketing at the University of Pittsburgh. She calls wherever her mom is, home. Utilizing mediums of primarily collage and sculpture, she creates works on topics ranging from body standards to the stages of grief. Creating artwork as a mixed-race queer woman, her identity adds nuance to her work, which is further reflected in its physical layers through assemblage and three-dimensional forms.

Amelia Daffodilya

I am a 23 year old artist from Wheeling WV. I started working with markers, my pallets consist of honey, and neon. My art includes images of nature, sunsets, squiggles. I hope to connect people to deeper lessons, and thoughts with my art as I progress.

J Rich

J Rich is an emerging African American multimedia artist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Currently enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Studio Arts in his fourth and final year, Rich utilizes his own unique cartoon style to comment on themes of everyday life, the Black community, interpersonal relationships, and personal experiences. These themes are presented in mediums including small and large scale acrylic paintings, digital photography, and videography.

Carly Pison

I use any pronouns and I’m from Lincoln Place. My whole life I’ve been creating art of many different mediums, from fabric to metal I’ve at least tried most visual art avenues, and the ones i haven’t are just yet to be learned! Nature, people, and their endless ways of sparking creativity have fueled my passion for art. I love to find new concepts, feelings, and visuals to inspire me to make art. I have a number of pieces I've worked on including "The Braids of Hope", a mural located in Hazelwood; and a piece that was presented in the MuseumLab Metal Arts Showcase, "Oh", a brass and copper enameled pendant depicting a duckling in the style of a Roman Catholic saint.

Tristan Mukherjee

Tristan Mukherjee is an artist who strives to depict the beauties and spiritual wonders of Eastern cultures. He likes to amalgamate music, art, literature, and culture as complementary elements to drive forward advocacy and destigmatization and accentuate the many beauties of marginalized communities. His visual art stems from intuition, autobiographies, stories about his immigrant roots, Bengali and greater South Asian history, and ancient South Asian art. He hopes to express the oneness of humanity's reigning importance above the divide that is unanimously present across the globe.

Spring 2026 Offroute Art BioTech Fellowship Applications have closed.

Fellows' Showcase: June 24, 2026 at OneValley in the Roundhouse on Hazelwood Green

Meet the 2026 Spring Fellows

Fall 2025 Offroute Art Conflict Transformation Fellowship Applications have closed.

Fellows' Showcase: December 5, 2025 at Studio 4 Gallery