Industrial Arts Workshop
Learn more at iawpgh.org
2024
Welcome Back Summer:
The Industrial Arts Workshop empowers Pittsburgh-area youth and adults by combining arts, community development and workforce readiness. Through hands-on sculpture design and welding, participants gain practical skills and experiences that prepare them for careers in welding, other trades, the arts or any field they choose.
This grant helps fund the Summer Welding Boot Camp, which gives high school students access to a fully equipped training facility in Hazelwood. Participants learn welding, metal fabrication, drafting, engineering and equipment safety while exploring the creative arts process. The program also introduces students to a variety of career pathways, helping them build skills, confidence and inspiration for future success.
2023
Falk Facilities and Technology Improvement Fund:
For the past three years, Industrial Arts Workshop (IAW) has offered a 10-week summer welding bootcamp for low-income high school students that combines basic welding instruction with the creation of a public artwork. Many graduates continue their training through IAW’s after-school welding labs, and interest is growing — with over a dozen students now seeking more advanced instruction.
This grant funded the purchase of a platen table with accessories, enabling Industrial Arts Workshop to begin training students in commercial metal fabrication. Unlike artistic welding, commercial work — such as a recent commission to create uniform bike racks for City of Bridges housing in Hazelwood — requires precision, measurement and repeatability. The new equipment allows students to gain hands-on experience in these essential fabrication skills.
2023
Welcome Back Summer:
The Summer Welding Bootcamp (SWB) teaches welding through a creative arts approach, hosting 10 to14 high school students in a facility equipped with eight welding booths and space for group work and large sculpture assembly.
This grant helps enable 10 high school students to train in a professionally equipped facility in Hazelwood. Participants will gain hands-on experience in welding, metal fabrication, drafting, engineering and equipment safety, while exploring the creative arts process and learning about diverse career pathways.