TAKARA CANTY | PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

Takara Canty
Visual Arts Director, ACH Clear Pathways

Takara Canty is the visual arts director for the nonprofit ACH Clear Pathways located in the Kaufmann Program Center in the Hill District, which provides an artistic hub for visual and performing arts.

There, the Pittsburgh CAPA graduate teaches a wide variety of programs and works with everyone from teens who are coming out as LGBTQ to senior citizens with disabilities. “I do a lot of identity work,” she says. “I don’t want a pretty picture; I want who you are.”

She’s been described as a community aunt, engaging kids ages pre-K and up through her day job as well as at local gallery crawls and community art shows. She collaborates with BOOM Concepts in her native Garfield as well as The Legacy Arts Project in Homewood on artistic initiatives, and she’s been creating public art around the city for nearly 20 years, working on projects with the Homewood Children’s Village, the Homewood YMCA’s Lighthouse Project, Kelly Strayhorn Theater and Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.

“Everyone needs a little bit of art in their life,” she says.