Join us for the 2025 Freedom to Create Gala, City of Asylum’s annual fundraising event, as we gather to honor an international writer who shares our mission to protect and celebrate creative freedom of expression. Previous honorees include Ben Okri, Wole Soyinka, and Svetlana Alexievich. This year, we are thrilled to welcome prolific poet, essayist, professor of Classics, and translator, Anne Carson as our keynote speaker.
Carson has gained both critical accolades and a wide readership over the course of her “unclassifiable” publishing career. In addition to her many highly-regarded translations of classical writers such as Sappho and Euripides, and her triptych rendering of An Oresteia (2009), she has published poems, essays, libretti, prose criticism, and verse novels that often cross genres. Her honors and awards are many, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, and the American Academy in Berlin. She has also received the Lannan Literary Award, the Pushcart Prize, and the Griffin Poetry Prize.
In addition to the keynote speech, this year’s gala will feature a silent auction and raffle, live music, and dinner accompanied by wine from our in-house restaurant, Cucina Alfabeto.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Throughout the year, City of Asylum hosts over 100 FREE public arts and culture programs. It has always been a key part of our model to keep these programs accessible, so that no one is barred from the arts due to cost. The Freedom to Create Gala is our largest annual fundraising event, and therefore, our only event with a ticket price. Funds from the Gala go toward our year-round programming and maintaining our Exiled Writer and Artist Sanctuary program. This year, we’re offering various sponsorship packages for gala attendees.
Table Sponsorship (4 available)
The cost of a table sponsorship is $4,500. Table sponsors will receive:
- Premier reserved table for six guests, including their tickets and an optimal stage view.
- Recognition as a Table Sponsor with name included on print and digital materials for the Gala, as well as introductory remarks.
- Champagne welcome toast for your table.
- Six signed books by City of Asylum Writers-in-Residence (one for each guest at your table).
Gift Bag Sponsorship (1 available)
The cost of the gift bag sponsorship is $2,000. This does not include a ticket to the gala. The gift bag sponsor will receive:
- Option to include promotional merchandise or provide branded bags from your business to all attendees.
- Opportunity to “skip the line” and be first in line for the book signing at the end of the night
- A chance for all guests to receive a second title from a selection of the Keynote Speaker’s works
- Recognition as a Gift Bag Sponsor with name included on gala print materials and on the website
General Sponsorship
The cost of a general sponsorship is $1,000. The general sponsors will receive:
- Acknowledgement of sponsorship in gala print materials and on the website
All sponsorships will be coordinated by Dylan Falk, Development and Database Manager at City of Asylum. If you have any further questions or wish to become a sponsor, call 412-435-1110 (ext. 202) or email dfalk@cityofasylumpittsburgh.org.
Can’t attend? Consider a donation instead.
The funds raised from the annual Freedom to Create Gala go toward housing the seven City of Asylum Writers-in-Residence (and their families) who call Pittsburgh’s North Side home, as well as our year-long free public programming. If you cannot attend, but still wish to support our mission of protecting and celebrating freedom of creative expression, consider making a donation here.
