City of Asylum
Giving Voice.
Debut author Amelia Possanza asks: How could lesbian love help us reimagine care and community? What would our world look like if we replaced its foundation of misogyny with something new, with something distinctly lesbian? The result is "Lesbian Love Story," an intricate tapestry of lesbian histories, seamlessly cinched together with threads of Amelia’s own story.
What do we want future generations of queer people to know about our time? In this workshop, we will create individual digital archives of our own lives, and, as a group, we will gather them all together to make a queer time capsule.
As many of you know, since 2010, June at City of Asylum means the return of one of the most popular annual poetry events in the city—Cave Canem’s Faculty Reading. This coincides with the week-long Cave Canem Retreat, their long-standing flagship program.
Jazz & Fly Fishing is a unique group of jazz musicians, adding a nuanced new genre to the intersection of outdoor adventure and the arts. They are now embarking on their American tour, stopping at City of Asylum in addition to performing at clubs, festivals, fly shops, and river banks while documenting their adventures along the way.
Kente Arts Alliance presents a series of three energetic and engaging concerts focusing on the art and music of the African Diaspora. The first concert in this series presents the Winston Bell Quartet, who share the stage with spoken word artist Jacquea Mae.
Story Club Pittsburgh (created by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh), organizes and hosts a monthly nonfiction storytelling series at City of Asylum. The theme for June 2023 is Moving On or Moving Out.
This program is the first of three concerts in the “History of Cuban Music” series, curated, arranged, and performed by Hugo Cruz. All three concerts will combine musical performances, talks, and video and film excerpts.
In this fifth installment of our International Reading Series curated by Anderson Tepper, City of Asylum welcomes Ani Kayode Somtochukwu and Roxane Gay. In this program, Kayode, Roxane, and Anderson will discuss Kayode’s debut novel And Then He Sang a Lullaby.
This program presents a mid-album preview concert for Exetastes, an original jazz album from composer and vocalist, Laura Chu Wiens (AurallaurA)
This series builds on Yoko Suzuki’s ongoing projects to showcase the music of influential female jazz composers and leaders. Commemorating the tenth year since the passing of Marian McPartland, this concert will feature the arrangements of her original compositions and the songs she frequently played.
Reel Stories is a free monthly film series dedicated to showcasing international queer cinema presented in partnership with Reel Q, Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival. June’s screening (Happy Pride Month!) presents Walking With Shadows, a 2019 drama directed by Aoife O’Kelly which stars Ozzy Agu and Zainab Balogun.
After some time away—a few years in New York and one in Switzerland— flutist, vocalist, and composer Alex Hamburger has returned to her roots and is ready to make some noise. This program is part of the CD release tour for her sophomore album "What If?"
This summer, the Kente Arts Alliance is presenting a series of three energetic and engaging concerts at City of Asylum, with special focus on the art and music of the African Diaspora. The second concert in this series presents the Howie Alexander Band, who share the stage with spoken word artist Leslie “Ezra” Smith.
This program is the second of three concerts in the “History of Cuban Music” series, curated, arranged, and performed by Hugo Cruz. This concert spotlights the musical genres danzón, cha cha cha, charanga, danzónete, and mambo.
New for 2023, the Alphabet City Kids series features quarterly visits from authors writing books for elementary-aged children. July’s program introduces Vicki Johnson, author of debut children’s book, Molly’s Tuxedo.
This program presents an engaging and unique panel, comprised of the minds behind "Poetry’s Geographies: A Transatlantic Anthology of Translations." This anthology radically foregrounds the role of translators as bridge-builders and activists, with a crucial role in revealing the structures through which poetry moves and circulates.
Story Club Pittsburgh mixes the spontaneity of an open mic with the experience of live theater. Every show includes volunteer storytellers and featured performers who all take the stage to share stories based on a theme. The theme for July 2023 is Into the Wild.
In this concert, we welcome back Brooklyn’s Kaleta & Super Yamba Band, fronted by Afrobeat and Juju veteran Leon Ligan-Majek (a.k.a. Kaleta).
As part of his project “Four for Mingus,'' AJ Johnson presents the third in a series of four concerts. This performance will focus on the ways in which Charles Mingus expanded the blues and adopted it to his artistic vision, stretching the genre to new dimensions.
Reel Stories is a free monthly film series dedicated to showcasing international queer cinema presented in partnership with Reel Q, Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ+ Film Festival. July’s screening presents "Just Friends," a romantic comedy directed by Ellen Smit.
