City of Asylum
Giving Voice.
Story Club Pgh’s monthly nonfiction storytelling series mixes the spontaneity of an open mic with the experience of live theater. Organized and hosted by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh and presented at City of Asylum.
Every show has both spontaneous tellers and featured performers, all taking the stage to share stories based on a theme.
July's theme is : Freedom
Kente Arts Alliance kicks off their Summer Madness concert series with Vocalist Anyah Nancy.
A relative newcomer to the Pittsburgh music scene, Anyah Nancy performed at the 2022 Three Rivers Arts Festival and received glowing reviews. Heavily influenced by jazz vocalists such as Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and others, Anyah Nancy and her band infuse classical jazz with modern soul and R&B.
Led by Pittsburgh saxophonist Ben Opie for over twenty years, OPEK is a reduced-sized big band that features some of Pittsburgh’s most vibrant and exciting musicians. OPEK started as an opportunity to showcase the music of visionary bandleader Sun Ra, and they’ve since expanded their repertoire to include Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, monster movie soundtracks, original works, and all points in between. OPEK performances are lively, engaging, and—most of all—fun!
Sid’s mother has one wish: for Sid to get married and have some kids. Sid’s not opposed to the idea, but to get there…Sid has to introduce their boyfriend to the family and come out as a transgender woman. Oh, and by the way, a fourteen-year-old boy pops up claiming to be Sid’s son. Join us for this heartwarming film that explores what it means to be a family.
Celebrating and recognizing arts and cultural workers, especially those who tend to be under the radar and forgotten about, the #notwhite collective has featured speakers from southwestern PA as well as national leaders in the arts. August’s conversation features Natiq Jalil and Victoria Snyder.
This event is sold out. You can still join us by watching online via our virtual channel.
The second of three concerts created by Yoko Suzuki exploring the history of female jazz harpists and composers and the rarely heard contributions they made to the jazz scene. This month spotlightsAlice Coltrane whose talents as a composer, singer, pianist, and harpist led her to create a distinctive style combining elements of gospel, classical, and jazz music.
Kente Arts Alliance presents two more blockbuster concerts in its Kente Summer Madness Series. For this concert, Kente has assembled an all-star band of renowned jazz musicians who all hail from states within the tri-state area. This formation will present a rare opportunity for them to play together as the Kente All-Stars I. Each member of the band has spent time leading his own series of groups, and each has a keenly individual sound.
Jimmy Heath is one of the great talents of jazz: a world-class saxophonist, composer, and arranger. In August, the Off Minor Jazz series offers an evening of Master Heath’s music, drawing on all parts of his long career.
This concert features a quintet with a trumpet and alto saxophone frontline playing arrangements by Lynn Speakman. Discussions related to Jimmy Heath’s autobiography, I Walked with Giants, sprinkle in throughout the set.
Join City of Asylum and Story Club Pittsburgh for a new monthly nonfiction storytelling series, mixing the spontaneity of an open mic with the experience of live theater. Organized and hosted by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh.
Every show has both spontaneous tellers and featured performers, all taking the stage to share stories based on a theme.
This event is sold out but you can still tune in for the livestream.
Kente All-Stars II rounds out Kente’s Summer Madness Series and its spotlight on renowned jazz musicians from the region. This all-star formation includes three of Pittsburgh’s most recognized and favored artists: Dwayne Dolphin, bass; Tom Wendt, drums; and Alton Merrill, piano. Joining them as their special guest is alto saxophonist Antonio Hart.
These two Pittsburgh actors are featured in “Jitney,” playing into September, 2022, in the theater in the back of August Wilson House in the Hill District. The interview is a stimulating, smart discussion, especially of the father-son emotions of Booster (Berry) and Doub (Timbers), as well as in the many other August Wilson plays they have done for the Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre.
A grandfather who was said to move clouds with his mind…his daughter who lost her memory in a childhood accident and began to see and hear the dead…and his daugter’s daughter, Ingrid, who lost her memory in an accident at twenty-three and unlike her mother, returned with no supernatural gifts… NY Times best selling author Ingrid Rojas Contreras dives into her own family history in her new memoir, The Man Who Could Move Clouds, and explores the meaning of inheritance, healing, and the power of story.
Joined in conversation by Elaine Castillo, whose new collection of essays, How to Read Now, delves into the politics and ethics of reading and insists that we are capable of something better: a more engaged relationship not just with our fiction and our art, but with our buried and entangled histories.
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