City of Asylum
Giving Voice.
How powerful is food, really? Can it bring people together in times of joy and strife? What’s the role of food in diasporic communities? What stories can be told through food?
Franco-Palestinian chef Fadi Kattan ponders these topics and more in what’s sure to be an engrossing evening of contemplation, exploration, and celebration.
City of Asylum artist-in-residence Mai Khôi presents a concert of brand-new music composed in collaboration with Pittsburgh-based pianist Mark Micchelli.
Khôi founded Mai Khôi and the Dissidents in Vietnam in 2017 as a vehicle to perform her genre-busting songs protesting government censorship and police violence. The band performed secretly at underground shows in Hanoi until threats from the Vietnamese government forced the band to change their name, then ultimately dissolve. Following Khôi's exile to the United States, she reformed the band with local Pittsburgh musicians while continuing the group's radical mission.
In the first of two concerts exploring the relationship between music, visual art, and mental health, City of Asylum regular Thomas Wendt pairs the music of Charles Mingus with the paintings of Norman Klenicki.
Described as “a singular talent” by Cathy Park Hong, author Akil Kumarasamy makes her City of Asylum debut to share her newly released novel, "Meet Us By the Roaring Sea."
August Wilson House celebrates America’s greatest playwright with substantial insider interviews with leading August Wilson actors, directors, and artists—regional and national. Hosted and moderated by Chris Rawson, a veteran Pittsburgh Post-Gazette theater critic who chronicled Wilson’s career and became a friend. December's interview features actor and director Brandon Dirden.
In the first concert of City of Asylum’s Ukrainian Artist Series, pianist and musicologist Taras Filenko takes us on a musical and poetic journey through three significant periods of Ukrainian history, revealing the resilience of a culture that has suffered profound repression.
How do approaches to literary translation differ in Europe and the United States? Swedish translator Daniel Gustafsson joins Pennsylvania-based translator Michelle Gil-Montero in a rich discussion exploring global perspectives on literary translation.
Karin Hansson and Daniel Gustafsson from the Swedish Center for Translators invite Pittsburgh-based educators, librarians, teaching artists, and other partners to learn about Sweden's Readers of the World! project as well as share their own experiences of working with multilingual young people in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh jazz guitarists Mark Strickland and Eric Susoeff, along with three of their students—Jonathan DiGiulian, Mila Shadel, and Alex Weibel—come together to play with and pay homage to the repertoire of Master Burrell’s Jazz Guitar Band.
The #notwhite collective in-dialogue series features conversations with BIPOC, AALANA, indigenous, and immigrant artists and arts administrators.
Curated by ASL Poet Laureate of Allegheny County Mj Shahen, City of Asylum is thrilled to host a series of three ASL slams to celebrate Deaf artists performing in American Sign Language (ASL). Hearing folks are welcome! ASL interpretation provided.
Zambian Afropop musician Mathew Tembo presents his latest album, "Mtendere" (Peace). Prominently feauturing the kalimba, the album is a fusion of indigenous Zambian music, reggae, and jazz.
Sonny Sharrock was a one-of-a-kind musician: a jazz guitarist who incorporated elements of metal and punk into his playing, too. Pittsburgh musicians pay homage, performing in entirety Sonny Sharrock’s final album, "Ask the Ages."
Please note that in-person tickets are sold out, but you can still tune in virtually. In this monthly series hosted by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh, volunteer storytellers and featured performers take the stage at Alphabet City to share stories based on a theme.
The Free Association Reading Series returns with intimate readings featuring exceptional local writers co-curated by Pat Hart and Marc Nieson.
Bushra Rehman visits City of Asylum for the first time in celebration of her highly anticipated debut novel, "Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion"—an unforgettable story about female friendship and queer love in a Muslim-American community.
In celebration of the Pittsburgh premiere of "FANNIE: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer" at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center from January 13–16, 2023, author Jacqueline Hamer Flakes stops by City of Asylum to share her latest book, "Mama Fannie: Growing Up the Daughter of Civil Rights Icon Fannie Lou Hamer."
Lighthouse Arts, Inc., a Pittsburgh-based organization established to improve the quality and accessibility of jazz education, celebrates the release of their latest album, "The Past is The Present."
City of Asylum celebrates the 2022–2023 Allegheny County Youth Poet Laureate and Youth Poet Ambassadors with a teen-curated program in observation of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The program features poetry readings from teens followed by a panel discussion on youth and arts activism.
Organized and hosted by the former producers of The Moth Pittsburgh, Story Club Pittsburgh hosts a monthly nonfiction storytelling series at City of Asylum. The theme for January 2023 is "Fresh Start."
