Storytime Spotlight is an educational series presented by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center that introduces young children to books that features stories, songs, rhymes, and fingerplays. This series highlights Black and Brown children’s book authors and will feature conversations and a live reading with the author.

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Storytime Spotlight

August Wilson African American Cultural Center

Lit Fridays is a literary-focused, virtual salon presented by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, featuring conversations and guest performances on the last Friday* of each month at 6:00p EST via Facebook and YouTube Live. All conversations are moderated by AWAACC Literary Curator, Jessica Lanay.

Lit Friday: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan

Take an “intermission” from work and join the party. Tour the galleries and chill on the patio…simply BE at AWAACC.

Intermission: An Artful Networking Series

We are thrilled to invite you to an engaging and inspiring Hip Hop Art Camp series led by instructor Keah Adams at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. In two sessions, children will embark on a creative journey exploring the ways Hip Hop and Art collide when artists invent and create aliases (nicknames) and personas to express themselves. The students will then discover their own unique identities through artistic expression, while inventing cool names that tell their story!

Art Camp

Join us on October 12, 2024, from 2-5pm at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center for a special screening of the documentary film *Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask*. This insightful documentary explores the life and enduring legacy of Paul Laurence Dunbar, one of the first African American poets to gain national recognition. This event promises to be both informative and inspiring, offering a deeper understanding of Dunbar’s contributions to literature and culture. Registration is required.

Paul Laurence Dunbar: Beyond the Mask

The STEAM circus is coming to Hazelwood! Mark your calendars for this FREE carnival community day bringing together science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) in a fun and interactive environment for all ages.

AWCommunity Day: S.T.E.A.M. on the Green

Hazelwood Green

Malika Aisha, Jehoiada Calvin, Louie Ortiz-Fonseca, Tirzah Sheppard, and Ivanova Veras join LIT Friday to for group reading and discussion about When Language Broke Open.

Lit Friday: Group Reading

Keep the excitement of the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival going with Chris Coles’ Nine Lives Project featuring Sean Jones!

Chris Coles: Nine Lives Project ft Sean Jones

Kick off your Saturday at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival with a festive mixology class sponsored by Bacardi!

Mixology Class

Join us in kicking off the 14th Annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival with Maysa at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center! Tickets to Maysa include access to the post-concert Taste of Jazz party.

Maysa & Taste of Jazz

What is a Taste of Jazz? It is a Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival tradition, and highly anticipated party of the year.  It’s our way to share a taste of different jazz styles, paired with delicious tasting from Pittsburgh’s hottest restaurants. Check back for updates on participating musicians and restaurants!

Taste of Jazz

The 14th Annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival returns home to Liberty Avenue with FREE concerts in honor of the 15th Anniversary of the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. Jazz in multiple genres, newly commissioned music, unique collaborations between artists, emerging artists alongside legendary music makers, hip jam sessions…it is an experience not to miss. Make your plans NOW to spend a weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with music lovers from around the globe.

Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival

Join pianist and travel host Orrin Evans on the second annual Jazz Train™, which picks up fans at Amtrak stations in New York, Newark and Philadelphia before arriving in Pittsburgh on September 19th and departing on September 23rd. The package includes round-trip train tickets from each city, live jazz music during the trip, gifts bags, light refreshments and a shuttle bus to/from the festival. Passengers are responsible for securing the hotel and festival events of their choice.

PIJF Jazz Train

Lit Friday: Tyriek White

Are you a survivor of gun violence, or do you know someone who is? Join us for Faces of Resilience, a transformative two-day workshop at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, where you’ll create powerful masks to express your emotions, celebrate your loved ones, and honor your triumphs. These workshops are offered in partnership with Project Safe Storage and will be facilitated by Tia Baker and Dr. Lois Dabney-Smith.

Faces of Resilience Workshops

Lit Friday: Jerome Ellis

The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is thrilled to present The Ebony Canal! Please join us at 6pm for a red carpet and film screening.

The Ebony Canal

Join us for a final celebration of Xippi, Heritage, And Metamorphosis: Voices In West African Art with a closing reception featuring a gallery talk led by curator Janice Bond.

Closing Reception for Xippi, Heritage, And Metamorphosis: Voices In West African Art

Join us at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center for our 2nd Annual Pride and Joy event, an event that celebrates the pride, resilience, and empowerment of Black queer individuals. This event is a gathering of love, support, and celebration for the Black LGBTQIA+ community, honoring their unique experiences, identities, and contributions. Come together with friends, allies, and community members to enjoy a night filled with music, performances, and fun.

Pride and Joy

Lit Friday: Nicholas Goodly

AWCommunity Days is a quarterly event, proudly co-presented by UPMC/UPMC Health Plan and Citizens. Generous support of FREE programming at AWAACC provided by Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD).

Pride and Joy Community Day

Attention all aspiring hip-hop artists and DJs! Join us this summer at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center for an exciting music camp in partnership with Propel School and the Notes for Notes program.

Music Camp

Explore the first-ever permanent exhibition dedicated to the life and works of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson.

Juneteenth Celebration

HOWIE ALEXANDER, who hails from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, grew up in a home filled with jazz, R&B, and funk. Howie began playing piano when he was 15, and 27 years later, with performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Poogie Bell, Ciaro, and the likes of Stanley Turrentine on his resume, the Duquesne University graduate performs as sideman or headliner at venues from Pittsburgh to Monaco. He has been a piano instructor at the Afro-American Music Institute since 1994, and now serves as Artistic Director.

Howie Alexander

The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is thrilled to bring back Dance Camp for the 3rd year, with educator Christian “JITA” Brown. The purpose of this camp will be to educate students on the fundamentals of dance and what makes hip-hop dance an influential style of dance. JITA will take students on a journey through popping, locking, and break dancing, and encourage students to use their individual style and personality to create a dance masterpiece. The sessions will take place in person on June 8th, June 29th, and July 13th from 11am-1pm. Students will perform for our October Community Day on October 5th. It is recommended that students wear comfortable clothing and shoes to easily move during the sessions. This class is designed for students 10 to 16 years of age and class size will be limited to ensure all students receive proper instructions to achieve their goals.

Dance Camp

Lit Friday: Airea D. Matthews

Join the TRUTHSayers Speaker Series for an unforgettable evening with Isabel Wilkerson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Humanities Medal. Immerse yourself in an exploration of our shared humanity, as Wilkerson brings to light powerful stories of migration, family, and citizenship within Pittsburgh’s Black community. Don’t miss this opportunity to be inspired by one of the most influential voices of our time. After the event, attendees can meet Wilkerson at an 8PM book signing, with books available for purchase.

TRUTHSayers: Isabel Wilkerson

Intermission: The Artful Happy Hour Series

Two jazz icons, Dwayne Dolphin and Sean Jones, join together in Pittsburgh to create an unforgettable night of music.

Sean Jones & Dwayne Dolphin

This exhibition unveils a captivating collection of artworks originating from diverse regions in Western Africa, including Dakar, Nigeria, Ghana, and more. An interplay of colors, textures, and forms harmoniously weave together, creating memorable visual narratives. These visual vocabularies are a testament to the immense creativity, storytelling, skill, and cultural significance of the remarkable artists behind them. The exploration invites you to transcend stereotypical interpretations, offering a fresh perspective on African art that encompasses the realm of futurism.

Xippi, Heritage, and Metamorphosis: Voices in West African Art

Experience the vibrancy and energy the Gallery Crawl – the liveliest night in the city! Presented in downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, the Gallery Crawl attracts thousands of art lovers to experience visual arts, live music, dance, spoken word and more. The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is featuring three exhibits during the Gallery Crawl: Abebui Adekai: Proverb Boxes for a Life Well Traveled by Jacob Paa Joe, Jr, Xippi, Heritage, and Metamorphosis: Voices in West African Art, and Limitless Africans by Mikael Chukwuma Owunna.

Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District

Mýa: definition of the multi-hyphenate entertainer. Since releasing her eponymous debut album Mýa in 1998 at the age of 18, Mýa has become a staple in the pop cultural zeitgeist across genres, platforms, and mediums, around the world.  Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter and producer Mýa is globally recognized and celebrated as a musician and true artist.  As a Screen Actors Guild award winning actress, Mýa has made herself an indelible talent across film, television, Broadway, and gaming. Mýa Marie Harrison’s resume is a reflection of the unique and authentic artistry that has maintained a career spanning 25 diverse, exciting and empowering years as the portrait of a true artist and business woman.  Mýa’s alluring talent echoes around the globe and across decades as a beloved singer, actress, dancer, choreographer, model, philanthropist, activist, and entrepreneur. In 2023, Mýa marks her 25th anniversary in the entertainment industry. Mýa’s musical journey began in 1998 with the release of her self-titled debut album, which went double platinum and produced hit singles such as “It’s All About Me,” with Sisqo, “Movin On,” and “My First Night With You.”

Soul Sessions: Mýa

Lit Friday: Maura Cheeks

Pittsburgh Jazz Hall of Famer, Richie Goods, and vibraphonist, Chien Chien Lu, present their show “CONNECTED.”

Richie Goods / Chien Chien Lu / Connected

Celebrate Jazz Appreciation Month with Highlights from the 13th Annual Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival, presented by Citizens. We will be airing a special 48-hour presentation featuring highlights from last year’s festival at pittsburghjazzfest.org.

Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival 2023 Highlights

Join us for a special edition of LIT Friday featuring artist Jacob Paa Joe Jr. of Paa Joe Coffin Works in conversation with scholar, poet, and AWAACC Literary Curator, Jessica Lanay. They will be discussing his new sculptural installation, Abebui Adekai: Proverb Boxes for a Life Well Traveled by Jacob Paa Joe Jr.

Lit Friday with Paa Joe Jr.

Christian McBride is an eight-time GRAMMY Award winning bassist, composer, and bandleader. McBride is the Artistic Director of the historic Newport Jazz Festival, New Jersey Performing Arts center (NJPAC) and the TD James Moody Jazz Festival, and the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. Christian is also a respected educator and advocate as the Artistic Director of Jazz House KiDS, and the Jazz Aspen Snowmass Summer Sessions. In addition to consistent touring, McBride hosts NPR’s “Jazz Night in America” and “The Lowdown: Conversations With Christian” on SiriusXM. Whether behind the bass or away from it, Christian McBride is always of the music. From jazz, to R&B, pop/rock, hip-hop/neo-soul, to classical, he is a luminary with one hand ever reaching for new heights, and the other extended in fellowship—and perhaps the hint of a challenge—inviting us to join him.

Christian McBride

Lit Fridays is a literary-focused, virtual salon presented by the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, featuring conversations and guest performances on the last Friday* of each month at 6:00p EST via Facebook Live and Zoom Webinar. All conversations are moderated by AWAACC Literary Curator, Jessica Lanay.

Lit Friday: Gilda Sheppard

Abebui Adekai: Proverb Boxes for a Life Well Traveled by Jacob Paa Joe Jr. is a new sculptural installation by Ghanaian artist and master craftsman, Jacob Tetteh-Ashong, also known as Paa Joe Jr. Featuring a newly created large-scale “fantasy coffin” with a selection of miniature sculptural boxes, Abebui Adekai: Proverb Boxes for a Life Well Traveled is a collaborative project and an opportunity to witness the process of creating a traditional Ghanaian figurative coffin in Pittsburgh for the first time while learning more about Paa Joe Coffin Works, and the Paa Joe Art Academy initiative in Accra, Ghana.

Abebui Adekai: Proverb Boxes for a Life Well Traveled by Jacob Paa Joe Jr.

Now in the seventh decade of his professional life, Herbie Hancock remains where he has always been: at the forefront of world culture, technology, business and music. Herbie Hancock has been an integral part of every popular music movement since the 1960’s. As a member of the Miles Davis Quintet that pioneered a groundbreaking sound in jazz, he also developed new approaches on his own recordings, followed by his work in the 70s — with record-breaking albums such as “Headhunters” — that combined electric jazz with funk and rock in an innovative style that continues to influence contemporary music. “Rockit” and “Future Shock” marked Hancock’s foray into electronic dance sounds; during the same period he also continued to work in an acoustic setting with V.S.O.P.

Herbie Hancock

“The Mixtape” celebrates 50 years of Hip Hop & the ecosystem of Street Dance. Featuring diverse genres, freestyle & choreography, The Mixtape transforms the stage into a NYC train car and takes the audience on a ride through the different eras of the Hip Hop & Street Dance timeline, while also looking to the future. Each stop on the journey provides a firsthand view into a different era of music and corresponding American folk dance styles (Popping, House, Hip Hop, Breaking, Litefeet, and Krump), each with its own rituals, stories, unique language, and subculture. This evening-length work features original choreography by the 10K Movement Elite Performance Team. This concert will also include music composed by some of the culture’s internationally renowned and underground producers.

The Mixtape: A Street Dance Concert by 10K Movement

Join us for a day of music, art, and culture as we celebrate hip-hop in our community! Enjoy live performances from local artist like Level Up Studio, rapper, Jordan Montgomery, poetry, and more. DJ KB will be spinning the latest tracks. Discover the history and impact of hip-hop through interactive workshops and discussions with industry professionals. Indulge in delicious food from GVO Catering, shop with vendors, and connect with fellow hip-hop enthusiasts. This event is free and open to all ages and would not be possible without the support from UPMC/UPMC Health Plan and RAD. Bring your friends and family to experience the energy and creativity of hip-hop at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center!

AWCommunity Day

TRUTHSayers Speaker Series features Nikole Hannah-Jones, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of the 1619 Project and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine, in conversation with Muriel Fox Alim, President of Freedom Unlimited, Inc. The book version of The 1619 Project as well as the 1619 Project children’s book, Born on the Water, were instant #1 New York Times bestsellers. Her 1619 Project is now a six-part docuseries on Hulu. Hannah-Jones has spent her career investigating racial inequality and injustice, and her reporting has earned her the MacArthur Fellowship, known as the Genius grant, a Peabody Award, two George Polk Awards and the National Magazine Award three times. She also serves as the Knight Chair of Race and Journalism at Howard University, where she founded the Center for Journalism & Democracy. Hannah-Jones is also the co-founder of the Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting, which seeks to increase the number of investigative reporters and editors of color, and in 2022 she opened the 1619 Freedom School, a free, afterschool literacy program in her hometown of Waterloo, Iowa. Hannah-Jones holds a Master of Arts in Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and earned her Bachelor of Arts in History and African-American studies from the University of Notre Dame.

TRUTHSayers: Nikole Hannah-Jones

Emmy Award winner, director, writer, and activist, Emmai Alaquiva and Jessica Lanay meet for another LIT Friday conversation about Alaquiva’s latest groundbreaking documentary focused on Black infant mortality, The Ebony Canal.

Lit Friday: Emmai Alaquiva

Join us for a final celebration of Onna-Bugeisha: Warriors of Light with a closing reception featuring talks by artists Tim Okamura, Wildcat Ebony Brown, and guest curator Karla Ferguson. Enjoy music, drinks, and a very special performance of Japanese and African drumming ensembles by The Legacy Arts Project and Pittsburgh Taiko.

Closing Reception for Onna-Bugeisha: Warriors of Light

Kindred The Family Soul or simply referred to as Kindred is one such duo that epitomizes the essence of longevity but evolution and consistency in the modern era. A multi-talented Duo comprised of married couple Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon. Kindred the Family Soul has 7 Albums to date and has been making music that is thoughtful, conscious and driven by a desire to motivate, inspire, comfort and spread love and joy to all those that hear it for two decades and the Movement has only expanded and grown. The duo met in 1997 married in 1998 started a family and a group pretty simultaneously and started performing in Philly in a small club called the Five spot with an event called the Black Lily. The pivotal moment came when they met Steve McKeever the president of Hidden Beach Recordings who signed them and the Neo-soul movement of that era spawned a few artists who went on to be successful like Bilal, Jill Scott, Floetry, Musiq SoulChild Ledisi and a few others. The duo has also been nominated for awards such as BET and Soul Train but cites their biggest accomplishment as the sustainability of their art together as a unit and operating independently for more than 10 years in the murky and turbulent circuit of the Music Industry. In 2015 Kindred was highlighted in a Walmart commercial with their entire family in a very successful summer campaign. The versatile duo has also performed a record number of 8 times at Essence Festival and over the years have done countless tours with many of the major artist in the music industry while accumulating several top ten R&B records including “Far Away”, “Stars”, “Where would I Be”, “All My People” and more. Kindred the Family Soul wish to bridge together all of their creative endeavors into the curation of their new digital streaming platform Legacy Network especially in the wake of the worldwide pandemic. The hope is that the music and independent content can become an outlet of escape and comfort for viewers and listeners.

Soul Sessions: Kindred the Family Soul

This year’s camp will offer a unique opportunity for students to explore monologues from August Wilson’s plays. Through this exploration, students will examine Wilson’s work and use these monologues as a lens to analyze and interpret the author’s intended meaning. In addition to gaining a deeper understanding of Wilson’s plays, students will also have the chance to develop and enhance their skills in literary analysis.

Youth Writers Camp

On the back of the August Wilson African American Cultural Center’s dynamic Hooks & Phonics program, special guest, Grammy-nominated spoken word artist and vocalist aja monet, sits down with LIT Friday’s Jessica Lanay for a conversation about her new album When the Poems Do What They Do and forthcoming publication Florida Water.

Lit Friday: aja monet

The inaugural 2024 “Hooks & Phonics Festival” is a weekend celebration of Hip-Hop culture and the art of Spoken Word Poetry, which exists to highlight prolific stories of trial and triumph told by orators and emcees from BIPOC communities who speak truth to power without compromise. Tickets can be purchased through this path for individual days at $45 or a discounted $120 festival pass can be purchased here!

Hooks & Phonics Festival

Join us for a special edition of LIT Friday featuring artist Tim Okamura in conversation with scholar, poet, and AWAACC Literary Curator, Jessica Lanay discussing Okamura’s dynamic solo exhibition, Onna Bugeisha: Warriors of Light. Look out for their extended interview in the next issue of BOMB Magazine.

August Wilson African American Cultural Center

Oct 29 - Dec 17, 2024

Storytime Spotlight

Oct 25, 2024

Lit Friday: Mecca Jamilah Sullivan

August Wilson African American Cultural Center