Kilolo Luckett is a Pittsburgh-based art historian and curator. With over twenty-five years of experience in arts administration and cultural production, she is committed to elevating the voices of underrepresented visual artists, especially Black and Brown artists. Luckett is Founding Executive Director and Chief Curator of ALMA | LEWIS (named after abstract artists Alma Thomas and Norman Lewis), an experimental, contemporary art platform for critical thinking, constructive dialogue, and creative expression dedicated to Black culture. 

Jonathan McCrory is a Tony Award and Emmy Award nominated producer, two Obie Award-winning, Harlem-based artist who has served as Executive Artistic Director at National Black Theatre since 2012 under the leadership of CEO, Sade Lythcott. He has directed numerous professional productions and concerts. He has been acknowledged as an exceptional leader additionally through Craine’s New York Business 2020 Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives. He is a founding member of the collaborative producing organizations Harlem9, Black Theatre Commons, The Jubilee, Next Generation National Network and The Movement Theatre Company. 

A community planner and architect with 20 years of experience, Allan Co has directed inclusive housing projects and equitable community development programs focused on racial equity, social justice, and resilient communities, combining expertise in architecture, real estate development, and planning with deep experience in community partnership, stakeholder engagement, and innovative participatory strategies. Prior to founding Crescere Collaborative, Allan directed and managed programs and projects at organizations including the Centre for Public Impact, Hester Street, Breaking Ground, and Enterprise Community Partners, delivering over 1,000 affordable housing units and $50M in community-based capital projects for nonprofits serving BIPOC neighborhoods.

ALMA | LEWIS (A | L) is an experimental contemporary art platform for critical thinking, constructive dialogue, and creative expression dedicated to Black culture. A | L fulfills this mission by: creating supportive residencies in the A | L art space that encourage the rigorous artistic practice of visual and literary artists; curating world-class exhibitions to present exciting, provocative work from emerging and mid-career artists; providing access to the Black Archive — a research and reading space for art historians, scholars, writers, and artists that features rare and non-circulating books, publications, and artifacts of Black history, culture, and art.

National Black Theatre (NBT), founded in 1968 by Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, is a Tony, Obie Award-winning and Emmy Award-nominated institution. It is the longest-running Black theatre in NYC, the first revenue-generating Black arts complex, and one of the oldest theatres led by a Black woman. NBT’s mission is to produce transformative theatre that explores cultural identity through authentic Black stories. Under CEO Sade Lythcott and Executive Artistic Director Jonathan McCrory, NBT provides a platform for Black artists to create and innovate.

Crescere Collaborative is a mission-driven community development practice founded on decades of experience in equitable, participatory planning, real estate development and design. Focusing on low-income neighborhoods and communities of color, we support partners across three interconnected areas: inclusive housing, equitable community development and engagement, and the just transition to a resilient future. We deploy innovative engagement strategies and creative facilitation tactics to drive an equity-centered ecosystem approach. We place communities and residents at the heart of all planning and development processes, building authentic relationships that enrich outcomes that lead to greater impact in historically underinvested neighborhoods.

KST is leading a groundbreaking national symposium that aims to reshape the future of accessible, equitable cultural spaces owned and anchored by BIPOC communities.

Guided by our vision “Owning Our Future. Thriving Where We Live.,” this three-day gathering in May 2025 serves as a platform to catalyze a critical national dialogue and chart a path forward.

Collaborating with an advisory committee of national and local colleagues, KST curates a cross-industry program that features discussions, performances, and celebrations with leaders in art, activism, urban planning, philanthropy, and government. Together we imagine new financial, operational, and physical structures for BIPOC-owned arts spaces, addressing the structural inequities that the pandemic laid bare.

The symposium spotlights organizations employing new strategies to safeguard culture in their communities. It engages forward-thinking stakeholders invested in emergent models. Look forward to thought-provoking panel sessions, inspiring keynote addresses, and dynamic performances by Pittsburgh and national artists.

 symposium pass

FIND FULL SCHEDULE HERE