Symposium Keynote: F. Javier Torres-Campos
KST Presents
Saturday, May 17, 2025
10:00am – 10:45am
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You:
Single Tickets: $15 – $30
Symposium Pass: $150 – $300
F. Javier Torres-Campos is a philanthropic leader dedicated to liberated, self-determined futures. As the founder of Liberation Partners, he curates networks of leaders who center care, community, imagination, and power-building to support nonprofit and social ventures in creating the just worlds we deserve. His work across various roles has spanned 20 years of cultural strategy, placemaking, and community investment throughout the United States. His keynote shares learnings from the field about what contributes to involuntary displacement, highlights effective preservation strategies and explores the importance of ownership models for cultural preservation.
This event is part of Owning Our Future: A Symposium on BIPOC Institutional Ownership.
Can’t join in person? The Livestream Pass includes access to ALL Keynote Speakers and Panel Discussions streamed live on Youtube. Join us live and participate in discussions or watch at your own pace. Livestream links will be provided in your ticket confirmation email after purchase. For questions, please email info@kelly-strayhorn.org.
Photo credit: Courtesy of F. Javier Torres-Campos
AND DON’T MISS…
Symposium Keynote: Lisa Yancey 
Thursday, May 15, 2025
11:00am – 1:30pm
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You: $15 – $30
Symposium Keynote: Shyla Spicer
Friday, May 16, 2025
6:00pm – 6:45pm
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You: $15 – $30
Symposium Keynote: Andy Shall
Sunday, May 18, 2025
1:00pm – 1:45pm
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You: $15 – $30
- ABOUT THE KEYNOTE
- About Owning Our Future Symposium
F. Javier Torres-Campos is a philanthropic leader dedicated to liberated, self-determined futures. As the founder of Liberation Partners, he curates networks of leaders who center care, community, imagination, and power building to support nonprofit and social ventures in building the just worlds we deserve. Javier is also the co-founder and Co-chair of Strategic Partnerships of Twenty43 Ventures. He previously served as Interim President & CEO of NALAC and as director of Thriving Cultures at the Surdna Foundation.
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.