Symposium Film Screening: East of Liberty
Thursday, May 15, 2025
7:30pm – 10:00pm
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You:
Single Tickets: $15 – $30
Symposium Pass: $150 – $300
East Liberty was once Pennsylvania’s third most prosperous commercial business district, but disastrous urban planning in the 1960s saw both the central business area decimated and tower blocks erected leaving residents isolated in the sky. Sixty years later and the broken traffic patterns are corrected, shops are plentiful, and neighborhood housing is some of the most sought after in the city.
In the documentary East of Liberty, Pittsburgh-based filmmaker Chris Ivey explores issues of race and class and addresses residents’ fears about gentrification. The film is meant to create a historical record that conveys the essence of community change and expose taboo topics using frank conversation which most redevelopment efforts ignore—from displacement to neighborhood violence to discussions of socioeconimcs. Nearly two decades after its debut at KST, East of Liberty makes its powerful return, inviting us to reflect on what community and cultural ownership mean today.
The film is approximately 1h 40min. Following the screening, join us for a discussion with the filmmaker Chris Ivey.
This event is part of Owning Our Future: A Symposium on BIPOC Institutional Ownership.
AND DON’T MISS…
Symposium: Neighborhood Tour
Thursday, May 15, 2025
7:30pm – 10:00pm
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You: $15 – $30
Symposium: Looking Glass App by Adrian Jones
Thursday, May 15, 2025 – Sunday, May 18, 2025
All Weekend
Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.
FREE
- ABOUT THE ARTIST
- About Owning Our Future Symposium
Chris Ivey is an award-winning filmmaker best known internationally for his documentary series East of Liberty. For over a decade, the series chronicled race, class, and gentrification issues in Pittsburgh and the only interactive documentation project in recent Pittsburgh history. Chris is currently working on a film tentatively called Pittsburgh to Grenfell. This film exposes the horrors of Arconic, a Pittsburgh metal company’s role in the death of 72 London residents in a towering inferno.
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.