For the Spring 2020 season, KST Presents invited musician, composer, and music director Dwayne Fulton to curate a series of concerts between March – May 2020. All of the concerts have been postponed for the future, but we are pleased to bring you playlists featuring the artists curated by Fulton for the series.
The second playlist in our series comes from Pittsburgh band The Brydge! The Brydge’s musical references flow from soul, pop, R&B, hip hop, gospel, rock, urban and neo soul, and jazz. With lead songwriters, producers, and arrangers Claude Flowers, J.R. Jones, and Dwayne Fulton, the band has a true passion for “Lyfe.”
Every Wednesday at 2:00pm, KST Deputy Director Orlana Darkins Drewery takes to Instagram Live for conversations with the KST community in Pittsburgh, and across the USA. Join us to see how folks are managing the impact of COVID-19. On Wednesday, April 29, Darkins Drewery was joined by Custom Designer, Kiya Tomlin. For more information on Kiya Tomlin and her clothing line go to: https://www.kiyatomlin.us
Custom designer, Kiya Tomlin, (Guest – Wednesday, April 29) launched her collection of re-imagined sweatsuits in Fall of 2014. Inspired by the energy and aspirations of today’s modern woman, the namesake line was designed for women, like herself, with a purpose and passion for life. Uniting cover girl glamor with the comfort and ease of a favorite sweatshirt, her designs embody femininity, versatility, and the constant pursuit of the place where style, function and luxurious comfort intersect. “My background in custom design inspires me to design for a variety of figures. My experience as a woman of many roles drives the direction and functionality of my designs. By combining these inspirations, I can create comfortable clothes that inspire confidence. That confidence is what makes a woman truly beautiful” -Kiya Tomlin
Every Tuesday at 12:30pm, KST Executive Director Joseph Hall takes to Instagram Live for conversations with arts leaders in Pittsburgh, across the USA, and internationally. Tune in, get to know Joseph, and find out how he and fellow arts leaders around the world are adapting to the challenges brought on by COVID-19. On Tuesday, April 28, Hall was joined by immigrant activist, artist, producer, educator, and Executive Director of Dance/NYC, Alejandra Duque Cifuentes. For more information about Alejandra Duque Cifuentes and Dance/NYC go to: https://www.dance.nyc
Alejandra Duque Cifuentes (Guest – April, April 28) is an immigrant activist, artist, producer, and educator. With more than 10 years of production and stage management experience in theatre and dance, she has toured nationally and internationally with Zaccho Dance Theatre, Bandaloop, Dancing in The Streets, The Foundry Theatre, and Columbia University School of the Arts, among others. As a teaching artist, Ms. Duque Cifuentes taught children and adults of all ages how to express themselves through theatre and movement practice in over 100 New York City public schools and through community theatre programs. In 2011 she founded Theatre That Transcends, which taught local, underserved communities how to express themselves and address community issues through the art of theatre. As an activist, she plays an integral part in advancing a more equitable arts and cultural ecology by working on measures to increase access, justice, equity, and inclusion within dance for disabled artists, immigrant artists, and artists of color in the five boroughs of New York City. Ms. Duque Cifuentes is a member of the National Association for Latino Arts and Culture, Women of Color in the Arts, the Children Museum of Manhattan’s Dance Portal Advisory Board, and Eva Yaa Asantewaa’s Curatorial Advisory Team at Gibney, and she is an advisor for the Latinx Artists Retreat, an annual convening for Latinx cultural producers across all artistic disciplines and fields. She was born in Medellín, Colombia and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and Theatre Arts from Columbia University School of General Studies.
For the Spring 2020 season, KST Presents invited musician, composer, and music director Dwayne Fulton to curate a series of concerts between March – May 2020. All of the concerts have been postponed for the future, but we are pleased to bring you playlists featuring the artists curated by Fulton for the series.
First up is Anita Levels!
Anita Levels is a self-taught vocalist, songwriter, and producer who has released multiple recordings, was a finalist in the syndicated talent reality show, Gospel Dream, and toured internationally as the director and founder of the then Carlow College Gospel choir, Blessed. Levels’ jazzy sound is one of power, intention, passion, and soul. Join us for an evening of music that evokes the spirit of love and healing.
Enjoy the playlist and look out for more coming from The Brydge and Prince!
Every Thursday at 2:00pm, KST Senior Producer Ben Pryor takes to Instagram Live for conversations with artists in Pittsburgh, throughout the US and around the world. They will connect on the impact of COVID-19 and adapting to working in the arts through a pandemic.
For this Thursday, April 23rd stream, Ben checks in with interdisciplinary artist Perel. Check out more on Perel here: https://perelstudio.xyz/ Perel (Guest – Thursday, April 23) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work is centered on disability and queerness as they relate to care, consent, sexuality, and personal and historic trauma. Utilizing choreography to examine power exchange between the artist and audience, “Perel is a master at timing, of tension, relief, and intimacy while creating a space of learning and unlearning.” (Victoria DeJaco, Spike Magazine). Their recent work, Life (Un)Worthy of Life: A Queer, Dis/Crip Talkshow premiered at No Limits, a disability centered festival in Berlin, DE. The artist‘s previous work, Pain Threshold, was presented at the American Realness Festival in New York in 2019, and has toured to Sophiensaele Theater, Berlin, and the Leopold Museum, Vienna as part of Impulstanz. Perel has received numerous residencies, commissions, and awards, most recently the Beth Silverman-Yam Award for Social Justice at Gibney Dance, and the first International Artist in Residence for Disabled Dance Artists at Sophiensaele. Perel was a selected disabled choreographer for Choreo-Lab, a pilot program of the integrated dance company, AXIS Dance. They are a Dance In Process Artist in Residence at Gibney Dance, and a Mertz-Gilmore Artist in Residence at Movement Research, NYC. Notable previous commissions have been presented at Abrons Art Center for American Realness 2018, The Chocolate Factory Theater, co-presented with the New York International Queer Performance Festival, Movement Research at the Judson Church, at The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts NYC, and for the 25th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act at the Chicago Humanities Festival.
Every Wednesday at 2:00pm, KST Deputy Director Orlana Darkins Drewery takes to Instagram Live for conversations with the KST community in Pittsburgh, and across the USA. Join us to see how folks are managing the impact of COVID-19.
For this Wednesday, April 22nd stream, Orlana chats it up with CEO of Blackburgh Corporation and former Pittsburgh Steeler, Chuck Sanders.
Check out Blackburgh Corporation here:
https://www.blackburghcorp.com
Chuck Sanders (Guest – Wednesday, April 22) is CEO of Blackburgh Corporation, an investment company that any person can access. A former Pittsburgh Steeler, in 2009, he was the Founder/CEO of Urban Lending Solutions, recognized as the nation’s largest minority owned settlement services company. Urban Lending Solutions was ranked by Black Enterprise Magazine as one of the top 25 minority owned corporations in America with over 200 employees. Urban Lending Solutions has also been recognized by Inc. 500 as one of the fastest growing companies in the United States.
In addition, Chuck and his wife Elisa founded Chuck Sanders Charities to help fund and support existing Christian charities, churches and programs. They also promoted educational and physical fitness programs for Pittsburgh’s youth and young adults.
In 2011, he opened Savoy Restaurant in Pittsburgh’s Strip District, which still provides quality food and dining for its patrons. And in 2015, realizing the potential of medical cannabis he acted on it with investment in medical marijuana dispensaries across the Pittsburgh area.
After selling Urban Lending Solutions, he founded Blackburgh Corporation. Chuck prides himself in the ability to see trends and profit from them. Currently, he believes this is the time to invest and created Blackburgh Corporation to provide an opportunity to individuals who qualify to invest and create generational wealth in their families.
Down with ODD is a part of KST Global Stream, KST’s COVID-19 responsive online programming initiative.
Every Thursday at 2:00pm, KST Senior Producer Ben Pryor takes to Instagram Live for conversations with artists in Pittsburgh, throughout the US and around the world. They will connect on the impact of COVID-19 and adapting to working in the arts through a pandemic.
For this Thursday, April 16th stream, Ben checks in with “Creative Capital and “Bessie” Awardee Ni’Ja Whitson. Check out Ni’Ja Whitson here: http://www.nijawhitson.com
Ni’Ja Whitson (NY/LA) is a Queer Nonbinary multidisciplinary artist, Creative Capital and “Bessie” Awardee, wound and word worker, referred to as “majestic” by The New York Times, and recognized by Brooklyn Magazine as a culture influencer. They engage transdisciplinarity through a critical intersection of the sacred and conceptual in Black, Queer, and Trans embodiedness, architectures, science, and spirit. Whitson is an 18th St. Artist in Residence (Los Angeles), 2020 Center for Performance Research artist in residence, 2018 MAP Fund awardee, featured choreographer of the 2018 CCA Biennial, 2018-2020 Urban Bush Women Choreographic Center Fellow, and invited presenter at the 2019 Tanzkongress international festival. Residencies and fellowships include Jerome/Camargo, Dance in Process at Gibney, Hedgebrook, Movement Research, Bogliasco Fellowship with commissions including St. Mark’s Church at Danspace, American Realness and Vision festivals, ICA Philadelphia.Their award-winning practice extends to choreography and directing in conventional and experimental theatre and performance with recent commissions from Yale Dance Lab, Spoleto Festival (Omar composed by Rhiannon Giddens, directed by Charlotte Brathwaite), EMPAC, and New York Live Ideas Festival. Whitson received an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a second MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College, receiving merit and artist awards at both. They are a sought-after speaker, presenter, masterclass facilitator and conversationalist whose offerings have been shared among notable institutions and arts organizations: Princeton, Cornell, LAX Festival, Movement Research, 2020 keynote of the Collegium for African Diasporic Dance conference. Checking In is a part of KST Global Stream, KST’s COVID-19 responsive online programming initiative.
Below is video of the conversation between Ben Pryor and Ni’Ja Whitson. Check out the full schedule of upcoming guests here.
KST started working with singer and songwriter LoRen in May 2019 through the FUTUREMAKERS program. Between May and September 2019, KST staff supported LoRen in the planning and development of No Covers, a concert curated and produced by LoRen featuring Pittsburgh artists performing their original work. The concert was realized on Friday, December 13, 2019 and featured LoRen, Clara Kent, Kayli Kaufmann, Cam Chambers, Michael Smalls and Benjamin Barson. Check out this playlist of featured artists and photos of No Covers by Beth Barbis.
Every Wednesday at 2:00pm, KST Deputy Director Orlana Darkins Drewery takes to Instagram Live for conversations with the KST community in Pittsburgh, and across the USA. Join us to see how folks are managing the impact of COVID-19. For this Wednesday, April 15th stream, Orlana chats it up with Alumni Theater Company (ATC) founder, Hallie Donner. Check out Alumni Theater Company here: https://www.alumnitheatercompany.org
Hallie Donner graduated from Bucknell University in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and a teaching certificate. Hallie started her career as a third grade teacher at Featherbed Lane Elementary School in Baltimore, MD. Each of her four years at Featherbed, she volunteered to direct a school musical. Realizing that producing theater with young performers was her true passion, Hallie moved to Pittsburgh to obtain a Master’s degree in Arts Management at Carnegie Mellon University in 2000. Upon receiving her Master’s degree in 2000, Hallie began teaching at the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh Charter School a K-5 public charter school in East Liberty. From 2000 – 2016, Hallie founded and developed an innovative drama program at the charter school that integrates theater education with classroom studies and values education where young people explore and develop their creative capacity and personal character. In 2008, Hallie founded the Alumni Theater Company (ATC) to provide more intense learning and performance for youth in grades 6-12. ATC began as a group of exceptionally talented alumni from the charter school, and in 2012 became an independent 501(c)(3) organization.
Down with ODD is a part of KST Global Stream, KST’s COVID-19 responsive online programming initiative.
Below is video of the conversation between Orlana Darkins Drewery and Hallie Donner Check out the full schedule of upcoming guests here.
Every Tuesday at 12:30pm, KST Executive Director Joseph Hall takes to Instagram Live for conversations with arts leaders in Pittsburgh, across the USA, and internationally. Tune in, get to know Joseph, and find out how he and fellow arts leaders around the world are adapting to the challenges brought on by COVID-19.
For this Tuesday, April 14th stream, Joseph was joined by “Bessie” award winning multi-disciplinary artist and Brooklyn, NY based community organizer, Maria Bauman-Morales. Check out Maria Bauman-Morales and MBDance here: http://www.mbdance.net
Maria Bauman-Morales is a “Bessie” award winning multi-disciplinary artist and community organizer based in Brooklyn, NY. She is 2020 Columbia College Dance Center Practitioner-in-Residence, 2019 Gibney Dance in Process residency award winner, 2018-20 UBW Choreographic Center Fellow, 2017-19 Artist in Residence at Brooklyn Arts Exchange and was the 2017 Community Action Artist in Residence at Gibney. In 2009 she founded MBDance which recently premiered (re)Source to sold-out audiences, co-commissioned by the Chocolate Factory Theater and BAAD!. She creates bold and intimate artworks for MBDance, via dream-mapping and nuanced, powerful physicality. Centering non-linear stories, bodies and musings of queer people of color, she draws on her studies of English literature, capoeira, improvisation, dancing in nightclubs and concert dance classes to emphasize ancestors, imagination, and Spirit while embodying inter- dependence. Bauman-Morales is also a performance collaborator with Jumatatu Poe’s and Donte Beecham’s Let ‘im Move You: This is a Formation. Previously, she danced with Urban Bush Women (UBW) and was UBW’s Director of Education and Community Engagement before becoming Associate Artistic Director. She still works with Urban Bush Women as part of the UBW Summer Leadership Institute advisory council and faculty member for the Summer Leadership Institute. She is an active member of our dance community outside of choreography and performance. Bauman-Morales is a Core Trainer with The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, helping arts organizations and university dance programs understand and undo racism. In 2014, she co-founded a grassroots organization, Artists Co-creating Real Equity, which won the 2018 BAX Arts and Artists in Progress Award for working to undo racism in our daily lives. Organizing to undo racism informs her artistic work and the two areas are each ropes in a Double-dutch that is her holistic practice. She is also a mentor to early career artists through Queer Art Mentorship.
19 Mins with Joseph Hall, is a part of KST Global Stream, KST’s COVID-19 responsive online programming initiative.
Below is video of the conversation between Joseph Hall and Maria Bauman-Morales. Check out the full schedule of upcoming guests here.
