Through permanent and temporary public artworks, community-based residencies for international artists, and free multi-lingual literary and jazz performances, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh will bring vacant properties and public spaces to life in a joyful walkway that celebrates the liberating power of creative expression and draws residents and tourists to the community's soon-to-be redeveloped Federal-North business district.
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See below for recent updates, press, and events from this project
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Oct 21, 2019
In 2011, Israel Centeno was living in Pittsburgh, in the neighborhood called the Mexican War Streets. It is a proud, eclectic neighborhood on the near... Read More
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Sep 12, 2016
The Place: The first floor of the unfinished Masonic Building (soon to be City of Asylum’s Alphabet City Center) on the North Side Friday evening. Read More
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Sep 4, 2016
In his native Venezuela, Israel Centeno is a decorated author with 14 books. In Pittsburgh, he is a hospital orderly who struggles to communicate with... Read More
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Sep 4, 2016
City of Asylum, which provides housing and a platform for exiled writers, opens Alphabet City next weekend in a former Masonic Hall at 40 West... Read More
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Sep 4, 2016
Mary Marasti didn’t like the sound of her new neighbor. Huang Xiang, who had spent 12 years in a Chinese prison, was moving to Sampsonia... Read More
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May 10, 2016
Construction is underway at one end of the block along North Avenue on the North Side. Next to the stalled Garden Theater project, work on... Read More
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May 10, 2016
A $12.5 million deal that will turn a former Masonic Hall into a North Side community center called Alphabet City took nearly a decade to arrange. Read More
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Apr 21, 2016
R. Henry Reese likes to tell the story of Queequeg, Ishmael’s heavily tattooed, tomahawk-wielding bedmate in Moby Dick. Although Ishmael is initially terrified to discover... Read More
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Mar 21, 2016
We caught up with our friends at the City of Asylum in Pittsburgh recently, to see what was new in their part of Pittsburgh’s Mexican... Read More
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Mar 11, 2016
Yahoo News Global Anchor Katie Couric: How Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has become one of the most culturally rich cities in America #CitiesRising. Read More
blog
Oct 06, 2014
By Henry Reese Updates It’s true, you do make lemonade from lemons! The opening event of our new Alphabet City center was to be a... Read More
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Apr 23, 2014
By Elizabeth Baisley Updates The Artway is about creating spaces and opportunities for diverse neighbors to gather and where literature and art challenge and inspire... Read More
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Apr 10, 2014
Selection panel for Artway Connector installations (l to r): Diane Samuels, Morton Brown, Henry Reese, Gwendolyn Moorer, Thaddeus Mosley, Renee Pichocki, Susan Steen, Nathan Davidson,... Read More
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Feb 20, 2014
Allstar Refjudzi Band at Archa Theater (Prague); photo by Krystof Havelice Updates The Artway is about creating spaces and opportunities for diverse neighbors to gather... Read More
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Feb 03, 2014
Community Conversation—Oliver Lake at Kente Arts; photo courtesy of City of Asylum Updates The Artway is about creating spaces and opportunities for diverse neighbors to... Read More
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Jan 09, 2014
Susie Ibarra and Roberto Rodriguez; photo courtesy of the artists Updates The Artway is about creating spaces and opportunities for diverse neighbors to gather and... Read More
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Dec 12, 2013
Oliver Lake at City of Asylum’s Jazz-Poetry Concert in September 2013; photo by Renee Rosensteel Updates The Artway is about creating spaces and opportunities for... Read More
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Nov 01, 2013
Audience members at Jazz-Poetry Concert salute writers from all over the world who were imprisoned or otherwise persecuted in 2013; photo by Orlando Luis Pardo... Read More
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Oct 08, 2013
Image: Audience members at the Jazz-Poetry Concert and Writers in the Gardens; Photo by Renee Rosensteel Reflection and Update The Artway is about creating spaces... Read More
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Aug 06, 2013
Update THE Artway is about creating spaces and opportunities for diverse neighbors to gather and where literature and art challenge and inspire us all to... Read More
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Jul 09, 2013
City of Asylum/Pittsburgh creates a thriving community for writers, readers, and neighbors. We provide sanctuary to endangered literary writers, so that they can continue to... Read More
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Nov 20, 2015
This post is the eighth in a ten-part series continuing those conversations, and it focuses on Immigration. Below is a summary of a conversation between...Read more
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Mar 10, 2016
The Huddle recaps conversations where our ArtPlace funded projects and organizations came together to talk through topics, get advice, and perhaps even gossip a little...Read more