Welcome to BRIDGES - City of Asylum Pittsburgh Creative Summit 20-23 May
On 20-23 May,the BRIDGES - Creative Summit City of Asylum programme kicks off. It features more than 20 events and 80 writers, artists, musicians, and journalists residing in the US, and guests travelling from Europe, incl. ICORN residents and city representatives from the network. Join in person or in live stream!
The creative summit will celebrate the power of free expression and creativity in our democracy as well as the importance of hospitality and solidarity in building communities across bridges and divides. The Summit’s venues include City ofAsylum’s home Alphabet City and Community College of Allegheny County’s Allegheny Campus.
Organisedby City of Asylum Pittsburgh, in cooperation with the International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN), the Summit will include a diverse range of events and activities, including panel discussions, plenary sessions, workshops, cultural events, and peer-to-peer exchanges. In addition to the Pittsburgh community,,the Summit will welcome more than 80 international writers, artists, journalists, philanthropists, and community and civil society leaders, many of whom are living in exile.
At a time when freedom of expression is under attack across the world, the Bridges Creative Summit will provide a critical platform for discussions on free speech, exile, translation and publishing, the power of public art, empathy building, and the future of philanthropy.
"For 20 years, City of Asylum and ICORN have beenworking together to improve the conditions for freedom of expression worldwide by offering safe spaces for writers and artists who are persecuted in their owncountries because of their work. The Bridges Summit takes place at a time when our democratic values and freedoms are being put under the loop. Now more than ever, it is important to come together in solidarity and to create spaces where freedom of expression can flourish. It’s a privilege to be able to co-host our first ever creative summit outside of Europe, and a crucial step in building a stronger, vaster network of ICORN partners.”
Helge Lunde, ICORN Executive Director
Central to the Summit will be ‘The Freedom of Expression Address’ delivered by George Packer, the award-winning author and staff writer at The Atlantic,who will explore what it means to write in an era of increasing authoritarianism. The programme will also feature two conversations with renowned Irish novelist Colum McCann. The first will centre on his latest novel Twist and his mission to foster empathy through literature. In the second conversation, McCann will be joined by Bassam Aramin and Rami Elhanan, the Palestinian and Israeli fathers who inspired Apeirogon. Raised to hate one another and having both lost their daughters, they now share a powerful message of peace and reconciliation.
Another highlight is a discussion between Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a former Guantánamo detainee, and journalist and human rights defender Larry Siems, who edited Guantánamo Diary. The conversation will be moderated by award-winning writer Adriana E. Ramírez and promises to explore resilience and the human spirit. Additionally, Bosnian-American author and critic Aleksandar Hemon discuss language and exile, the power of music and storytelling, and his love of football.
The Jazz Poetry Festival, City of Asylum’s signature programme for over two decades, will also take place duringthe Bridges Creative Summit. A unique fusion of music, poetry, and performance,the festival will feature artists such as Jerome Jennings & iLL Philosophy, James Brandon Lewis, Huang Xiang, a Chinese poet and calligraphist and the first writer-in-residence at City of Asylum Pittsburgh, as well as musicians and writers from the ICORN network, Yasmine El Baramawy, Khaled Harara, Nazeeha Saeed and Montaser Abdel Mawgood.
In celebration of City of Asylum’s growing global community, the Summit will host The Big Sampsonia Way Cookout, inviting all local and international neighbours to an afternoon of food, music, and meaningful connections.
Check out the Bridges Creative Summit programme, join on site or tap into free live streaming of (nearly) all the events. Click on the Info and Tickets button to sign up or find the live stream.
Join live in Pittsburgh or live stream!
About City of Asylum Pittsburgh: City of Asylum builds a just community by protecting and celebrating freedom of creative expression. It provides sanctuary for endangered writers worldwide and provides housing so they cancontinue to create and ensure their voices are not silenced. Since 2016, CoA Pittsburgh has been a member of ICORN.
CoA Pittsburgh's venue, Alphabet City, offers over 120 free literary, music, andhumanities programs annually. For more information, visit cityofasylum.org.
