Festivals: Pittsburgh Humanities Festival 2018 Programming Lineup Announced | Pressroom

PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST ANNOUNCES

PITTSBURGH HUMANITIES FESTIVAL 2018
COMPLETE PROGRAMMING LINEUP

A PRODUCTION OF THE PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST & THE HUMANITIES CENTER AT CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

FEBRUARY 24-MARCH 4, 2018

Download the Pittsburgh Humanities Festival 2018 Media Kit:
https://pctrust.sharefile.com/d-sa006137308b4ee48

PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Humanities Center of Carnegie Mellon University announce the complete programming lineup for the Pittsburgh Humanities Festival. Festival events will span one week, taking place from February 24-March 4, 2018, in locations throughout Pittsburgh’s Cultural District and neighboring locales. Featured Events and Core Conversations of this year’s festival will explore the theme of “Continuum: Past, Present, Future.”

“The festival demonstrates that the humanities are stimulating, entertaining and vital to the life of the community. This year’s transition to an annual event, along with the lineup of interviews and presentations by national and international thought-leaders, exemplifies Pittsburgh’s rise as an innovation city and a capital of culture,” comments David Shumway, co-director of the Humanities Festival and director of the Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Humanities Center are excited to welcome Guy Raz, NPR Host of TED Radio Hour and How I Made This, Nizar Ibrahim, National Geographic paleontologist, and Allison Rapson and Kassidy Brown of We Are the XX, for three of the Featured Events of the third Pittsburgh Humanities Festival. Other Featured Events include the previously announced Post-Secret: The Show and Feathers of Fire.

The 2018 festival also features fourteen Core Conversations comprised of intimate discussions, interviews and performances, scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 3, and Sunday, March 4. These sessions explore the themes of past, present and future through the works and ideas of regional and national authors, academics. The Core Conversations include interviews with Pittsburgh leaders, such as Rick Sebak, Ed Piskor, Gisele and John Fetterman, and Jonathan Auxier, as well as national experts, such as Autism advocate Steve Silberman and Lou Reed biographer Anthony DeCurtis. Topics range from the magic of storytelling to ethics and AI systems to the book that predicted Trump.

“We are excited to take the step to produce the Pittsburgh Humanities Festival on an annual basis. This year’s festival explores a variety of topics with prolific and relevant programming, ranging from historical perspectives like A Requiem for Rice, to current popular culture such as Ed Piskor speaking about his work on X-Men: Grand Design to Steve Silberman’s investigation of autism and the future of neurodiversity,” shared Randal Miller, Director of Dance Programming and Special Projects at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and co-director of the Humanities Festival. “Through the lens of “Continuum: Past, Present, Future,” the Featured Events and Core Conversations will explore the current state of society, and where we can go in the future.”

Additional partner events include Susan Faludi and Paul Beatty with Pittsburgh Arts and Lectures, a staging for A Requiem for Rice at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, and a film screening at City of Asylum.

To view the complete schedule, visit: TrustArts.org/SmartTalk.

Tickets and Information
Tickets are now on sale for all Core Conversations and Featured Events. Tickets for Core Conversations can be purchased for $5 per Conversation. Ticket prices for Featured Events varies. For pricing and to purchase tickets, visit TrustArts.org/SmartTalk, the Box Office at Theater Square, or call 412-456-6666.

Open Call for Participants
The Pittsburgh Humanities Festival provides members of the general public with a chance to speak at the festival and to engage in dialogue about the humanities. One presentation will be accepted to appear in the lineup of Core Conversations with the curated lineup of academics, artists, and intellectual innovators. Acceptable discussion topics are limitless, but should relate in some way to this year’s festival theme of “Continuum: Past, Present, Future.” The deadline to apply is Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 11:59 pm. The audition form can be found at: TrustArts.org/SmartTalk.

About Pittsburgh Humanities Festival
The Pittsburgh Humanities Festival, a production of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the Humanities Center of Carnegie Mellon University, first launched in 2015, is a gathering of internationally-renowned academics, artists, and intellectual innovators in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. The third Festival, February 24 – March 4, 2018, will offer intimate conversations, interviews, and performances focused on art, literature, music, science, policy, politics, and more—all helping us to explore what it means to be human. It’s smart talk about stuff that matters. Tag your social media posts with #PGHsmarttalk.

Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon University
Founded in 2003, the Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon promotes and supports scholarship and research that actively engages with culture and human production across the disciplines. Both a commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and engagement with the traditional questions addressed by the humanities are essential at a university historically focused on science, technology, and the arts. Through lectures, panel discussions, conferences, and public outreach in the Faces Film Festivals and Pittsburgh Humanities Festival, we demonstrate the value and interest of the humanities on and off campus. Over the past decade, Carnegie Mellon has strengthened its standing in the humanities. Its Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences has distinguished faculty and talented students in the departments of English, History, Modern Languages and Philosophy who are focused on teaching and learning deep intellectual knowledge as well as developing useful, practical skills.

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts. TrustArts.org