OWNING OUR FUTURE

A Symposium on BIPOC Institutional ownership featuring a work-in-progress of COLOUR, BUT ENGLISH, a new play excavating colonized language by Adil Mansoor

MAY 16-18 @ Time is TBD
Kelly Strayhorn Theater

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Join us at 5941 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15206

COLOUR, BUT ENGLISH, a new play excavating colonized language. The work erupts from “Macaulay’s Minute”, an 1830s political document replacing Sanskrit & Arabic with English throughout schools in British-colonized India. Born in Pakistan & raised in America, Mansoor resents being a descendant of Macualy’s policies & is creating COLOUR, BUT ENGLISH to expose his own inherited tongue. Work-In-Progress showing presented by Kelly Strayhorn Theater, created by Adil Mansoor, with Media and Sound Design by Scott Andrew.

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 the vision of “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.