Carnegie Museum of Art plans free, outdoor summer events
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Carnegie Museum of Art is going “Inside Out” for a free summer event series.
Featuring DJs, pop-up performances of site-specific commissions, arts activities and workshops, kid-friendly treats and local food trucks and beverages, the event will take place 4-8 p.m. Thursdays and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays, June 5-Sept. 4, in the Oakland museum’s Sculpture Courtyard.
“We really want the Pittsburgh region to identify the Carnegie Museum of Art as a summer destination,” said Dana Bishop-Root, the museum’s director of education and public programs. “It’s important for the museum to share our outdoor space, and we want people to use it like their backyard.”
Inside Out is designed to support Pittsburgh-based and regional small and mid-sized organizations that have been affected by the pandemic, she added.
“We want to give them a space to perform work they’ve been thinking about through the pandemic, but haven’t had a space or an audience for,” Bishop-Root said. “It will be a place for those organizations to share their audiences and to connect communities.”
There will be something to appeal to all ages, she said.
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Thursday nights will focus on music curated by Pittsburgh DJs including Formosa Exe, HUNY, Freeter, Kinselland RADIO and Hot Mass Collective and will have a happy hour vibe, she said.
The DJs will be present on Saturdays, but programming also will include other performances and activities taking place in pop-up formats throughout the courtyard. Each session will feature a local food truck and a bar created by the museum’s Café Carnegie offering custom snacks, wines and local beers.
“A regular stage creates a dynamic that makes it hard for people to interact,” Bishop-Root said. “What’s unique is that the performers will be playing intermittently among (the visitors).”
Sci-fi dance performance
PearlArts Studios will present a new iteration of “Sym,” a dance piece the company premiered in 2019, on June 26 and Aug. 21.
“When Dana said ‘Jump,’ I said ‘How high?” said PearlArts founder and choreographer Staycee Pearl. “(Inside Out) is a really cool project, and I’m excited to be doing something outdoors and not on a Zoom call.”
“Sym” is based on the science-fiction, vampire novel, “Fledgling,” the last work by the late author Octavia Butler.
“We’ll be presenting 10-minute segments (of ‘Sym’) throughout the day,” Pearl said. “(Butler) was one of the few African American science fiction writers. Her work mirrors the world and has predicted things that have happened, some of which has been great and some that has been terrible.”
Full Saturday lineup includes:
• June 5 — DJ collective Most Beautifullest; performance by Sankofa Village for the Arts Drum and Dance
• June 12 — DJ Shoe; musical performance by Roger Humphries and the RH Factor Band
• June 19 — DJ Femi; performance by Alumni Theater Company
• June 26 — DJ Soy Sos; dance performance by PearlArts Studios
• July 3 — DJ Formosa Exe; performance and arts activities by Boom Concepts
• July 10 — DJ Shoe; Legacy Arts Project programming
• July 17 — DJ Femi; performance by Dreams of Hope
• July 24 — DJ HUNY; dance performance by Jasmine Hearn Dances
• July 31 — DJ Femi; music by Afro Yaqui Music
• Aug. 7 — DJ QRX; dance performance by Texture Contemporary Ballet
• Aug. 14 — DJ Freeter; musical performance by Clara Kent
• Aug. 21 — DJ Soy Sos; dance performance by PearlArts Studio
• Aug. 28 — DJ Shoe; performance by Alia Musica
• Sept. 4 — DJ Soy Sos; performances by Kassia Ensemble and Sankofa Village for the Arts
“Over the past year, our visitors have shared that safely reconnecting with loved ones is a top priority,” Bishop-Root said. “With Inside Out, we’re delighted to offer an opportunity for visitors to gather with friends, family and neighbors in a physically distanced environment while extending the museum experience outdoors.”
Access to Inside Out events will be first-come, first-served with entry through the museum’s back parking lot. There will be no pre-registration; visitor services staff members will monitor capacity.
The museum will update its health and safety policies in accordance with state and CDC guidelines.
Details: cmoa.org