The lights will be shining brightly, Thursday, September 9 – Saturday, September 11, as a jam-packed schedule of 50+ free live music, theater, dance, and visual art — featuring regional and touring artists — welcomes you back (or for the very first time) to in-person arts experiences in Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.

Lights On! A Three-Day Celebration of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District is a collaborative event with featured presentations from each of the Cultural District’s member companies, as well as dozens of partnering artistic organizations and artists from throughout the region.

A few highlights include:

August Wilson African American Cultural Center
presenting The Nth Power
Proving that soul music can be exponentially greater than the sum of its parts, The Nth Power is on a mission to share the light with its relentless funk and soul.

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
presenting show excerpts
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will perform excerpts from the full-length ballet Napoli along with a new work by Helen Pickett titled Three – 4,6,8.

Pittsburgh CLO
presenting Love, Laugh, Sing!
Join some of Pittsburgh’s favorite performers for Love, Laugh, Sing! The music filled hour of songs from Broadway and beyond is designed with one goal in mind: to make you smile.

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
presenting Shemekia Copeland
In addition to Friday night’s Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District and five brand new gallery exhibitions, the Trust presents Shemekia Copeland. Copeland’s instantly-recognizable voice showcases a wide-open vision of contemporary Americana roots and soul music.

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
presenting Baby Rave with a live DJ set from RBNOUS
Baby Rave is a child-friendly dance and music event that is sure to get you and your little one to bounce, bop, and boogie to the beat. All ages are welcome (best enjoyed by children ages 0-5 and families).

Pittsburgh Opera
presenting Downtown Divas
Pittsburgh Opera’s award-winning Resident Artists perform amazing selections of some of opera’s most popular arias, duets and ensembles, as well as other surprises.

Pittsburgh Public Theater
presenting Barefoot in the Park…in the Park
Neil Simon’s first smash success premiered on Broadway in 1963. This performance of the bubbly romantic comedy, directed by Marya Sea Kaminski, will prove that young love never goes out of style.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
presenting 50th Anniversary Concert
The Pittsburgh Symphony will be performing in honor of the 50th Anniversary of Heinz Hall with a concert that previews the 2021-2022 season.

Lights On! offers non-stop music, dance, theater, and visual art from dozens of regional artists and organizations. Check out the full lineup to see who’s on stage performing hip hop, jazz, soul, reggae, rock, contemporary dance, comedy, drag, and film.

For daily schedule grids, event map, and more, visit CulturalDistrict.org/LightsOn!

Lights On! is sponsored by UPMC and UPMC Health Plan and is the official kick-off event to Allegheny Regional Asset District’s RADical Days. Additional support is provided by The Heinz Endowments and Richard King Mellon Foundation.

Categories: Feature Stories