Pittsburgh Women’s Music Festival

While it was set to happen at Pittsburgh’s own Mr. Small’s Theatre, Creative.Life.Support, Steel Kitty Productions & Mr. Smalls found a creative solution and are hosting their inaugural festival online. More information can be found at their facebook event page.

The Pittsburgh Women’s Music Festival:
A Parallel Universe Livestream Event

Saturday, May 30 2020
5PM – 11PM
Streaming on Facebook Live, Twitch, and Youtube Live

The inaugural Pittsburgh Women’s Music Festival was to be held at Mr. Smalls Theatre and Funhouse on March 28, 2020, but is being postponed until next year due to the COVID – 19 pandemic. In an effort to uplift the voices of talented feminine artists in our region during these trying times, Mr. Smalls Theatre will be hosting a virtual Pittsburgh Women’s Festival: A Parallel Universe Livestream Event on May 30th, 2020 from 5pm to 11pm.

According to a 2018 Pitchfork article 7 out of 10 artists on music festival stages are men.* In A Parallel Universe, there is a world where female visual artists are lauded and showcased prominently everywhere from coffee shops to museum walls. In this spirit, the Pittsburgh Music Festival is inclusive, open to non-binary and trans individuals, and will be centering around women, regardless of creed, race, or gender assigned at birth. The mission of the Pittsburgh Women’s Music Festival is to support and showcase traditionally underrepresented local musical and spoken word acts across many genres, uplifting diverse and powerful feminine Pittsburgh voices. This festival is very diverse across genres, with performances ranging from Hip Hop to Indian Classical to Orchestral to Singer Songwriter and beyond.

Featuring Liz Berlin (of Rusted Root), Brittney Chantele, Kelly Zullo, Jess Klein, HollyHood, Skye, Barbara Anndrea Arriaga, Kalawati-Carmen, Leila Rhodes, Anne Eliza, Cherylann Hawk, Leah Stevens, Lauren Judson, Julianne Wright, Carrie Collins, Special K, Katya, Rocket Loves Blue, Maleena, Sarah Halter, Gabriella Salvucci, & Hemlock For Socrates, as well as the premiere of the new Social Justice Disco music video for their song #BigBrotherIsTrending! A tip jar will be provided for each artist to show support for them or the charity of their choice.

Our featured visual artist will be Tonee Turner, an amazing Pittsburgh artist who has been missing from her home since Dec. 30 2019. Tonee has had an immense impact on so many people through her art as well as her loving personality and spirited dancing. Her artistic mediums include illustration, paint, wire wrapping jewelry, metal work, skateboard repair and design, ceramics and dance. She also worked at the Braddock Carnegie Library ceramic studio teaching children and adults how to mold clay. It was here that Tonee had her first and only art show in March 2019. This will be her second, as we’ll be showcasing her art throughout the event as well as raising funds to assist her family in their search efforts to bring this amazing young woman home!

Many thanks to our wonderful sponsors who are kindly supporting the arts even in these odd times. Special thanks to Tupelo Honey Teas, Salon 22, Attic Records, Sprezzatura, One Happy Flower Shop, McWalker Yarns, and Ton Pottery. Women are historically underrepresented in the arts, so let’s flip the script and showcase the amazing feminine talent that Pittsburgh has to offer across music, art, and spoken word!

The Pittsburgh Women’s Music festival was created when Liz Berlin and Creative.Life.Support joined forces with Deb Cook and Steel Kitty Productions. Recognized as a founding member of multi-platinum selling group, Rusted Root, Liz Berlin has put her experience and success to good use in her many other ventures as part owner of Mr. Small’s Theatre and Mr. Smalls Recording and Mastering Studio in Pittsburgh, PA. As the founder and director Creative.Life.Support, the non-profit offshoot of Mr. Smalls, Liz has developed a series of educational programs focusing on songwriting, production and artist career development for youth and young adults as well as a college internship program, an on-going concert series, a non-profit record label, and associated artist programs. Steel Kitty Productions, founded by Deb Cook, in 2015 grew out of her involvement in Pittsburgh’s singer-songwriter community and her desire to curate and promote the music she loves. Deb was recently named the Coordinator of Music for the Jeannette art gallery “You are Here 406.”

*Pitchfork festival performer gender balance statistics: Tracking the Gender Balance of This Year’s Music Festival Lineups https://pitchfork.com/features/festival-report/tracking-the-gender-balance-of-this-years-music-festival-lineups/
-Pitchfork May 1, 2018 by Rob Mitchum and Diego Garcia-Olano