In a Bind: Bookbinding Workshop with Brent Nakamoto, March 21 at Bunker Projects.

Brent Nakamoto, curator of the Stuck in Saṃsāra< exhibition at Bunker Projects, is hosting "In a Bind: Bookbinding Workshop" on March 21.

Stop by any time during this drop-in bookbinding workshop to make and take home an exclusive chapbook featuring images and writing about the exhibition. No experience necessary. Please register so we can plan materials accordingly.

The event runs from 1:00 to 4:00 pm. Registration is required. Bunker Projects is an art gallery located at 5106 Penn Ave. in Bloomfield (map).

Peel teahouse soft opening in Squirrel Hill, February 20.

Peel, a new teahouse in Squirrel Hill, is soft opening from Friday, February 20.

Peel is soft opening this Friday 2/20/26, 12pm - 11pm!! on 2nd floor @ 5806 Forbes Ave

We’re beta testing so free tea after 8pm on Fri in exchange 4 ur thoughts, come hang 🌀🌀🌀

*We’ll be in beta testing/soft open mode for the next two weeks for us to find grounding, hours are as follows:

Mon to Tue: closed
Wed to Thurs: 12pm- 10pm
Fri to Sun: 12pm - 11pm

Signage went up for the Chinese-owned place in January, though work has been underway for nearly a year.  It is located at 5806 Forbes Ave., second floor, above Uncle Sam's (map). The text on social media, and the front-door signage, says Peel

is a (tea)house for drinks, eats, inquiries & play

Bring Lunar New Year Wishes to Squirrel Hill's Trees in 2026.

Due to the dangers presented to Pittsburgh's Asian communities by ICE and right-wing citizens, the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition has cancelled the Lunar New Year Parade that sometimes passes through the neighborhood (last held in 2023). However, it has launched a "Bring Lunar New Year Wishes to Squirrel Hill's Trees" initiative to celebrate the holiday and the Asian businesses and residents that comprise much of its vibrancy. From the latest Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition newsletter:

In light of recent events directly impacting the safety and well-being of our
migrant and immigrant community members and allies, we have made the
difficult decision to cancel our Squirrel Hill Lunar New Year Celebration
to ensure the safety of all who would attend. However, this does not mean
we will stop celebrating the beautiful traditions that enrich our community.

A Different Tradition: Bring Lunar New Year Wishes to
Squirrel Hill's Trees
For years, students at a local school have observed the beautiful Lunar New
Year tradition of each child writing two wishes on red tags. One wish is for
themselves and one is for the community. The tags are hung from trees around
their school. As one wise 4th grader put it, it's a way to say to our Asian
community, "We see you, we appreciate you, and we think you're awesome!"
This Lunar New Year, let's spread this tradition across all of Squirrel Hill! In
honor and celebration with our Asian neighbors, let’s fill the trees throughout
Squirrel Hill with bright red tags carrying wishes of prosperity, health, and joy
for the year ahead! Thanks to Mardi Isler’s tireless work expanding our tree
canopy, we have plenty of trees ready to bloom with good wishes and
community solidarity.
How to participate:
● SHUC will have red Lunar New Year tags available for pickup at the Silk
Elephant or the SHUC Office. Email mcohen@shuc.org if you'd like to
volunteer to help distribute them throughout our neighborhood
● You can also start this tradition on your own! Hang red tags with wishes
on trees in your neighborhood and share the tradition with neighbors!
● Need tags? Click here to find red Lunar New Year tags on Amazon

AQUARIUS Presents: Ryka Aoki Author Q&A, February 15 at Pitt.

The Alliance of Queer Underrepresented Asians in Recognition of Intersectionality to Uphold Solidarity (AQUARIUS)

at the University of Pittsburgh will host an Author Q&A with Ryka Aoki on February 15. From the Asian Studies Center newsletter:

Ryka Aoki, author of the Hugo Award-nominated Light from Uncommon Stars, is a Japanese-American writer and teacher from Southern California. Her works also include poetry collections like Seasonal Velocities and Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul. 

With a degree in chemistry, Aoki spent a year working in a lab before pursuing her Master's degree in creative writing at Cornell University. As a transgender woman, she is also an incredible advocate, often engaging in activities to create safe spaces within the performance arts for transgender people. 

She will be joining AQUARIUS onto answer questions and talk about her experiences in writing and in life!

The talk runs from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in 4130 Posvar Hall (map).

Promo code available for "The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac" at Byham Theater, March 14.

"The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac" will be performed at the Byham Theater on March 14, 2026, part of the Trust Family Series of performances aimed at younger audiences.

Join Freddie and Ivy alongside their grandparents, Po Po and Kung Kung, as their Chinese New Year celebrations take a turn from dumpling-making to discovering the incredible origin story of the Chinese Zodiac!

When the Jade Emperor needs a way to tell time, he decrees that the first twelve animals to cross the race’s mighty river will have a year named after them and will mark the passage of a 12-year cycle.

Learn which animals win & what traits helped their success, why the rat and cat are enemies, and how each animal earned their place in the Zodiac while enjoying traditional Chinese movement, music and martial arts!

The booking agency says the performance is best for kids in kindergarten through grade 3. Tickets are available online, and PennsylvAsia readers can use promo code HORSE for 15% off. The show starts at 2:00 pm, and the Byham Theater is located at 101 6th Street in downtown's Cultural District (map).

Stuck in Saṃsāra exhibition at Bunker Projects, February 6 through March 22.

Stuck in Saṃsāra, featuring artwork from ten AAPI artists from around the country (including Pittsburgh), will be on display at Bunker Projects from February 6 through March 22.

Stuck in Saṃsāra

Feb 6 - Mar 22, 2025

Taking inspiration from the Lotus Sutra, the exhibition reimagines the Parable of the Burning House, one of the most important stories from the sutra. The story describes a vast house, owned by a very rich man, which suddenly catches fire. The man’s children are so busy playing that they do not notice or believe that the house is burning. In order to save them, he promises to give them his riches if they leave the house. In the story, the burning house represents the world of suffering—or samsara—and the man’s riches represent the Buddha’s teachings of liberation—nirvana. However, the sutra teaches that this is just a story. In truth, there is no way out of the house. We can only find liberation within the flames. The world of suffering is the world of liberation—to awaken to suffering is liberation itself.

Central to the story, and to the exhibition, is the image of fire in its many forms. Fire is destruction and death, but it’s also energy, purification, rebirth, life itself. Flames destroy but they also bloom. Alongside fire, the works in the exhibition also explore themes of attention and awareness, sexuality and desire, nature, beauty, ritual, devotion, and grief. The exhibition seeks to present these images in a way that challenges conventional dualistic distinctions.

While the works in the exhibition are not necessarily political, they do offer a way of thinking about current global crises, including climate disaster, genocide, and fascism. While most of the artists in the exhibition don’t identify as Buddhists, their work can still help us to understand our relationship to suffering and how we respond to it. I think that artists are people who are always paying attention—who are especially aware of suffering in their own lives and in the world around them—and trying to show it to us.

Featuring Christian Bañez, Martin Castro, Jon Chao, Anne Chen, Eriko Hattori, Marius Keo Marjolin, Brent Nakamoto, Anthony Park Kascak, Sara Tang, and Song Watkins Park.

Curated by Brent Nakamoto.

The opening reception runs 6:00 to 9:00 pm on Friday the 6th. Bunker Projects is an art gallery located at 5106 Penn Ave. in Bloomfield (map).

"The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac" at Byham Theater, March 14.

"The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac" will be performed at the Byham Theater on March 14, 2026, part of the Trust Family Series of performances aimed at younger audiences.

Join Freddie and Ivy alongside their grandparents, Po Po and Kung Kung, as their Chinese New Year celebrations take a turn from dumpling-making to discovering the incredible origin story of the Chinese Zodiac!

When the Jade Emperor needs a way to tell time, he decrees that the first twelve animals to cross the race’s mighty river will have a year named after them and will mark the passage of a 12-year cycle.

Learn which animals win & what traits helped their success, why the rat and cat are enemies, and how each animal earned their place in the Zodiac while enjoying traditional Chinese movement, music and martial arts!

The booking agency says the performance is best for kids in kindergarten through grade 3. Tickets are available online. The show starts at 2:00 pm, and the Byham Theater is located at 101 6th Street in downtown's Cultural District (map).

Asian stationary store DooBoo opens in East Liberty.

An Asian stationary store, DooBoo, opened in East Liberty in December. It is located at 6012 Penn Ave. (map). Their Instagram has a variety of photos and videos, and a post before the soft opening previewed some offerings:

DooBoo’s a small little project run by two cousins hoping to bring some more relaxed joy & mindfulness into their busy lives. sometimes we forget that there’s so much more to life than just existing, so this small brick-and-mortar hopes to share stationery products focused on being mindful about and embracing your inner soul 🧚‍♀️

expect journals, notebooks, planners, pens, highlighters, stickers, memo pads, washi tapes, and more!! oh, and we’ll also try our bestest to support local and national artists and creators because supporting small businesses is a must! ✨ so go ahead and tag your artist friends or favorite artists and support them in their dreams 🌱

Lunar New Year at Phipps, February 21.

Phipps Conservatory and Chinese Association for Science and Technology-Pittsburgh Chapter (CASTP) will present a Lunar New Year celebration and event at Phipps on February 21.

Celebrate the year of the horse at Phipps Conservatory!Empty heading

On Sat., Feb. 21, Phipps Conservatory and The CASTP Organization are proud to present the 29th Lunar New Year celebration, all under Phipps' historic glasshouse! This event will host a variety of food and craft vendors, unique performances and educational resources to learn more about this beloved Chinese celebration. Plus, guests can also experience the lovely Orchid and Tropical Bonsai Show: Blooming with Love during the celebration.

This event is included in regular Conservatory admission. Members and children under two are free.

Schedule of Events

2026 New Year's Banquet Gala with OCA Pittsburgh, February 21 at Szechuan Spice.

The 2026 New Year's Banquet Gala with the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) Pittsburgh will be held on February 21 at Szechuan Spice in Shadyside. 

Celebrate the Lunar New Year of the Horse with a ten course banquet.

The Lunar New Year began in China more than 4,000 years ago and is widely observed in East and Southeast Asia. Over the years, the festivities have spread around the world. It is now celebrated by millions of people all over the United States, including here in Pittsburgh!

Come celebrate Lunar New Year with OCA Pittsburgh! Eat a 10 course meal, watch cultural performances and participate in a raffle!

OCA Banquet is our fundraiser that makes it possible for OCA to provide advocacy and services for Asian Americans in Pittsburgh.

If you are not currently an active member, we invite you become one. Your membership supports the important work we do as well as access to benefits. Please use this link to sign up.

Tickets are currently available, $110 for a seat or $1,000 for a table. The event runs from 5:00 to 10:00 pm at Szechuan Spice, 5700 Centre Ave. in Shadyside (map). More information is available at the event link.

Numerous book discussion events scheduled at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branches for AANHPI Heritage Month in May.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has scheduled 19 book discussion and book club events across its branches for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May 2026. Books are available for checkout through the library's catalog and are available in audio or ebook formats. Links to each item in the catalog are available below.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh announces collection of "teen time" programming for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in May.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has announced lots of "teen time" creativity events for many of its branches for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month in May 2026, featuring programs on Japanese book binding, shadow puppets, ceramics, Korean schoolyard games, and paper folding.

"Asian American Psycho: A Graphic Novel" with Pitt's Humanities Center, January 22.

The Humanities Center at the University of Pittsburgh will host a discussion on Asian American Psycho: A Graphic Novel on January 22.

Asian American Psycho: A Graphic Novel explores the outer limits of the U.S. fantasies of the Asian femme, from fetishized, exotic object to model minority subject. In dialogue with Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho (1991) and its satirical portrait of the Wall Street financier as a monster of capitalism, Asian American Psycho follows another monstrous figuration to gory ends. The narrative stars a medical student turned gig worker, who embodies both laborer and human commodity, as she sells the idea of herself to feed the repressed desires of the West that have been projected onto the Asian Other.

Respondents include Maggie Beeler from the Classics department + Mila Zuo, Associate Professor of Cinema Studies, University of British Columbia. This event will be hybrid, so you can attend it either in person in 602 CL or via Zoom as you prefer. Precirculated material for this colloquium are available here.

The event runs from 12:30 to 2:00 pm.

Pittsburgh Japanese School to relocate to Point Breeze in January 2026.

Ceremony for the first day of school in April.

The Pittsburgh Japanese School, which was established in 1977 and has been operating at the Shady Side Academy Middle School in Fox Chapel since 2006, will be relocating to the Shady Side Academy Junior School in January 2026. The middle school's grounds were sold to the National Aviary in February 2025, with Shady Side Academy moving to a new campus across the golf course.

The Pittsburgh Japanese School offers education in the Japanese curriculum for Japanese and Japanese-American children from pre-kindergarten through high school, and, like many similar language and culture programs in the city, operates out of another building each week.

Located on the beautiful campus of Shady Side Academy, PJS is one of the three supplementary Japanese schools in Pennsylvania. We offer Japanese instruction for grades Pre-K - 12th in accordance with the guidelines and curriculum set by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan.

The primary purpose of PJS is to provide a Japanese curriculum for children of Japanese families who have relocated to the Pittsburgh area so that their children may make a smooth transition back to the rigorous Japanese educational system upon their eventual return. The secondary purpose of PJS is to provide children who are fluent or proficient in Japanese with the opportunity to receive instruction in Japanese and to participate in the cultural traditions of Japan while residing in the Pittsburgh area on a long term basis.

The Pittsburgh Japanese School is grateful to the Japanese government and the Office of the Consulate General of Japan in New York for providing us with funding, invaluable advice, textbooks, and other educational materials which allow us to deliver quality education to our students. We are equally grateful for the continued support of our warm community, our dedicated teachers and staff, and our friends and families who all generously donate their time and energy into making our school a truly unique “home away from home”.

As detailed on its website, the Pittsburgh Japanese School has moved to increasingly large spaces after its formation, including Fox Chapel Area High School in 1994, before finally moving to Shady Side Academy in 2006. The present location offers classroom space for each grade level, a cafeteria, a Japanese-language library, a gymnasium, and outdoor spaces for classes and an annual sports day (運動会), and these amenities are expected to continue at the new campus.

Japanese ambassador and consul general Shinichi Nishimiya visits a pre-kindergarten class in August 2009, ahead of the G-20 summit. (Photo via August 31, 2009 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.)

Lucy Chen's Dress in Red at Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, April 3 and 4.

The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater will present Lucy Chen's Dress in Red on April 3 and 4, part of its Freshworks series.

Femininity. Sexuality. Perception. Expectation. Dressed in Red explores these ideas and our shifting self and social identities through a blend of movement and video performance. Inspired by Classical Chinese dance and contemporary movement, Dressed in Red reflects on Lucy’s experience of the complex relationship between how we see ourselves, how we present ourselves, and how others see us. 

Utilizing video media and a costume that transforms throughout the performance, the dancers explore self-expression and connection/tension with their communities, within the lens of what it means to be feminine. Audiences witness an evolving narrative of feminine identity and are encouraged to contemplate their own experiences with their image, and how we perform our gender and sexuality.

The performances run 7:30 to 9:00 pm and include a post-show discussion. Tickets are available online. The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater's Alloy Studios is located at 5530 Penn Ave. in East Liberty (map).

Jay Som performing in Pittsburgh, December 12.

Singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Jay Som will perform in Pittsburgh on December 12.

WHERE, YOU ARE ALMOST CERTAINLY ASKING, HAS JAY SOM BEEN? …six years ago, in 2019, Melina Duterte released Anak Ko, the expansive third album from the project that had quickly grown far beyond its so-called bedroom pop origins into something resembling an actual band. But when a shuttered touring industry scrapped Jay Som’s ambitious 2020 plans, Duterte realized she had long needed a reset from the road after several years of constant pivots between touring and writing. She decided to splurge on herself and her lifelong interest in recording, funneling her government stimulus check into a piece of dream gear—a vintage Neve console. She committed herself to manuals and online tutorials. Five years later, a Grammy for her work on The Record by boygenius, the band she subsequently joined as a touring member. Yes, Jay Som itself has been on a bit of a break; Duterte, however, has perhaps been busier than ever.

When Duterte reckoned the time had come to revisit Jay Som, she did not pretend to be hidebound by the project’s past. Instead, she let the half-decade of life she’d lived and work she’d done since releasing Anak Ko filter not only into her songs but also her process. But she also opened up her music to herself and her memories, writing songs that revisited the sounds of her youth with the benefit of her experiences as a musician, producer, and performer. She was neither shy about her influences nor limited about where they might lead her. And so no previous Jay Som album sounds quite like the new Belong, a gripping 11-song set about self-definition and, well, belonging, that floats between supercharged power-pop hits and hazy ballads, between electronic curiosities and lighters-up anthems. It is a map of the first 31 years of Duterte’s life, all leading to the present that is Belong.

Jay Som will perform at Spirit Lounge, 242 51st St in Lawrenceville (map). TIckets for the 21+ show are now available online.

2025 Amy Wang film Slanted at Three Rivers Film Festival, November 12.

The 2025 Amy Wang film Slanted will play in Pittsburgh on November 12, part of this year's Three Rivers Film Festival.

Slanted follows Joan Huang, a Chinese-American teen in the 2010s South, as she battles racism and cultural clashes. As an 8-year-old, she’s bullied for her differences. At 17, obsessed with popularity, she pursues prom queen and undergoes extreme changes, including dyeing her hair and considering racial modification surgery, to achieve a “white” ideal. Her quest alienates her from family and friends, satirizing assimilation and white worship while focusing on her tragicomic struggle for self-worth.

If you loved The Substance and Mean Girls, this one’s for you!

It plays at the Harris Theater in downtown's Cultural District (map), and tickets are available online. 

Maree ReMalia’s WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER, November 13.

CMU Center for New Work Development and Kelly Strayhorn Theater will present Maree ReMalia’s WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER on November 13.

Kelly Strayhorn Theater and the Center for New Work Development at Carnegie Mellon University invite you to an intimate work-in-progress showing of Maree ReMalia’s forthcoming solo WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER (WOWEO). Set in a karaoke-funeral-lounge, ReMalia welcomes audiences into an evening-length solo blending dance, text, and pop music as a way to grieve a parent who raised her and a parent she never met. Co-directed by Adil Mansoor, this performance explores how a solo body can become a meeting place for others and how a mic becomes a lifeline. Come experience the process of developing an original work right here in Pittsburgh!

WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation & Development Fund Project co-commissioned by Kelly Strayhorn Theater (KST), Bates Dance Festival (BDF), Hatch Arts Collective (Hatch), and NPN. More information: www.npnweb.org. The development of WOWEO has been supported by Carnegie Mellon University Center for New Work Development in partnership with KST.

This is in addition to "Acts of Remembrance: Moving, Writing, Making" with Maree ReMalia on November 4. WITH OURSELVES, WITH EACH OTHER starts at 7:00 pm and is held at Three Stories in downtown's Cultural District (map).  Tickets are available online.

Screening of 15-minute documentary We Were the Scenery and Cathy Linh Che talk, November 6 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of English will host a screening of the documentary We Were the Secenery and a talk with writer/producer Cathy Linh Che on November 6. A synopsis, from the documentary's official site:

In 1975, Hoa Thi Lê and Hue Nguyen Che fled from Vietnam by boat and docked in the Philippines, where they were utilized as background extras during the filming of Apocalypse Now. This documentary short film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025 and won the Short Film Jury Prize: Nonfiction, the Special Jury Prize for Short Documentary Film at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, Best International Short Documentary Film at Galway Film Fleadh, Best International Short Dox at DokuFest, and the Excellence in Short Filmmaking Documentary and Audience Award at the Asian American International Film Festival.

The event runs from 2:00 to 3:00 pm in 501 Cathedral of Learning and is free and open to the public.

2025 Amy Wang film Slanted at Three Rivers Film Festival, November 12.

The 2025 Amy Wang film Slanted will play in Pittsburgh on November 12, part of this year's Three Rivers Film Festival.

Slanted follows Joan Huang, a Chinese-American teen in the 2010s South, as she battles racism and cultural clashes. As an 8-year-old, she’s bullied for her differences. At 17, obsessed with popularity, she pursues prom queen and undergoes extreme changes, including dyeing her hair and considering racial modification surgery, to achieve a “white” ideal. Her quest alienates her from family and friends, satirizing assimilation and white worship while focusing on her tragicomic struggle for self-worth.

If you loved The Substance and Mean Girls, this one’s for you!

It plays at the Harris Theater in downtown's Cultural District (map), and tickets are available online.