Pittsburgh Cultural Trust to Welcome Deaf Hip Hop Artist Sean Forbes, 3/6-7

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces that deaf hip hop artist Sean Forbes will perform at the Trust Arts Education Center, 805-807 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh, on March 6 and March 7. Student matinee performances will be held on March 6 at 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.

Tickets for the student matinee performances cost $10. One public performance will take place on March 7 at 7 p.m. Tickets to the public performance cost $20. Tickets are available for purchase online at, www.TrustArts.org, or by calling 412- 456-6666. You can also purchase tickets in person at the Theater Square Box Office, 655 Penn Avenue. Group tickets begin at 10 or more. For group tickets call 412-471-6930. All tickets are general admission.

Student matinee performances are appropriate for all ages. They include a 30 minute live performance from Sean Forbes & his band and then a 30 minute inspirational/motivational speech in which Sean shares his background as a deaf individual in the music industry and shares ASL music videos and hosts a Q&A session with the audience.

ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Sean Forbes is deaf - and out to build a badly needed bridge between the music industry and deaf people everywhere. Inspired by what he calls "The Three B's" (the Beastie Boys, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan), Sean started out making music videos in his basement and today is producing professional music videos with a focus on the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. He is a voice for not only his generation but deaf culture.

Forbes is the co-founder of D-PAN, The Deaf Professional Arts Network, a non-profit organization that focuses on translating popular artists' songs into American Sign Language music videos for the deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. Through his videos and outreach to deaf people everywhere - particularly young people eager to feel included in popular culture - music is being presented to them as a beautiful symphony of thought and expression, available to all. The hearing community, too, is fascinated by his ASL translations of musical hits and is clamoring for more. Since 2008, Forbes has also performed in over 50 cities across the US; including college campuses, live venues, and at retailers such as Borders and Barnes & Noble. To date, Forbes has appeared in front of over 150,000 people. It has been said that "Sean Forbes is a musician on a mission. An accomplished and passionate drummer, rhythm pours out of him, when he breathes, walks, types at his keyboard or hits his drums. Music is in his blood, his cells; it's just the way he is."

Sean Forbes is living proof that if you have enough passion and dedication, magic happens and dreams come true. "The world is run by those who show up," he says, "And I'm showing up." For more information on Sean Forbes, visit www.deafandloud.com.

ABOUT THE PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh's most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country's largest land masses "curated" by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh's quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.

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