Concerts for all: Azure redefines family-friendly entertainment
Less cacophonous than beautifully harmonious, performances pair talented artists with local listeners in barrier-free environments
If attendees drown out the music at an upcoming concert, one promoter won’t lose sleep. After all, it’s part of the experience.
Since becoming founding executive director of Azure Family Concerts Pittsburgh nearly four years ago, Anitra Birnbaum has worked to create louder, friendlier and more inclusive musical spaces.
“My oldest son has autism and he was my inspiration for doing this,” Birnbaum, 50, told the Chronicle. “Many people with autism and other related types of disabilities have great difficulties attending concerts where they have to abide by traditional concert etiquette.”
As opposed to having to sit silently in stuffy spaces beside buttoned-up patrons, Azure concerts promote a different experience, she said. The programs welcome people of “all behaviors” in the hope that attendees “get up, dance, move around, talk, sing, yell, make any kind of noise or movement and express themselves in any way that makes them comfortable.”
Less cacophonous than beautifully harmonious, the performances pair talented artists with local listeners in barrier-free environments.
“Azure concerts are open to the public and free,” Birnbaum said.
A Dec. 1 concert at Temple Emanuel of South Hills featured KleZlectic, a Pittsburgh-based klezmer band inspired by jazz and classical influences. The show, titled “Festive Families,” delivered holiday music with a “klezmer twist.”
Birnbaum said she’s excited both about the performance and the increased interest in Azure concerts.
“We’ve been really growing and expanding,” she said, pointing to last year’s schedule as proof.
Along with 10 Azure concerts, Birnbaum oversaw several related programs at the Carnegie Libraries and multiple school-based assemblies.
“We’re doing more events than we’ve ever done before and we hope they continue growing and expanding,” she said.
Azure concerts are supported by Autism-Pittsburgh, a nearly 60-year-old organization that advocates for and works on behalf of Pittsburgh’s autism community.
Information regarding the size of Pittsburgh’s autism community is scant: The last statewide autism census occurred in 2014. Data from that time reported 4,894 individuals within Allegheny County with autism. The largest demographic, 47%, fell between the ages of 5-12.
The census revealed that between 2005 and 2011, Allegheny County saw a 119% increase in the number of people with autism, a figure consistent with national trends; across the country autism rates are increasing, especially among the young.
JAMA Open Network, published by American Medical Association, found rates of autism spectrum disorder rose between 2011 and 2022, “particularly among young adults, female children and adults, and children from some racial or ethnic minority groups.”
Increased ASD diagnoses among young adults “suggests that people may be going undiagnosed in childhood,” according to Autism Speaks, a national organization committed to autism-related research and advocacy.
Surging local interest has led to more Azure concerts, but beyond greater frequency Birnbaum would like to see geographic growth.
Most Azure programming has occurred within Oakland or near Pittsburgh’s East End. Creating opportunities at different venues all around Greater Pittsburgh makes it easier for families to attend, she said.
That’s truly the goal — getting more families to attend, Birnbaum continued. “It’s important for the community at large to be a part of these concerts. It helps the community to gain more understanding and acceptance of differences.”
Azure concerts are driven by Jewish values, Birnbaum said. “Part of embracing differences at concerts is that it also translates into other spaces.” So whether it’s at a synagogue, the library or a concert hall, “the more exposure that people have to people with differences, the more inclusive the world will become.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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