Instructors
J Armstead Brown
Music Instructor
J.Armstead Brown is a professional musician and hip-hop producer. Brown, originally from New York came to Pittsburgh in 2002 and studied musicology as a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh. For three years Brown was the bandleader and keyboardist for the regionally reknown hip-hop/rock Eviction Notice and is the current bandleader for the Shadow Lounge open mic house band “Hambone Jenkins.” As a music producer Brown has worked with independent hip-hop artists up and down the East Coast from New York to Atlanta and in 2007 released his debut compilation album “Fieldwork.” As an educator Brown is the director of the Westinghouse Lighthouse Project, an after school program that uses multimedia and performing arts to educate and empower youth in Homewood. Brown is also the co-founder and marketing director of Rhyme Calisthenics, a innovative hip-hop competition/game show that encourages local hip-hop artists to exercise their creativity, intelligence and improvisational skills.
Luqman Abdus-salaam
Workshop Director
Luqman Abdus-salaam leads the Arts Greenhouse Workshop Series as organizer, community liaison and primary lecturer. In addition, he acts as a mentor for the youth, offering insight into the artistic process interweaved with broader life lessons.
Abdus-salaam brings 15 years of experience as a hip-hop performance poet. He spent a period signed to Island Music Group, and currently works part time as a talent consultant for Philadelphia based independent record label, Ovum Recordings. As an educator, Abdus-salaam has taught creative expression workshops at Duquesne, Carnegie Mellon, Purdue, Temple and Penn State Universities. He is often requested to speak on the impact of hip-hop and relevance of art to activism.
