Since 1960 the Three Rivers Arts festival has brought variations of art to Pittsburgh, and this year, the tradition continues. The 2011 Three Rivers Arts Festival will take place at Point State Park, Hertz Gateway Center, and the Cultural District from June 3-12. President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Kevin McMahon, says that the free event benefits the local communities creatively and financially.
"The Cultural's Trust's mission is about arts but it's also about the local economy. Using the arts to help improve that economy and this festival alone provides an economic impact in excess of twenty million dollars," says Kevin.
Art in music form will come, in part, from the Pittsburgh Symphony and Orchestra. Its President and CEO, Lawrence Tamburri says they have a classical concert planned for their first appearance at the festival since 1977 on June 5th at 6:00. McMahon adds that they will be launching a Pittsburgh JazzLive International weekend which features jazz performances from around the world from June 3-5.
Other activities throughout the week include an Artists Market showcasing 280 international artists and the Juried Visual Arts Exhibition with more than 80 art pieces. More information about the event can be found at http://www.3riversartsfest.org/
Showing posts with label Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Show all posts
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Friday, December 31, 2010
First Night Meets Hockey Night
Annual First Night celebrations are set to begin at 6:00 this evening with the opening fireworks. The family friendly New Year’s Eve event in the Cultural District is run by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Saturday’s Winter Classic hockey game is expected to swell usual attendance by as many as 20,000 revilers. Cultural Trust President Kevin McMahon says they are embarrassing the hockey theme, “We have hockey penguins, we have hockey stick collages, we’re going to have in the children’s tent at First Night we’re going to have a lot of hockey oriented activities…. Instead of arguing that there is too much going on in Pittsburgh we think there is never too much going on in Pittsburgh.”
Kathryn Heidemann, Director of First Night Pittsburgh says it is a great opportunity for the city to once again show off what makes it great. “We’re thrilled to welcome… Winter Classic patrons, to the heart of the Cultural District,” says Heidemann.
First night will also feature the rising ball at midnight with another round of fireworks. In between there will be a parade at 8pm and more than 125 event at 50 different venues.
Among the headliners will be Squonk Opera at the Byham Theater, the Neo-Futurists at the O’Reilly Theater and Tower of Power on an outdoor stage.
Outdoor activities are free to the public but get access to the indoor events revilers must have a First night button that can be purchased for $8 in advance or $10 New Year’s Eve at The Box Office at Theater Square.
Some of the indoor performance will require a free General Admission Seating Voucher. A full schedule of event can be found online.
The first ‘First Night’ in Pittsburgh was held in 1984.
Kathryn Heidemann, Director of First Night Pittsburgh says it is a great opportunity for the city to once again show off what makes it great. “We’re thrilled to welcome… Winter Classic patrons, to the heart of the Cultural District,” says Heidemann.
First night will also feature the rising ball at midnight with another round of fireworks. In between there will be a parade at 8pm and more than 125 event at 50 different venues.
Among the headliners will be Squonk Opera at the Byham Theater, the Neo-Futurists at the O’Reilly Theater and Tower of Power on an outdoor stage.
Outdoor activities are free to the public but get access to the indoor events revilers must have a First night button that can be purchased for $8 in advance or $10 New Year’s Eve at The Box Office at Theater Square.
Some of the indoor performance will require a free General Admission Seating Voucher. A full schedule of event can be found online.
The first ‘First Night’ in Pittsburgh was held in 1984.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Mayor: First Night Will be Safe
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl says people should not be afraid to come downtown for the First Night celebrations. In an effort to set aside some public concerns that big events in downtown Pittsburgh are no longer safe, Mayor Ravenstahl says there will be beefed up patrols in the golden triangle New Year’s Eve. He says the gunfire during Light Up Night was an isolated event. “We, as a city, can’t let a few idiots get in the way of a wonderful event,” says Ravenstahl, ”We are determined from a police department prospective and a public safety prospective not to let that happen.”
Ravenstahl says there will be additional officers downtown and they will be keeping an eye out for groups of people like those that gathered on light up night and eventually caused problems. “What I can tell the people of Pittsburgh today is you will be safe, come downtown experience this wonderful event and you should not let a few bad apples ruin your experience with your family on this New Year’s holiday,” says Ravenstahl.
First night usually draws about 35 thousand revelers. The Cultural Trust says there could be another 20-30 thousand on the streets December 31st thanks an influx of visitors in town for the winter classic hockey game on the north shore the next day. Visit Pittsburgh says every hotel room downtown is booked for New Year’s Eve.
Ravenstahl says there will be additional officers downtown and they will be keeping an eye out for groups of people like those that gathered on light up night and eventually caused problems. “What I can tell the people of Pittsburgh today is you will be safe, come downtown experience this wonderful event and you should not let a few bad apples ruin your experience with your family on this New Year’s holiday,” says Ravenstahl.
First night usually draws about 35 thousand revelers. The Cultural Trust says there could be another 20-30 thousand on the streets December 31st thanks an influx of visitors in town for the winter classic hockey game on the north shore the next day. Visit Pittsburgh says every hotel room downtown is booked for New Year’s Eve.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Parking Availability In Real-Time Mobile App
Parking in Downtown’s Cultural District just got a lot easier with the option to get online, make a phone call, or check an app to check parking availability.
Introduced and implemented at noon today, ParkPGH will deliver parking vacancies in all Cultural District garages in real-time. Funded by the Benter Foundation, the free smartphone application that works on iPhones, Blackberry and Android phones uses updates from each garage in the district to tell drivers the parking availability of 25 percent of the garages downtown.
"ParkPGH connects to a central database and to the gates at each location and updates every thirty seconds to provide real-time parking availability to the Cultural District," project engineer Mark Fleming says.
Fleming made sure that ParkPGH is also available to those who don’t have the smartphone app. It can be accessed through the web, through texting PARKING or calling 412-423-8980 through which users will receive an automated response.
According to Kevin McMahon, President of the Cultural Trust, and Bill Benter who funded the project, the program was made to reduce the hassle of finding a space, and hopefully draw more people for not only performances, but also impromptu visits.
"I believe [searching for a space] is an impediment to people coming in and enjoying the wonderful things we have going on in the Cultural Trust so this is an attempt to make that easier for everyone," Benter says.
According to developers, the first trial will be assessed before citywide expansion is implemented and that evaluation should be completed by March.
"Over time it's possible that this could expand to all parking, whether it would work for metered parking, who knows? With some of the great things that technology is doing, down the road it's possible," McMahon says.
Introduced and implemented at noon today, ParkPGH will deliver parking vacancies in all Cultural District garages in real-time. Funded by the Benter Foundation, the free smartphone application that works on iPhones, Blackberry and Android phones uses updates from each garage in the district to tell drivers the parking availability of 25 percent of the garages downtown.
"ParkPGH connects to a central database and to the gates at each location and updates every thirty seconds to provide real-time parking availability to the Cultural District," project engineer Mark Fleming says.
Fleming made sure that ParkPGH is also available to those who don’t have the smartphone app. It can be accessed through the web, through texting PARKING or calling 412-423-8980 through which users will receive an automated response.
According to Kevin McMahon, President of the Cultural Trust, and Bill Benter who funded the project, the program was made to reduce the hassle of finding a space, and hopefully draw more people for not only performances, but also impromptu visits.
"I believe [searching for a space] is an impediment to people coming in and enjoying the wonderful things we have going on in the Cultural Trust so this is an attempt to make that easier for everyone," Benter says.
According to developers, the first trial will be assessed before citywide expansion is implemented and that evaluation should be completed by March.
"Over time it's possible that this could expand to all parking, whether it would work for metered parking, who knows? With some of the great things that technology is doing, down the road it's possible," McMahon says.
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