Hundreds of artists to gather at Three Rivers Arts Festival
The Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, which opens today, will showcase more than 300 artists from across the country during the 10-day cultural event.
The festival opens at noon today with “Riverlights at the Point,” a celebration of the return of the renovated Point State Park fountain. The fountain has been closed for about four years and will be unveiled to kick off the festival.
The festival, which ends June 16, will feature the popular Artist Market, open daily from noon to 8 p.m. There will be various entertainment acts every day with additional concerts today, Saturday and Sunday paired with the Pittsburgh JazzLive Festival.
Veronica Corpuz, the director of festival management for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, said the entertainment lineup this year is extensive but there will be something for everyone to enjoy.
The entertainment is free.
“This is a family event with all different types of food, music and art,” Corpuz said.
“This is an event where everyone can go out and have fun.”
Corpuz expects a turnout of more than 400,000 in the 10-day span. She said this year’s festival has a lot of new entertainment as well as a new “food truck” that will come around this Friday and June 14. The truck features food from several Pittsburgh restaurants.
“This is something that draws a lot of people because the festival has so much to offer,” she said. “All of our artists and entertainment acts are unique. There’s so much to do and look at.
The Artist Market, ranked among the Top-40 such shows in the nation by Sunshine Artist Magazine, includes more than 300 artists and fine craftspeople throughout Point State Park and Gateway Center daily, as well as Penn Avenue Extension on weekends.
A cornerstone of the festival, the market provides the public the chance to buy works directly from artists specializing in an array of media including ceramics, computer graphics, digital, jewelry, fiber, glass, leather, metal, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture, woodworking and more.
The festival also includes daily artist demonstrations and hands-on activities in the Giant Eagle Creativity Zone. Educational shows for all ages range from culturally-diverse music performances to story-telling to collaborative painting projects.
New to the Creativity Zone this year is a Dream Cycle Tent, which will include a photo exhibit and interactive activities inspired by the art and science of cycling. A portion of the Carnegie Science Center’s Science of Bikes exhibit is included, inspired by Albert Einstein’s famous quote about his Theory of Relativity: “I thought of that while riding my bicycle.”
Also new this year is the Miniature Marina in the festival’s Artist Market, providing children a model sailboat activity.
For a full event listing or for more information, visit 3RiversArtsFest.org or call 412-456-6666.