The 1600s were a golden era for the Dutch, the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer and a relatively tolerant society that distinguished itself as a haven for the oppressed.  It was a prosperous age, with coffers filled by the greatest merchant fleet in the world. Amsterdam became its glittering financial capital, the center of the new Dutch Empire.

In 1602, the Dutch East India Company was created to find an all-water route to Asia and occupy unclaimed lands along the way. Twelve years later, the New Netherland Company was formed and received a three-year monopoly from the Dutch government to occupy lands between New France and the English claims in Virginia. The company operated the fur trade profitably, but was unable to entice settlers into the area.

The Dutch needed permanent settlements in order to hold New World possessions against French and English competition. In 1621, the Dutch West India Company was formed to conduct activities in West Africa and the Western Hemisphere. Recipients of a 24-year monopoly, the investors began by establishing a permanent settlement on lands formerly belonging to the New Netherland Company.

In 1624, a shipload of Flemish Walloons sailed to the New World, subsequently spreading themselves throughout the claim along the Delaware, Connecticut and Hudson Rivers.  Outlying ventures were under constant threat of attack by Native Americans and most were abandoned, but New Netherland emerged as areas were settled in the current Mid-Atlantic States of New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Connecticut, with small outposts in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.  Its provincial capital was New Amsterdam, now Manhattan.

This spring, the Dutch occupy Pittsburgh, a city of three other rivers, throughthe Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Distinctively Dutch Festival, a three-month festival that celebrates the culture and contemporary performing and visual arts from the Netherlands through May 2012.

Global Navigators explores and embodies our continued fascination with global cultures through various media, forms and processes.  The eight exhibiting artists all hold Dutch citizenship or live in Holland, but their imagery crosses geographical, ideological, technical and aesthetic boundaries, spanning Maoist guerrilla group operating in the Philippines to a 747 descending over Hong Kong.  Their works move from the North Pole to more nebulous locations, crafting and critiquing our claims to the earth and the powers that reign over its regions and inhabitants. Together, their efforts embrace and extend the historical context of Dutch exploration, charting a contemporary expedition with new media across emerging globalization.

Global Navigators
Curated by Murray Horne

Wood Street Galleries:
Peter Bogers
Guido van der Werve

SPACE:
Mark Boulos
Gerard Holthuis
Folkert de Jong
Geert Mul
Marnix de Nijs
Karen Sargsyan

707
Guido van der Werve

Gallery Details:
Wood Street Galleries is located at 601 Wood Street above the T-Station in the Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District. SPACE is located at 812 Liberty Avenue, and 707 Penn Gallery is located at 707 Penn Avenue in the Cultural District. The exhibition is made possible through generous support from the Mondriaan Foundation.

Hours:
Wednesday & Thursday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
For more information, call 412-471-5605 or visit woodstreetgalleries.org
Wood Street Galleries is a Project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and is free and open to the public

ALSO ON VIEW:
Girls’N’Guns
709 Penn Gallery
Photography by Rachel Nieborg and Ine Mulder
Through June 17, 2012

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Peter Bogers continually breaks things down and reassembles component parts to challenge our reflexive need to impose order.  His orchestrations create choruses rather than cacophonies.  In Unleashed Content, he taps into the growing number of online video archives that automatically update and expand themselves ad infinitum. These archives function as interactive, even addictive, systems that expose conflicting impulses: the desire to belong and the desire to distinguish oneself.

Keywords entered online typically generate numerous immediate results that often lead to related albeit unexpected topics.  The revolutionary availability of so much searchable material instigated Unleashed Content, a spatial audio-visual installation composed of hundreds of excerpts in 36 videos linked to 36 hanging speakers. The criteria for this compilation are based in musical and visual composition, ordering parts into a whole that becomes a seemingly natural universe unto itself.  The resulting wall of images and ceiling of sounds perform paradoxically on many levels: they preserve and dissolve the singularity of images; make the personal public and the public personal; and transform the obscure into the ordinary and the ordinary into something freshly seen.

Peter Bogersstudied sculpture and began his career as a performance artist, later devoting himself to video art, installations and sculptures. He has had solo exhibitions at the Netherlands Media Art Institute, the Centraal Museum Utrecht, and The National Art Center’, Tokyo (2009) and in Bremen, Marseille, Osnabrück, Pittsburgh and Stuttgart. Unleashed Content was included in Body Talks – Video Arts and Cinedans in Public Space in Maastricht, The Netherlands in 2011.

Guido van der Werve’s title, Nummer acht: Everything is going to be alright (2007), offers false assurance. After a few silent opening seconds, blinding whiteness and a massive roar alert us otherwise. A lone man in black walks toward us on a plain of infinite ice, trailed by a massive icebreaker lumbering through the frozen Gulf of Bothnia, off the coast of Finland.  His pace is unhurried, almost blasé. Is he aware or oblivious to the behemoth vessel that looms behind him? A matter-of-factness persists despite the menacing threat.  Over time, his steadiness gradually diminishes the real and imagined demons that haunt and pursue us. The situation—with its extremes of man and Nummer achtis typical of van der Werve’s mash-up of mirth and melancholy,joining a series of vignettes in which the artist himself mournfully narrates the history of Steinway pianos; rotates slowly against the earth’s rotation at the North Pole; collides fatally with a car on a grim suburban street later to be surrounded by dancing ballerinas; and meditates on meteorites while building a space rocket in his living-room. Van der Werve’s films are often accompanied by Romantic piano music he plays himself, given his training as a classical musician. Throughout his abstract adventurism, Van der Werve is a master of the quick-change in emotional tenor.  His work explores aural and visual dislocation, skating unpredictably between a touching and aching alienation and hilarious light-hearted absurdity.

Guido van der Werve was born in the Netherlands and currently lives and works in Finland. He pursued studies in industrial design, archaeology music composition and Russian language and literature before beginning his first video documented performances around 2000. Since then, he has created a variety of works, including a series of film and videos and a musical composition titled by number in chronological order from two to twelve.   Recent solo exhibitions include those at the: Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Saint Louis Art Museum; Hayward Gallery, London; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; de Hallen Haarlem, the Netherlands; and the Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland.  In 2009, his film Nummer twaalf was presented at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

SPACE

Mark Boulos’No Permanent Address is a three channel video portrait of the New People’s Army, a Maoist guerrilla group operating in the Philippines. Shot over several months as he lived among their members, the work speaks to the persistence of communist ideologies at a time in which, as Boulos suggests, “capitalism has begun to lose its sense of inevitability.” Resisting political documentary’s tendency to focus on victims, Boulos regards the members of the insurgent group as everyday heroes, recording their daily activities and notions of love, sacrifice, revolution and ideology.  No Permanent Address acknowledges the incongruities between Marxism as theory and Marxism in practice. In a world where struggles for sovereignty are increasingly labeled “terrorist,” Boulos creates a generous, humanist portrait of people who have turned to militancy. Climaxing with a tense preparation for a possible encounter with the Philippine Army, No Permanent Address becomes a provocative examination of political violence and the transmission of ideas and culture across borders.

Mark Boulos is an American video-artist who lives and works in Amsterdam and London. He makes multi-screen documentary video installations, mostly about miracles and revolutions. He has filmed Marxist insurgents in the Philippines, oil guerillas in the Niger Delta, commodities traders in Chicago, Christian mystics in Syria, and Islamic jihadists in London and New York. Through July 16, MoMA presents his installation, All that Is Solid Melts into Air (2008).  Recent solo shows include those at the Miami Art Museum (2011), the Belkin Gallery in Vancouver (2010), Ar-Ge Kunst in Bolzano (2009), and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (2008). No Permanent Address was commissioned by and premiered at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver in 2010. Mark Boulos is presenting his video, All that Is Solid Melts into Air(2008) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York until July 16th.

Gerard Holthuis’s Hong Kong (HKG)(1999) is a poetic depiction of Boeing 747’s crossing on their way to Kai Tak Airport, the old airport in the center of Hong Kong that closed in 1998. The film is based on a shorter, earlier work Kowloon City One. The artist describes the work as “an observation at the end of this century.” Holthuis creates films and installations that intuitively combine images, atmosphere and colors that transform a world of recognizable images into something unfamiliar. His films are made without predetermined scripts or narratives; they have no clear beginning, middle and end.  They emerge as meditative works often described by audiences as mystical and highly evocative.
Gerard Holthuis started out as sculptor, but switched to moving image and sound at the Free Academy in The Hague.  He has made more than a dozen films since 1979. During the 80s he worked as editor, cameraman and production manager. He was co-founder of the Filmstad Foundation, a workshop for experimental filmmakers. In 1995 he founded Filmstad Producties, a vehicle for producing independent films. Through composition and montage, his current work is blends document, experiment and essay. His work has screened at countless international venues including imPAC 2011 in Johannesburg, Smart Project Space in Amsterdam and the Iran International Documentary Film Festival in Tehran.  It has won awards from prestigious festivals in Tampere, Ann Arbor, Hamburg, and twice at Media City.

Folkert de Jong’sThe Balance: Traders Deal (6,7,8,9), (2010) presents four life-sized sculptures made entirely of Styrofoam.  Styrofoam is used for disposable packaging but is ultimately far from disposable as it is not biodegradable. This material’s toxic persistence is appropriate for de Jong’s grotesque tableau that resumes and re-imagines disgraceful villains and incidents from a poisonous and ugly past in an alternate present.   Delicately carved faces with disturbingly realistic eyeballs and teeth grin atop bodies seemingly charred or melting, with flashes of bright neon color.  They squat and prance on barrels and wooden palettes made to contain and carry commodities, proffering pearls that seem ill gotten.  Their neck ruffs remind us of the Dutch Golden Age, in which exploration, commerce and art boosted and boasted of prosperity.  In such attire, de Jong’s traders are actually composites of a 16th–17th century character whose business dealings were actually notorious swindles; one infamous example was the Dutch duping of Native Americans, acquiring Manhattan for 60 Guilders ($24) worth of goods, legendarily beads, bread, whiskey and even nutmeg. De Jong’s scenarios are surrogates for our own, contemporary versions of imperialism and commerce. They warp and abstract past atrocities into images both familiar and strange, leaving us to navigate our own corrupted histories.

Folkert de Jong is based in Amsterdam where he makes large-scale sculpture and installations that reflect the uncanny, the aesthetics of horror and historical and political conflict.  Recent solo shows includes those at: James Cohan Gallery in both New York and Shanghai; Brand New Gallery in Milan; Luis Adelantado Gallery in both Mexico City and Valencia, Spain, Groninger Museum in The Netherlands; and Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford.

Geert Mul’s Horizons (2008) explores the idea of collecting art, connecting a museum’s repository of physical holdings with its contemporary variant: the database.  Originally developed for Rotterdam’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, the artist selected reproductions of works from the museum’s digital database that featured a prominent horizon. By coupling the digital images via a computer to a camera, which registers the movements of each visitor, and projecting these images via a video projector, Mul has created an interactive, panorama of changing landscapes drawn from the museum’s collection. As viewers approach the projected image, their bodies become directly linked with landscapes that expand and contract, with their spliced fragments displacing and revealing new vistas. Audiences can to lose themselves in the endlessly unfolding sequences, encountering the entire history of art through images across time and space.  Despite the multiplicity, the images remain unified through the horizon line, that distant view scanned by all explorers.

Geert Mul is a media artist who lives and works in Rotterdam.  For almost 20 years, he has been developing software and creating images from databases in videos, prints and interactive installations for exhibits in Holland (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam), U.S.A. (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago), Italy (Biennale for Emerging Artists, Turin), Spain (Sonar, Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, IVAM), France (Cartier Foundation, Paris) India (National Gallery of Modern Art), Japan (Museum of Modern Art Kyoto), China (3rd Triennial-Chengdu) and South Africa (Soweto, Grahamstown). Represented by Galerie Ron Mandos in Amsterdam, Mul has produced over fifteen commissioned interactive installations in public spaces for the Nederlands Photo Museum, several schools and the Middelburg city hall. In 2010, he won the prestigious Dutch Witteveen+Bos Art & Technology Award.

Marnix de Nijs’Physiognomic Scrutinizer, 2008/2009 is based on now ubiquitous security checkpoints found in airports, shopping malls, football stadiums and other protected public spaces.  Barriers guide visitors towards a brightly lit scanner gate where a mounted camera captures each individual’s image on a LCD monitor at its rear. Biometric video analyzing software detects and scrutinizes the faces of the people in line or entering, probing for facial features similar to one of the 150 pre-selected individuals in the data base, all of whom have committed “feel good” acts, whether hedonist or criminal. Based on what this software detects, two speakers on stands (symbolizing security guards) accuse those passing through with audio fragments linked to the unsanctioned behavior associated with those most closely sharing their visual profiles. The visual comparison process is displayed publicly on the LCD monitors.

Physiognomy is the practice of interpreting personality from physical appearance. Though dating back to ancient Greece, this pseudo-science is rarely taken seriously today, though recent research has revealed that facial characteristics can denote qualities of trustworthiness, social dominance and aggression.  Face-recognition software may be its new incarnation, often referred to as “biometric systems,” which are often used to cross-match faces with passport photos or with forensic and immigration facial databases.

Those undergoing biometric scans usually feel self-conscious and sometimes anxious, especially about potential false matches that are still possible even with modern technology. They want to look good, avoid any association with scandal or sedition, and pass the test.  Their embarrassment becomes public entertainment as their biometric matches are revealed, linking them to soap stars and models caught on sex tapes, unashamed gangbangers, suicidal writers and philosophers, musicians with drug problems, and UFO fanatics. Physiognomic Scrutinizerhumorously reveals a society that condemns unconventional behavior (despite our prurient fascination with it), using technology to invade our privacy and expose our personality quirks, whether benign or malignant.

Marnix de Nijsis a Rotterdam based artist who trained as a sculptor and now explores the dynamic clash between bodies, machines and other media. He has presented his works at most major national and international media-festivalsand has worked with Edwin van der Heide, Time’s Up_org, Montevideo, V2_lab, ZKM, TU Darmstadt and, recently, Tsinghua University in China.

Karen Sargsyanpresents two figures from a larger cast of characters in the installation Untitled (Abroad Understanding)(2009).  They performwith melodramatic gestures and amputated limbs.  Is it for pleasure or under duress, for entertainment or blood sport?  This excerpt from a twisted scenario is reminiscent of the jesters we find in many courtly scenes found in Baroque paintings. These figures are not, however, painted with grand master flourish; they are constructed of cut paper, a modest material that may echo what might now be modest, even dire, circumstances.  Has their king been deposed or exiled?  Are they loyal or contemptuous, celebrating or frenzied with grief?  Is their struggle all an act like WWF boxing or to the death?

The tentative, provisional nature of Sargsyan’s materials overtly refers to the process of making, suggesting how malleable reality and current conditions might be—whether disintegrating or reconstituting. Pliable and weightless, they seem to promise no real harm, yet menace pervades. Sargsyan revels in creating open-ended narratives, cross sections of classical tragedies in which protagonists wage an inner war with good and evil, with the audience as extras.

Karen Sargsyan is an Armenian artist who originally worked in clay before adopting paper as his primary medium.  He now lives and works in Amsterdam. He won the Netherlands’s prestigious Thieme Art Award in 2007 and a fellowship through the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2006. Recent exhibitions include those at: Buro Leeuwarden, KW14, the Groningen Museum and Galerie Juliètte Jongma in the Netherlands; Bob van Orsow Gallery in Zurich; the Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Art in New York; and Ambach & Rice in Los Angeles.

Guido van der Werve’s Nummer Negen (#9) The Day I Didn’t Turn with the World (2007) presents more than14,000 stills taken every six seconds while the artist slowly rotated clockwise for 24 hours at North Pole. From this single point, he navigates the entire world, or is he going nowhere? He and his shadow punctuate the unforgiving landscape, marking ground even in seeming stasis, creating a human sundial until snow makes sky and earth undistinguishable.

Van der Werve composed and performed the piano score for the video that, with its shaking time-lapse movement, recalls silent film. In his poignant mash-up of slapstick and melancholy,Nummer Negen joins many other elegant and economical vignettes in which the artist mournfully narrates the history of Steinway pianos, trudges slowly before an icebreaker in the Gulf of Finland, collides with a car on a grim suburban street while surrounded by dancing ballerinas, and meditates on meteorites while building a space rocket in his living-room. Throughout his abstract adventurism, Van der Werve is a master of the quick-change in emotional tenor.  His work explores aural and visual dislocation, skating unpredictably between a touching and aching alienation and hilarious light-hearted absurdity.

Guido van der Werve was born in the Netherlands and currently lives and works in Finland. He pursued studies in industrial design, archaeology music composition and Russian language and literature before beginning his first video documented performances around 2000. Since then, he has created a variety of works, including a series of film and videos and a musical composition titled by number in chronological order from two to twelve.   Recent solo exhibitions include those at the: Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin; Saint Louis Art Museum; Hayward Gallery, London; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington D.C.; de Hallen Haarlem, the Netherlands; and the Kunsthalle Basel, Switzerland.  In 2009, his film Nummer twaalf was presented at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

ARTISTS
Dexter came at the dance music world from the same side as you and I: the dancefloor. Well, sort of… after initially hanging out with a breakdance crew in his native Holland during the 80s, Remy Verheijen decided shifting shapes was not for him. Instead, he was more and more consumed by what the man behind the decks was doing. Being but a wide-eyed teenager, Remy couldn’t afford to buy the mixes tapes said DJs were selling ”so I stole them” he admits. ”Then I copied them and later returned them in a sneaky way, having studied and obsessed over the music they were calling ‘space electro’.”

http://twitter.com/remyverheijen
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Dexter
http://www.residentadvisor.net/dj/dexter

ROSA MENKMAN
Rosa Menkman is an emerging new media artist whose videos and live performances are created by accidents in digital media (glitch). Her work emphasizes the positive, and beautiful consequences of glitches, compressions, and feedback and strives for new forms of synesthesia. Rosa has performaned and lectured internationally, including the recent 25th (2012) Transmediale Festival, Berlin: A festival concerning the role of digital technologies in contemporary society.

https://vimeo.com/r00s

GENTRIFICATION BATTLEFIELD
Recently featured in MOMA’s 2011 “Talk To Me” exhibition, this video game trailer, created with Blender software, features longtime inhabitants of a neighborhood fight for possession against advancing hipsters and yuppies. The game takes place in Amsterdam-Noord, a real-life neighborhood that has become a symbolic stage for class and social conflict in the Netherlands, with artists and cutting-edge institutions existing alongside a sizable immigrant community. In Gentrification Battlefield, which has the retro aesthetic of a first-generation PlayStation game, you can either be Timo, a hipster driving a Volkswagen van, or Sjaan, an elderly resident threatened with eviction; the neighborhood battlefield is rendered complete with key landmarks. By presenting the process of gentrification as a real battle, the game provides insight into the political and social complexities of the issue. Golfstromen is planning to turn the concept into a real game.

http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/146202/

For tickets:
$8 advance / $10 door / $5
21+ tix @ http://viapgh.showclix.com/
http://www.showclix.com/event/226299

 The Pittsburgh  Cultural Trust presents

Showcase Noir:
African American Artist & Designer Market
June 2 & 3, 2012
Corner of 8^th  Street & Penn Avenue
Downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District

Pittsburgh, PA:  The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Showcase Noir is an exhibit that  celebrates the works of artists and designers of the African Diaspora. 2012 marks the 9^th year the Cultural Trust has presented this exhibit showcasing works for sale̶̶ ̶  paintings, sculptures, photographs, fiber art, jewelry, pottery and art in various mediums ̶  from emerging and established artists, both local and national.

The exhibit will be located under the tents at the corner of 8^th Street and Penn Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.  Exhibit hours are Saturday, June 2: Noon to 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, June 3: Noon to 7:00 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

“Showcase Noir brings some of the most talented artists and designers from around the country to Pittsburgh to display and sell their art.  From fine jewelry, to beautiful abstract paintings, to pottery and sculpture, Showcase Noir has something for everyone with an interest in art.  We are very proud to present Showcase Noir in cooperation with the Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival” comments Janis Burley-Wilson, Vice President of Education & Community Engagement, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

Showcase Noir will be complimented both days with live entertainment from the stages of the Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival.  The festival (June 1-3) mission is to showcase, promote and nurture jazz musicians. Showcase Noir and Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival are presented in conjunction with the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival (June 1-10). For more information, visit www.TrustArts.org, or call 412-456-6666.

Showcase Noir, Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival and Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival are presented by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

###

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust proudly announces plans for the 53rd annual Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, set to take place Friday, June 1, to Sunday, June 10, 2012, in Point State Park, Hertz Gateway Center, and throughout the Cultural District.

The 2012 Festival highlights include the return of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, a new multimedia show by Squonk Opera, the premiere of Bluegrass Day on June 9th, and expansion of the Artist Market and greening initiatives.

The opening weekend of the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival will be enriched by the 2nd annual Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival (June 1-3), which is produced by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.  The indoor/outdoor jazz festival helps kick-off a 10-day celebration of the arts in Pittsburgh.  More information is available at PittsburghJazzLive.com.

“This is what the arts can do for a community,” says J. Kevin McMahon, President and CEO of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.  “It’s a special opportunity to bookend the Arts Festival with two uniquely-American musical legacies – hundreds of jazz musicians kick things off with the Pittsburgh JazzLive International Festival on opening weekend and the best of bluegrass music is presented on Bluegrass Day at Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival on June 9th.  It’s a testament to community partners, especially presenting sponsor Dollar Bank, that all of this diverse programming is possible.”

“Dollar Bank is pleased to continue a long tradition of providing community events in downtown Pittsburgh,” said Joseph B. Smith, Senior Vice President Marketing, Dollar Bank. “We are especially delighted that the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra will be returning this year.”

Music Director Manfred Honeck will once again showcase world-renowned talent to the Festival crowd.

The most current schedule of attractions is available at www.3riversartsfest.org.

This year’s Festival enhancements and attractions include:

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is proud to continue producing the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival with sustainable environmental practices, which have earned the Festival a GOLD level accreditation with Pennsylvania Resources Council’s Zero Waste Pittsburgh initiative.  Generous support from Colcom Foundation allows the Festival to continue leading practices like a world-class composting and recycling system – one of the first and largest in the nation, which helps divert more than 80% of trash from landfills annually – and efforts like free bicycle valet service and water stations that encourage refilling personal containers.

The Green Machine
The Green Machine is a new on-site real-time indicator of Festival attendees’ greening efforts as well as a fun education center for visitors’ looking to learn more about the Festival’s promotion of environmental responsibility.  The walk-through area includes a diversion counter, which visually illustrates the amount of waste diverted (bottles not used because of free water dispensed, volume of composted materials, and volume of recycled materials) from landfills.  Additionally, the Green Machine will offer interesting interactive activities and games that reinforce the importance of environmental sustainability.

3Rs:  The Art of Reuse, Recycle, and Repurpose
Demonstrating the convergence of art and sustainability, this project challenges artists to reimagine waste management receptacles as canvases for reclaimed materials used in an artistic way.  The originality and boldness of the designs attract visitors; once there, the Festival’s “Green Team” on-site educators explain the benefits of recycling and composting, allowing the Festival to continue diverting more than 80% of potential waste from landfills.  The reimagined receptacles are placed throughout the Festival footprint in Point State Park, the Cultural District, and Hertz Gateway Center.

Paddle Without Pollution
Paddle Without Pollution partners with Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival on Saturday, June 9th for a special clean-up event of Pittsburgh’s three rivers near Point State Park.  Paddle Without Pollution’s watershed stewardship initiative addresses the litter and other debris that degrades the rivers, streams, and lakes of Southwestern Pennsylvania. PWP’s innovative approach – utilizing kayaks, canoes, and non-motorized boats to reach otherwise unreachable debris while being sensitive to the environment – will remove 5 to 10 tons of garbage from local rivers, lakes, and streams in 2012. Anyone interested in participating in the clean-up efforts on Saturday, June 9th should register at PaddleWithoutPollution.com/events.

VISUAL ARTS

Artists Market
This year’s Artists Market footprint is expanded in order to provide opportunity for more than 300 artists to participate and to enhance the experience for visitors.  In recent years, Point State Park played host to Artists Market booths only on weekends; now, the Park hosts more total artist booths and does so during all ten days of the Festival.  Booths are also added along Penn Avenue extension near Hertz Gateway Center.  Changes within the Hertz Gateway Center plaza area increase free space to create a safer and more comfortable browsing space, with a large number of booths remaining.

The Artists Market is one of the Festival’s cornerstones and is among the most-anticipated attractions every year.  It is comprised of artists carefully selected by a distinguished review panel and presents completely handmade work available for public purchase.  The 2012 Artists Market received more artist applications than any year in the Festival’s history.  The review panel comprised Jill Larson, Founder of FE Gallery; Artist and Curator Rick Bach; and Ellen Fleurov, Director, Silver Eye Gallery.

Juried Visual Art Exhibition
The annual Juried Visual Art Exhibition, held at 805-807 Liberty Avenue in the Trust Arts Education Center (James E. Rohr Building) is expanded as well, making room for 79 total accepted pieces.  Several large scale three dimensional works allow the show to flow between the building’s 3rd and 4th floors.  The Juried Visual Art Exhibition is curated by moxideDada.  Jurors include Linda Benedict-Jones, Curator of Photography, Carnegie Museum of Art; Murray Horne, Curator, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust; and Michael Olyjnik, Co-Director, Mattress Factory.

ACTIVITIES

Gateway to the Arts
In addition to artist demonstrations and hands-on activities available annually at the Festival, Gateway to the Arts presents comprehensive weekend attractions in three separate tents in the Giant Eagle Creativity Zone.  The “Main Stage,” “StoryTime Tent,” and “ArtMaking Tent” offer educational shows for all ages ranging from culturally-diverse music performances to story-telling to collaborative painting projects.

PERFORMING ARTS

Squonk Opera
Pittsburgh native Squonk Opera returns to perform an all new multimedia show on June 8, 9, and 10.  Celebrating 20 years since their first show; which featured choreographed cranes, roaring earth-movers, and screaming machine shears in a Pittsburgh junkyard; the ensemble of musicians and artists presents a live music and multimedia theatrical spectacle on the back of a flat-bed truck near Stanwix Street.

Bluegrass Day
The premier of Bluegrass Day at Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival, slated for June 9th, is made possible with generous support from Colcom Foundation.  A trio of distinguished bluegrass bands – Del McCoury Band, Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band, and Greensky Bluegrass – lead the celebration of the American music genre.  Regional and local bluegrass musicians join the effort on Second Stage in Hertz Gateway Center.

Colcom Foundation’s support also allows the bluegrass element of Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival to extend beyond June 9th.  A series of free bluegrass concerts will take place in Agnes R. Katz Plaza throughout the summer, to be announced later, produced by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival.

Daily Music Lineup
Friday, June 1st – The Wailers
Together with Bob Marley, the Wailers have sold in excess of 250 million albums worldwide.  As the greatest living exponents of Jamaica’s reggae tradition, the Wailers have played to an estimated 24 million people across the globe. Also, music from:  Wizdom

Saturday, June 2nd – Kathleen Edwards
On tour supporting her album, Voyageur, Kathleen Edwards continues to receive critical praise for her music.  The New York Times says her work “…embodies an evolving idea about what roots music can be.” Also, music from:  Paul Luc

Sunday, June 3rd – Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra provides musical experiences at the highest level of expression to enrich the community and to satisfy the needs and preferences of its audiences.
Also, music from:  Big With Seed

Monday, June 4th – The Boogie Hustlers
After nearly a decade of performing and recording together, the Boogie Hustlers are recognized as a staple of the region’s music scene. Set to release their fourth album in late summer 2012, the band continues to meld original songs firmly anchored in the groove, yet garnished with numerous stylistic influences. Also, music from:  Silencio and Pete Bush and the Hoi Palloi

Tuesday, June 5th – Dawes
The Los Angeles-based band offers a blend of singer/songwriter reflection with folk, country, ringing guitars, soaring harmonies, and heartfelt melodies.  Constant touring and collaboration with some of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest artists has translated to staggering growth and evolution while still manifesting a distinctive, unforgettable voice. Also, music from:  Sara Watkins and Caleb Pogyor & The Talkers

Wednesday, June 6th – Timothy B. Schmit
Groundbreaking vocalist, songwriter, and bass player Timothy B. Schmit – well-known for his work as a member of The Eagles and Poco – performs with his band songs from his fifth solo album, Expando, as well as gems by The Eagles and Poco. Also, music from:  City Dwelling Nature Seekers

Thursday, June 7th – LP
Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter-artist LP is a gripping performer with a powerful, graceful voice.  LP also wields a rockin’ ukulele in front of a dynamic, versatile band. Her musical gifts, combined with a special spirit and exuberance, have the power to truly reach people. Supporting act for LP is Jonathan Richman, an internationally-revered singer/songwriter famous for his guileless honesty and playfully catchy compositions. Also, music from:  The Red Western

Friday, June 8th – Carolina Chocolate Drops
The GRAMMY Award winning trio has proven that the old-time, fiddle and banjo-based music they have so scrupulously researched and passionately perform can be a living, breathing, ever-evolving sound.  Also, music from:  Boulevard of the Allies

Saturday, June 9th – “Bluegrass Day” featuring:

Del McCoury Band
For fifty years, Del McCoury’s music has defined authenticity for bluegrass fans and a growing number of fans only vaguely familiar with the genre.

Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band
A GRAMMY Award winner and six-time nominee, Peter Rowan is a bluegrass singer-songwriter with a career spanning over five decades.

Greensky Bluegrass
Defining bluegrass for a new generation, this hard-working Michigan quintet has been performing upwards of 175 shows per year for 11 years all across America.

Also, music from:  Mon River Ramblers and Midnight Drive

Sunday, June 10th – Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers
Twenty five years after winning a Best New Artist GRAMMY Award and launching one of contemporary music’s most diverse and collaborative careers, Bruce Hornsby is still, blissfully, making joyful noise—and finding clever, expansive ways to chronicle the dynamic musical snapshots along the journey.  Also, music from:  Van Ghost

“What I’m really excited about this season is the breadth and depth of expressions that are communicated through dance,” said Executive Director Paul J. Organisak. “The season reflects a balanced mixture that offers audiences an eclectic and engaging glimpse into the vast range of contemporary dance.”

The Pittsburgh Dance Council 2012-2013 Season Line-up:

STREB: FORCES
Friday, September 28, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
8 p.m.
Byham Theater

A thrilling, heart-stopping investigation of action, STREB: FORCES  boldly explores a range of motions, from everyday movements to the extreme action of sports, the circus and adventure rides.  Inventor and architect of eccentric action, Elizabeth Streb orchestrates an athletic cadre of daring theater specialists, taking audiences on a wild ride into mechanically outrageous zones and configurations. Gravity be damned. Fasten your safety belts. “By exploring the frontiers of performance space, and creating works that reflect the spirit of our technological age, Ms. Streb is carrying dance into a new dimension.” -The New York Times

streb.org

Akram Khan Company Vertical Road
Saturday, October 20, 2012
8 p.m.
Byham Theater

British-born Bangladeshi choreographer Akram Khan is celebrated internationally for the vitality he brings to intercultural dance expressions. Khan’s stunning full-length work Vertical Road is a rare feast for the senses—design, lighting, music and dance combine in a rich glow of art. Vertical Road is a meditation on the journey from gravity to grace, drawing inspiration from the Sufi tradition and the words of beloved Persian poet and philosopher Rumi. “Akram Khan is a true choreographer…someone who asks what it is to be human and provides the answers in dance.” -The London Evening Standard

akramkhancompany.net

Kyle Abraham/Abraham.In.Motion
Boyz n the Hood: Pavement
Saturday, February 16, 2013
8pm
Byham Theater

Like August Wilson, Kyle Abraham draws heavily from his experiences growing up African American in Pittsburgh to create personal and culturally-referenced works. The New York Times has described Kyle Abraham’s work as “an intriguing mix of breaking and Chaplinesque pathos.” The evening’s full-length performance pairs classic essays from W.E.B. Du Bois’ The Souls of Black Folk and John Singleton’s 1991 film, Boyz n the Hood with an operatic score layered with a brash urban landscape. “Kyle Abraham is the biggest choreographic force coming out of Pittsburgh and has taken a prominent place as a must-see choreographer on the New York scene.” – Jane Vranish, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

abrahaminmotion.org

Black Grace
Saturday, March 2, 2013
8 p.m.
Byham Theater

Samoan culture informs and shapes New Zealand’s most accomplished choreographer Neil Ieremia, fueling his artistry with organic exuberance.  Black Grace manifests the rhythms, spirit and energy of Pacific heritage with outstanding works from the company’s 17-year history.

The performance includes excerpts from Minoi, Pati Pati, Objects and Amata—plus a glimpse from Waka, a fascinating new work inspired by the 1898 painting The Arrival of the Maoris. In the Samoan tradition of tatau (tattoo, body art), Black Grace will make an indelible impression. “A polished, pungent, bone-crunching physical and perfectly executed alchemy of music, muscle and motion.” – New Zealand Herald

blackgrace.co.nz

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Friday, April 5, 2013
8 p.m.
Byham Theater

For more than 35 years, New York’s legendary all-male dance company “Keeps on Trockin” by playfully bringing the pleasures of dance to the widest possible audience.  Through its skillful parodies of ballet classics and modern dance,  the Trocks’ comedic brilliance lies in incorporating and exaggerating the foibles, incongruities, accidents and underlying congruities of serious dance. “Whenever I leave a Trocks’ show I’m always, always, happy. I can’t say this of any other company. What thrills me is the cleverness and subtlety of their observations and the sheer technical dedication of all involved. The Trocks know their stuff.” – Ballet Magazine

trockadero.org

Mark Morris Dance Group
Saturday, May 4, 2013
8 p.m.
Byham Theater

Endlessly inventive and masterful, Mark Morris ranks among the world’s greatest choreographers. Described as “undeviating in his devotion to music,” Mark Morris has made live musical accompaniment the gold standard in modern dance.  For more than three decades, the Mark Morris Dance Group has been wowing the world over with outstanding works that dutifully exude Mark Morris’ prolificacy, passion and artistic conviction. “That Mr. Morris reveals his musical sophistication through barefoot modern dancing is what gives his choreography such primal elegance. Whether the effect is joyful, bombastic or as quiet as can be, the connective tissue is rhythm. He finds ways to make bodies sing all the notes, not just the high ones.” – The New York Times

markmorrisdancegroup.org
 

Subscription Information
Subscription packages for the Pittsburgh Dance Council’ six-show series are available for: $96-$240. To subscribe, call 412-456-1390; groups of 10 or more tickets, call 412-471-6930. Single tickets for Pittsburgh Dance Council performances will go on sale to the general public in mid-August.

About The Pittsburgh Dance Council
The Pittsburgh Dance Council joined Pittsburgh Cultural Trust as a programming division 2002. The mission of Pittsburgh Dance Council is to bring the best contemporary dance companies from around the world to the Cultural District. Each season, Pittsburgh Dance Council presents diverse, world-class contemporary works, including U.S. and world premieres.

Their work has been displayed at Galerie Rademakers and is also on view at the photography museum, Foam, in Amsterdam. Ine Mulder graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven where she met Rachel Nieborg, a 2006 honors graduate of the Photo Academy in Amsterdam.

On what most inspires and influences her photography, Rachel Nieborg writes: “A lot things influence my photography. I look around, observe and then something catches my eye and triggers the brain to do something with it: nature, a dance performance, or design and the news. I love form and structures of materials, calmness and quietness, but still a lot action–the search and travel within a picture or painting.

“I use to work in textiles, so the love for structures and materials are due to that, I believe.  I worked on new fabric collections for the clothing industry and so you visit the trend forecasting shows and musea…reflections of society. That is a way of looking and observing I still use in my photography.”

She notes, “I prefer not always tell of have a story next to the picture, because I like the viewer to have there own experience and to travel with and within the work when observing.”

GALLERY DETAILS
707 Penn Gallery is located on 707 Penn Ave. / Downtown Pittsburgh Cultural District
Hours: Wed. & Thurs. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sun.11 a.m.–5 p.m.
707 Penn Gallery is a Project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and is free and open to the public.

ALSO ON EXHIBIT
Global Navigators featuring work by Guido van der Werve, Karen Sargsyan, Folkert De Jong, Peter Bogers, Marnix de Nijs, Mark Boulos and Gerard Holthuis
Wood Street Galleries, SPACE and 707 Penn Gallery
Hours: Wed. & Thurs. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sun.11 a.m.–5 p.m.
www.woodstreetgalleries.or

Gallery Crawl Events

• Wood Street Galleries—601 Wood StreetGlobal Navigators
  Peter Bogers and Guido van der Werve
  Part of the Distinctively Dutch Festival
  Global Navigators explores and embodies our fascination with global cultures through various media, forms and processes.
• SPACE—812 Liberty AvenueGlobal Navigators
  Marc Boulos, Gerard Holthuis, Folkert de Jong, Geert Mul, Marnix de Nijs, and Karen Sargsyan
  Part of the Distinctively Dutch Festival
  Global Navigators explores and embodies our fascination with global cultures through various media, forms and processes.

  Music by DJ Soy Sos
  
  WYEP Music Station
  WYEP Live Remote Broadcast outside of SPACE

• Tito and Exchange WayCell Phone Disco 
  A surface that visualizes the electromagnetic field of an active mobile phone. Several thousand lights illuminate when you make or receive a phone call in the vicinity of the installation.
• 803 Liberty AvenueVIA Presents Gentrification Battlefield
  Jeroen Beekmans and Joop de Boer & Coen Rens of Golfstromen
  Part of the Distinctively Dutch Festival
  Elderly inhabitants of Amsterdam-Noord fight for possession against advancing hipsters and yuppies. By presenting the process of gentrification as a real battle, the game provides insight into the political and social complexities of the Netherlands.
• Shaw Galleries—805 Liberty AvenueDegas: The Monotypes
  A selection of heliogravure prints after Edgar Degas’ famous monotypes, from a rare edition posthumously printed in 1948 by Les Ateliers G. Bouan & Dreux-Barry, Paris.
• Trust Arts Education Center—805-807 Liberty AvenuePeirce Studio (Lower Level):
  Pittsburgh Public Schools All-City Music Showcase
  PPS solo and small group performances. Also featuring Pittsburgh Westinghouse Academy hip hop performance “Blow Ya Mind.”

  3rd & 4th floors:
  Pittsburgh Public Schools All-City Visual Arts Showcase
  All-City K-12 Visual Arts and Cultures Exhibitions

• Harris Theater—809 Liberty AvenueHarris Theater Short Films 
  Pittsburgh Filmmakers presents locally made short films shown on a loop throughout the evening.
  Tiny Harris Gallery:  In a Different Light by the artist collective, Ag Works.
• Catholic Charities Susan Zubik Welcome Center—212 Ninth StreetMCG Youth and Arts Program 
  Founded in 1968, Manchester Craftmens Guild Youth & Arts’ mission is to educate and inspire urban youth through the arts.
• 937 Liberty Avenue1st Floor:  Bricolage
  5:00pm  to 7:00pm
  Train Station
  Bricolage is turning its theater into a train station for its upcoming play Dutchman. Experience the atmosphere, enjoy the buskers, and even add some “graffiti” to the wall.

  2nd floor:
  Strange Radiance
  Emily Newman and John Pearson    
  Artists from Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, whose visual language orbits each other and collides at points, collaborate to create a video installation.

• 943 Liberty AvenuePath: Installation by Elin Hansdottir
  A special maze-like installation incorporating light and space. Held over from “Long are the Days, Short are the Nights,” an exhibit at Wood Street Galleries.
• Toonseum—945 Liberty AvenueGrand opening of the Sprout Fund Comics Courtyard
  Join us for the grand opening of the ToonSeum’s new outdoor comics reading area! Free comic books, entertainment and more!

  Will Eisner’s New York 
  Rarely seen original works are featured in this remarkable exhibition celebrating one of comics most iconic and legendary creators.

  Lou Scheimer Gallery at the ToonSeum:
  This #*?! Isn’t Very Funny: Comics and Drawings by Jim Rugg
  An exhibition of acclaimed comics artist Jim Rugg in his first solo exhibition!  Exhibition is recommended for adults only.

• Tonic—971 Liberty Avenue, 2nd floor Gallery.  NOT UNIVERSALLY ACCESSIBLEIt Is What It Is
  People. Art. Music. Drinks. Food.
• August Wilson Center for African American Culture—980 Liberty AvenueTheater:  Pittsburgh Public Schools  All-City Music Showcase
  All-City Culturally Responsive Arts Education Performing Ensembles Concert and Exhibit

  Strength in the Struggle: Civil Rights 
  A new exhibition featuring two distinct displays: 381 Days is a Smithsonian Institution exhibit about the genesis of the Civil Rights Movement. Bridge Builders is a local exhibit celebrating influential African American women involved in the women’s movement during 1967-1987.

  Josh Gibson: Negro League Legend 
  Features a 100-year timeline and photographs of the life of the Negro League baseball player and his continuing legacy.

  Pittsburgh: Reclaim, Renew, Remix

   

• CAPA Gallery—111 Ninth StreetArt as a Record and Reflection of Time
  Student work circles the perimeter of the gallery to represent a literal and conceptual timeline, highlighting major art movements and significant historical events from the Stone Age to present day.
• Urban Pathways 6-12 Gallery—914 Penn AvenueSPRING IT!
  Urban Pathways Charter School student artwork showcase, with a special Poetry Extravaganza from 6:30pm to 7:30pm. Sounds of Steel Pan performances: 5:30pm to 6:30pm and 7:30pm to 8:30pm.
• Future Tenant—819 Penn AvenueBroken Slogan
  Featuring work by Jonathan Chamberlain, John Phillip Abbott, and Arthur Mohagen III. Each artist’s work maintains a rich visual vocabulary incorporating the use of text, both as image and subject.
• Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council—810 Penn Avenue, Suite 200Art on the Walls
  Digital and mixed media artist, Gwyn Rohrer, focuses her work on the feminine and female struggles through the use of the human body, landscapes, sewing, embroidery, and fabric patterns.
• 709 Penn Gallery—709 Penn AvenueGirls ‘N’ Guns
  Rachel Nieborg and Ine Mulder
  Part of the Distinctively Dutch Festival
  The famed “still life” of old masters is reinterpreted by two young Dutch artists. Working with a metronome to fine tune the precision timing, one would literally shoot a gun while the other shot photographs.
• 707 Penn Gallery—707 Penn AvenueGlobal Navigators
  Guido van der Werve
  Part of the Distinctively Dutch Festival
  Global Navigators explores and embodies our fascination with global cultures through various media, forms and processes.
• Katz Plaza—7th St. and Penn AvenueLive Music by The Color Fleet
• Backstage Bar—655 Penn AvenueI Want to Ride My Bicycle
  A large triptych bicycle painting, created by kids at The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh and facilitated by Bob Ziller during his artist residency in March 2012.

  Live Music by Cool Breeze, 5:30pm to 7:30pm

• Verve Wellness—142 Sixth Street, Third FloorkNOT Dance Presents One Lonely House  (Preview of a Work in Progress)
  What connections do we make with others, only to open our door to feel like one lonely house on the hill? See, feel, and hear the connections between individuals in this sneak preview: 7:30pm, 8:30pm, and 9:30pm.
• Heinz Hall Garden—corner of Penn Ave. and 6th St.5:30pm to 6:30pm
  In celebration of opening night of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra’s Paris Festival: The City of Light (April 27 – May 13) enjoy live Parisian street music in the Heinz Hall Garden with beautiful waterfall display and Arpeggio steel sculpture by British artist Angela Conner. *Please note that in the instance of inclement weather, this event will be cancelled.
• AFTER THE CRAWLJacobTV in “The News” WORLD PREMIERE
  Byham Theater, 9:00pm
  Part of the Distinctively Dutch Festival
  Special discount offer!  $5 off per ticket, use code: GALLERY
  Called the “Andy Warhol of new music” by the Dutch press, classical music outlaw and avant-pop composer JacobTV presents the world premiere of his new reality opera, The News.  This unique synthesis of speech, music and video is performed by JacobTV and contemporary classical music ensemble, Fulcrum Point.
  For tickets, 412-456-6666, trustarts.org/dutchfestival or the Box Office at Theater Square.

• Awesome Books—929 Liberty Avenue
  Part of Project PopUp: Downtown
  An independent bookstore offering new and used books of high quality.
• The Steel Curtain—1035 Penn Avenue
  Part of Project PopUp: Downtown
  The greatest defensive line of all time comes alive in this installation.
• 131 Seventh Street
  Part of Project PopUp: DowntownSociety for the Advancement of Miniature Curiosa
  A gallery, toy theater parlor, performance space, and workshop that seeks to spark the resurgence of curiosity and wonderment in Downtown Pittsburgh.

  Symbiotic Collusion
  A modern music initiative presenting visual and musical art concepts through installation, education, and performance.

• Boutique 208—208 Sixth Street
  Part of Project PopUp: Downtown
  A retail boutique featuring handmade wares from local artisans.
• Robot Repairs—210 Sixth Street
  Part of Project PopUp: Downtown
  Is your robot experiencing technical difficulties? Consider visiting this place for a potential fix.
• Dream Cream Ice Cream Parlor—539 Liberty Avenue
  Part of Project PopUp: Downtown
  More than just a great place for a scoop. A portion of designated flavor sales will be contributed to causes in exchange for community service of the recipient, aka “the dreamer.”
• Summer Sky Eternal—604 Liberty Avenue
  Part of Project PopUp: Downtown
  No matter what the season, this inter¬active digital installation will make you feel a bit warmer on the city street.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust  presents the 26th annual Pittsburgh International Children’s Festival, Wednesday, May 16, through Sunday, May 20, 2012, at the University of Pittsburgh Theaters and Schenley Plaza.  Programming will showcase  international and local theater premieres, including a brand new interactive luminarium installation on the festival grounds.   Giant Eagle is the lead sponsor of the 2012 Pittsburgh International Children’s  Festival.

For information and tickets, visit the Box Office at Theater Square, pghkids.org or
call 412-456-6666.  Ticket packages are available.  Groups of 10 or more, call 412-471-6930.  Children under the age of 2 are admitted free, but require a lap pass for entry into theaters.  In addition to the  featured ticketed performances, the Children’s Festival will include free hands-on  academic, cultural, and international activities (Wed.-Sun), as well as  performances at the free outdoor Community Stage (Wed.-Sun.), located in  Schenley Plaza. Free outdoor activities and performances are 10 a.m. – 2  p.m. weekdays; and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.  This Festival is a program of Pittsburgh International Children’s Theater, a division of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

“Pittsburgh International  Children’s Festival is pleased to feature performances by artists from around  the world that will engage children with different cultures and  perspectives.  The 26^th annual Children’s Festival showcases a  variety of mediums for expressing ideas and stories, such as puppetry,  soundscapes, music movement, dance and so much more.  Our ongoing goal is  to provide a Festival where children and their families can learn about world  cultures through their enjoyment of the performing and visual arts,” remarks
Pamela K. Lieberman, Manager-Children’s Theater Programming, The Pittsburgh
Cultural Trust & Executive Director-Pittsburgh International Children’s  Theater.

Featured, ticketed performances by artists from Scotland, Australia,
the Netherlands, Japan, the United  Kingdom, and the United States include:

World of Rhythm (Drums United, Netherlands)  Bellefield Hall Auditorium, Single Tickets: $8; Ages 6 through  adult, Performances May 18: 11:15 a.m.; May 19: 11:15 a.m. & 2:45 p.m.; May  20: 11:15 a.m. & 1:00 p.m. Drums United is an exciting world-percussion  group composed of performers from the Netherlands, Bangladesh, Senegal, Spain,  Germany, Surinam, Venezuela. Blending African drumming, Dance, Hip Hop, Indian  tablas, Cuban rumbas and more, this ensemble is more than just a drum group –  Drums United features quality drumming in celebration of the unifying power of  music. This performance is also a part of  the Distinctively Dutch Festival, presented by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

Dudes (Beumer  and Drost, Netherlands)  Charity Randall Theatre,  Single Ticket: $8; Ages 6 through adult, Performances May 16: 9:45 a.m. & 12:45 p.m.; May 17  & 18: 9:45 a.m. & 11:15 a.m.; May 19: 9:30 a.m. & 4:00 p.m.; May  20: 9:30 a.m. & 3:30 p.m. Dudes is a hilarious mix of song, dance,  juggling, puppetry, slap-stick comedy and more! The action takes place in the  confines of a small locker room where the limitless possibilities of the  imagination unfold. Among the thousands of locker rooms in Black & Gold  Country, this might be the zaniest of them all! Join the “Dudes” and be amazed  by how funny sports can be behind the scenes. This performance is also a part of the Distinctively Dutch Festival.

Plop! (Windmill  Theatre, South Adelaide, Australia) Studio Theatre in the  Cathedral of Learning, Single Ticket $8; Ages 1-5 years, Performances May 16 & 17: 9:45 a.m.;  May 18: 9:45 a.m. & 12:45 p.m., May 19: 9:30 a.m. & 2:45 p.m., May 20:  9:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. This is a tale of true bravery when the smallest and  most frightened creature summons up some rabbit courage to confront the  terrible Plop! Specially crafted to provide our youngest audiences with an  intimate, non-threatening first theatrical experience, this production explores  the fear of unknown things that sometimes aren’t so scary after all.

Mirazozo (Architects  of Air, Nottingham, UK) Festival Grounds, Single Ticket: $5; All ages, Entry every half hour May  16, 17 & 18: 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.; May 19 & 20: 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Artist  Alan Parkinson is back by popular demand with a brand new Luminaria! Enter a  unique labyrinth of light and color equivalent to the size of a Steeler’s  football field! A melding of architecture styles from across the globe, this  giant inflatable structure will astonish you with its colorful domes and  shimmering reflective panels. This is a work of art that must be seen to be  believed! This installation is sponsored by Equitable Gas.

Cinderella (Shona Reppe Puppets, Scotland) Frick  Fine Arts Auditorium, Single Ticket: $8;  Ages 5 and up, Performances May 16, 17 & 18: 11:15  a.m. & 12:45 p.m.; May 19 & 20: 1:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m. In this innovative, award-winning puppet show,  Cinderella must find a dress, get to the ball and fall in love with the most  handsome Prince in the world—all before midnight! This classic fairy tale is  beautifully re-imagined with secret hatches, hidden drawers, jazz, and a  handbag full of magic.

Origami Tales (Kuniko Theater, Japan/USA)  Bellefield Hall Auditorium, Single Ticket: $8; Ages 4 and up, Performances May 16: 9:45 a.m. &  11:15 a.m.; May 17 & 18: 9:45 a.m. & 12:45 p.m.; May 19: 9:30 a.m.,  1:00 p.m. & 5:00 p.m.; May 20: 9:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. & 5:00 p.m. In  Japanese, ori- means “to fold” and -gami means “paper.” Using origami, music  and audience participation, Kuniko Yamamoto provides a magical entry into
Japanese culture. In her new show “Origami Tales,” mythological character masks
and puppets, amazing flowers and a dragon—all made from origami—set the
stage while Kuniko shares heartfelt stories from ancient Japan. Origami
Tales is presented in memory of Cas Welch, a dear friend and volunteer of the
Pittsburgh International Children’s Theater and Festival.

Pittsburgh International Children’s Theater, a division of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, opens the door for children to experience professional performing arts programming for children which inspires, challenges, educates, and stimulates respect for and an understanding of all cultures in an entertaining and enlightening way.  Pittsburgh International Children’s Festival is one of only four international children’s festivals in the nation.  www.pghkids.org

-###-

Participating restaurants include:

Bravo Franco Ristorante(613 Penn Avenue, 412-642-6677)
Pork tenderloin with a ginger sauce

Meat & Potatoes(649 Penn Avenue, 412-325-7007)
Specials are changing daily

Nine on Nine(600 Penn Avenue, 412-338-6463)
Yankee-Dutch cocktail

Palazzo Ristorante(144 6^th Street, 412-434-6244)
Dutch cheese plate & specials on Heineken

Sharp Edge: Bistroon Penn (922 Penn Avenue, 412-338-2437)
Homemade pistachio country style pate and orange & fennel chicken
terrine, with
assorted cheeses, whole grain mustard & toasted baguette, and more.

Six Penn Kitchen(146 6^th Street, 412-566-7366)
Three-course tasting menu that includes a soup, a pork tenderloin, and
apple pie for desert

Taste of Dahntahn(535 Liberty Avenue, 412-224-2240)
Specials on drinks, and other offerings.

Tonic Bar & Grill(971 Liberty Avenue, 412-456-0460)
Dutch shrimp & cucumber sandwich and a grilled pork tenderloin with
apple leak potato pancakes, braised cabbage, and apple syrup

About the Distinctively Dutch Festival:
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit arts and economic development organization at the center of Downtown Pittsburgh’s revival, will host an array of U.S. and world premieres as part of an interdisciplinary arts festival: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s
Distinctively Dutch Fes tival. Celebrating the culture and contemporary performing and visual arts from the Netherlands, the three-month festival will feature dance, theater, music, visual art, film, cuisine, literature and architecture. Events will be held February 18-May 20, 2012, throughout Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, as well as at select venues, including MCG Jazz, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and Carnegie Mellon University.

Presented by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, The Distinctively Dutch Festival is supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Performing Arts Fund NL, Music Center the Netherlands and Theater Instituut Nederland. In addition, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust gratefully acknowledges the Carol R. Brown Performance Fund for support of the
Festival, as well as media partners Pittsburgh City Paper and 90.5 Essential Public Media.   For a listing of events and to receive updates, please visit TrustArts.org/dutchfestival or call 412-456-6666.

The panel moderator for Rethinking Cities in the 21^st Century will feature distinguished guest Rob de Vos, Consul General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.  The panel speakers include: 

Donald  K. Carter, Director, Remaking Cities Institute, Carnegie Mellon University;
Vivian Loftness, Professor, School  of Architecture, CarnegieMellonUniversity;

Paul Scheffer, Professor of Urban Sociology, University of Tilberg,
Netherlands; and

Rijk van Ark, Director of Economic Affairs, City of Amsterdam,
Netherlands.

Rethinking Cities in the 21^st Century is free and open to the public.  To make a reservation, email: Cities@trustarts.org  For more information about Distinctively Dutch Festival events, visit www.TrustArts.org/DutchFestival

The Distinctively Dutch Festival provides an excellent opportunity to explore the reinvention of a city like Pittsburgh and similar cities in the Netherlands. By 2050, it is estimated that 75% of the world population will live in urbanized areas. Cities like Pittsburgh are increasingly seen as success stories. Cities are hubs for innovation, partners in finding sustainable solutions, and the most important, structures for people to live. However, challenges are formidable and imminent: such as water and energy supply, affordable transport, affordable housing, employment creation, public safety, immigration, and social cohesion. These challenges are increasingly on the political and socio-economic agenda of all countries. Therefore it is timely to connect the experience in Pittsburgh with the Netherlands and share and reflect on the experiences in the U.S. and the Netherlands.

About the Distinctively Dutch Festival:
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, a nonprofit arts and economic development organization at the center of Downtown Pittsburgh’s revival, will host an array of U.S. and world premieres as part of an interdisciplinary arts festival: The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Distinctively Dutch Festival. Celebrating the culture and contemporary performing and visual arts from the Netherlands, the
three-month festival will feature dance, theater, music, visual art, film,
cuisine, literature and architecture. Events will be held February 18-May 20, 2012, throughout Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, as well as at select venues, including MCG Jazz, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum of Art, Carnegie Library Lecture Hall, Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and Carnegie Mellon University.

Presented by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, The Distinctively Dutch Festival is supported by the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Performing Arts Fund NL, Music Center the Netherlands and Theater Instituut Nederland. In addition, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust gratefully acknowledges the Carol R. Brown Performance Fund for support of the Festival, as well as media partners Pittsburgh City Paper and 90.5 Essential Public Media.   For a listing of events and to receive updates, please visit TrustArts.org/dutchfestival or call 412-456-6666.