Pittsburgh's Three Rivers Arts Festival returns in a new format

The Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival will return this June in a hybrid format, featuring both in-person and virtual events.

But none of the real-life events will take place in Point State Park or Gateway Center, where the festival is traditionally held.

Organized by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the 10-day presentation of music and art is scheduled for June 4-13.

Sarah Aziz, arts festival director, said that pandemic safety logistics prevent use of the Point State Park and Gateway Center areas, which cannot be fully gated to control the number of people. The organizers need to know who is where in order to permit contract tracing.

“There are still so many logistics to work out,” said Aziz, who added plans are tentative at this time. “We want to make it as safe as possible and still give guests a great experience. We are excited to reopen part of the Cultural District.”

The plan is for several art galleries to be used, such as SPACE and 937 Liberty. The juried visual arts exhibition will be at 820 Liberty Ave., which was recently renovated. No work will be presented on the second floors, in order to keep people off elevators.

Aziz said that other rules and regulations are likely to change between now and the festival, and that flexiblity is the key. Even if everything opens up by June, she said it is still better to plan for some virtual programming than plan to be all open and not be able to do everything safely.

All in-person events are expected to be via timed entry, she said. Hours will be noon to 8 p.m.

Food service will be set up outside, with diners asked not to walk around with food but stay in designated areas.

There will be a Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership Pop-Up stage along Fort Duquesne Boulevard and Stanwix Street, with timed entry. The Dollar Bank Main Stage will be inside the Byham Theater on Sixth Street, with limited capacity. Shows there will be livestreamed. The entertainment will be announced at a later date.

“It will be so great to have live shows again,” Aziz said. “And not just a concert in someone’s living room.”

Last year’s Arts Festival, held as the pandemic kicked in, was completely virtual, with an online artists market and livestreamed music.

This will be the 62nd year of the Three Rivers Arts Festival, and the 23rd for the Dollar Bank sponsorship.

“This year, we will be able to safely share the power of art together again and experience the sense of community that the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival brings to the city both in person and virtually,” Dollar Bank President and CEO Jim McQuade said in a statement.

All the virtual events will be available through the cultural trust’s website and social media channels. In addition, some of the in-person events will presented in real time over the same platforms. Attendance at all events will be limited based on the state’s capacity rules at the time.

The Artist Market will feature 200 online and 50-100 in person. A limited number of Pennsylvania artists who were juried from last year will be invited to participate in the in-person Artist Market. Artists featured in “Transverse: the 2020 Juried Visual Art Exhibition” will be invited to display their work. Because of the changes due to the pandemic, no new applications for the Artist Market or Juried Visual Art Exhibition will be accepted.

The festival usually attracts 500,000 visitors over the course of its run, traditionally marking the beginning of summer in Pittsburgh.