Early June in Pittsburgh traditionally finds thousands of people heading to the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival.

But the annual event looks a little bit different this year.

From June 5-8, the Arts Festival, a production of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, will brighten the Strip District with creative spaces, the Artist Market and musical performances. After many years of setting up shop at Point State Park, new regulations from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources moved the festival into the Cultural District in 2022.

This year, new builds and improvement projects in the vicinity have precipitated another venue change — to the riverfront lots at the 15th Street Plaza along Waterfront Place in the Strip District.

“Even though we’re in a temporary location in the Strip District this year as Downtown gets spruced up with all sorts of construction projects to be ready for the NFL Draft in April 2026 and as they build our new home at Arts Landing in Downtown, we are still maintaining a lot of the things that people have really come to love about the Three Rivers Arts Festival,” said Brooke Horejsi, chief programming and engagement officer at the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

The first Three Rivers Arts Festival was held in 1960 at the Point and was a four-day event organized by the Women’s Committee of the Carnegie Museum of Art.

This year’s event will still host more than 200 arts vendors and booths; contain creative, interactive art spaces; and boast performances from regional and national musicians, including Cautious Clay, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Las Cafeteras, Lisa Loeb and Suzanne Vega. The festival will also have its Dance Battle on Saturday, a tradition now in its 11th year.

“Although they’ll be experiencing it in a different location, it’ll have a lot of the things that people have come to love about it,” Horejsi said.

Last year, the Arts Festival was held in the Cultural District, expanding on its spot from the previous festival in the same area — but much of that space is currently a construction zone.

With the National Football League’s 2026 draft looming April 23-25, 2026, Pittsburgh is rushing to prepare. The draft is expected to take place in spaces on the North Shore, in Point State Park and at Acrisure Stadium.

A more immediate impediment to the 2025 festival being held Downtown is the Arts Landing project, which is currently under construction. Groundbreaking for the civic space took place in April. The 2026 Three Rivers Arts Festival is expected to be the event that marks the new space’s grand opening.

“That footprint that we had established last year wasn’t going to be possible because of those projects,” Horejsi said.

But Horejsi doesn’t want festivalgoers to discount this year’s event just because of the one-time move.

“The fact that the Strip District is an exciting place for us to land, even though it’s not right in Downtown, it’s very, very close. And we’re looking forward to working with all of the great new businesses that have popped up in the Strip and all the residents there to be a part of their neighborhood,” she said.

The length of the Arts Festival has varied over the years, and it’s abbreviated as a four-day event this year. This is a departure from recent years, when it’s been about 10 days long. Horejsi said this was also a consequence of the move. As for its future length?

“At this point, we’re just trying to focus on this year’s festival and get through that,” she said.

The changes in venue and length have not dampened the spirits of several longtime artist vendors. Jason Rodriguez, who partners with his wife, Heather Dickens, in their art, has been attending the festival as a vendor for about seven years. They bring their “dreamscape surrealist pieces” to the Artist Market with lots of excitement each year.

“We’ve been through the different changes. Every time we’ve done it, even though it’s kind of hectic with the changes, it’s always been great. I feel like the Cultural Trust really does a lot to make sure all the artists and performers are getting the most exposure as possible,” Rodriguez said.

The Metairie, La.-based artist and owner of The Wonderland Gallery is all right with the shortened festival, too; he and his wife still came up a week early to attend Pittsburgh Pride.

“I feel like everyone I talked to, they were like, ‘Oh, we’re so excited. I know it’s only one week, it’s in the Strip District, but we’re still going to be out there.’ So I’m pretty optimistic.”

Jennifer Float, a mixed media artist based in Marysville, Ohio, has connections to the area and can’t wait to see her Arts Festival family.

“I’ve already had people reach out who live in Pittsburgh like, ‘Hey, can’t wait to see you!’ ” she said.

Float has been coming to the Arts Festival for more than a decade, so she’s seen it in many forms and locations.

“I think they’re finally getting their groove back, and I think we’re going to have a permanent spot again,” she said, referring to Arts Landing.

The 2025 location in the Strip is just fine with her.

“The Strip District has changed a lot since I’ve been coming over there,” said Float, whose husband is from Pittsburgh. “It seems like it’s more of a destination now. You’ve got the businesses, you’ve got the hotels, you’ve got the restaurants. And I’m going to be with friends.”

For more information, visit trustarts.org.

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