HIVE at Wood St Galleries Through December 31

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Shaunda Miles, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-1578/Miles@TrustArts.org      
Diana Roth, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-8717/Roth@TrustArts.org

PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST’S
PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FIRSTS
Presents
LARGE-SCALE AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATIONS
BY KURT HENTSCHLÄGER IN THE CULTURAL DISTRICT
HIVE | through December 31 | Wood Street Galleries


PITTSBURGH, PA—The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces two large-scale audiovisual installations by Chicago-based, Austrian artist Kurt Hentschläger as part of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts*.

HIVE is open through December 31, 2013, at Wood Street Galleries.

HIVE is a 3D-animated audiovisual installation in which visitors encounter swirling amorphous human figures appearing as a mass, or hive, rather than as individual beings. The choreographed, projected motion, light, and sound patterns create an immersive audiovisual landscape without a beginning or an end. The computer-generated HIVE takes on a life of its own, creating an artificial organism in perpetual motion.

Kurt Hentschläger began exhibiting his work in 1983. He creates audiovisual installations and performances, featuring film, video, animation, and sound. The immersive nature of his work investigates human perception and the impact of new technologies on consciousness. Granular Synthesis has exhibited internationally, at such venues as the Venice Biennal; National Art Museum of China; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Rotterdam Film Festival; Museum for Contemporary Arts, Taipei; Eyebeam, New York; PS1 New York; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul Korea. Hentschläger is currently a full-time visiting artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

*Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts (PIFOF), a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is a city-wide, 16-day performing and visual arts festival (Sept. 27–Oct. 26, 2013) featuring exclusive U.S. and world premieres by highly-acclaimed international artists and contemporary performing arts companies. Festival events are presented in association with other Pittsburgh cultural organizations and offer intimate experiences for audiences at various traditional and non-traditional performance venues within the downtown Cultural District and throughout the city.

About Wood Street Galleries
Wood Street Galleries is located at 601 Wood Street. Hours: Wed. & Thur. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.–5 p.m. The gallery is free and open to the public. Wood Street Galleries is a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Support for Wood Street Galleries has been provided by the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Additional support provided by the Port Authority of Allegheny County. For more information about all gallery exhibitions featured in the Cultural District, please visit www.TrustArts.org.

About The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.

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Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Seeking Fearless Female Cast Member for Measure Back

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Shaunda Miles, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-1578/Miles@TrustArts.org      
Diana Roth, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-8717/Roth@TrustArts.org

SEEKING FEARLESS FEMALE CAST MEMBER FOR
U.S. PREMIERE OF NEW WORK

MEASURE BACK
Produced and Co-Directed by Christopher McElroen & T. Ryder Smith
October 22nd – October 26th | Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts

PITTSBURGH, PA:  The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announced that the organization is seeking a fearless actress of range and versatility, comfortable with audience interaction and improvisation to perform in Measure Back from October 22nd to October 26th at 8 p.m. in the Baum Building, Fifth Floor, 818 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh. Measure Back is a theatre-event produced and co-directed by Christopher McElroen and T. Ryder Smith.  McElroen is an award-winning Brooklyn based theatre producer and director. T. Ryder Smith is a Drama Desk award-winning actor who has appeared on Broadway, regional theatre, TV and radio. The production is part of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, four weeks of diverse programming featuring acclaimed international companies and artists premiering works never before seen in the United States.

“We are excited to premiere this work in the great city of Pittsburgh, and join its rich theatrical history,” shared producers and co-directors Christopher McElroen and T. Ryder Smith. “Included in our 3-person cast will be a member of the local theatre community, and we hope to reach out to local audiences as well, especially those who might not be in the habit of going to the theatre.”

The production is seeking an actress between the ages of 20 to 30; of Asian, South Asian, African American, Caribbean, Latin American, or Middle Eastern heritage; must be comfortable speaking, acting, and ad-libbing in a language other than English. Fluency not strictly required. Stage combats experience a plus. Sense of humor a big plus. Play contains no nudity, but does deal with sexual situations, violence, and profanity.

The actress hired for this role will be deliberately under-rehearsed, and perform with their relative uncertainty about “how to do this” as a thematic part of the event.  The actress will be required to memorize, in a foreign language, one monologue from the play, one dialogue scene, and several individual lines. This is required BEFORE they start rehearsal.

The performer will rehearse 2 days with the cast once they arrive in Pittsburgh on October 21, 2013 and will perform for five shows, October 22 – 26, 2013.

All interested candidates must send their headshots and resumes to measureback@gmail.com no later than October 4, 2013.

ABOUT MEASURE BACK
What does it mean to say we are at war?  Can we, as "non-combatants", change the course of war? The visceral and thought-provoking work Measure Back seeks a path between the citizen-as-spectator and the citizen-as- participant.  Set in an immersive theatrical environment to examine scenes of conflict ranging from Homer’s The Iliad to today's headlines, Measure Back uses audience participation to probe how war is constructed and performed - from conception through consensus to action. Measure Back is a theatre event, produced and co-directed by Christopher McElroen and T. Ryder Smith, written by T. Ryder Smith.
* Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts (PIFOF), a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is a city-wide, 16-day performing and visual arts festival featuring exclusive U.S. and World premieres by highly-acclaimed international artists and contemporary performing arts companies. Festival events offer intimate experiences for audiences at various traditional and non-traditional performance venues within the downtown Cultural District and throughout the city.  For more information, visitwww.TrustArts.org/Firsts.

ABOUT THE PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.

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Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Rubber Duck Bridge Party Launches PIFOF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Shaunda Miles – Pittsburgh Cultural Trust,
412-471-1578 / miles@TrustArts.org
Diana Roth – Pittsburgh Cultural Trust,
412-471-8717 / roth@TrustArts.org
Saul Markowitz – Markowitz Communications,
412.577.5140 /412-977-8517 (cell)

Images available at:
http://TrustArts.org/Press
Search name:  FIRSTS
For More Information: www.TrustArts.org/FIRSTS

THE RUBBER DUCK BRIDGE PARTY
SPECIAL OPENING NIGHT
OF THE PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FIRSTS


What:   THE RUBBER DUCK BRIDGE PARTY
Launching the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts
Where:  Roberto Clemente Bridge (also known as the Sixth Street Bridge) | Downtown Pittsburgh
Date:     Friday, September 27
Time:   5:30pm to 10:00pm

To launch the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust will be closing the Roberto Clemente Bridge to welcome The Rubber Duck Project to Pittsburgh and to the United States for the first time. Festivities for the evening include the appearance of the 4-story high, three-story wide Rubber Duck, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s largest Night Market on the bridge with food and art vendors, and special guest appearances that are to be announced. Opening the event will be hosts Mikey and Big Bob from KISS FM with DJ Scottro playing tunes into the evening.

The Rubber Duck Bridge Party will run in tandem with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Fall Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District - a free quarterly showcase of art and entertainment.

About the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts
This year’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts (September 27-October 26) features companies and artists representing a vast array of countries from The Netherlands, Quebec, Belgium, Australia, Switzerland and Nova Scotia as well as the United States.  The Festival, a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, offers an eclectic mix of theater, dance, puppetry, music and visual arts handpicked from around the world.  Join us for some of the most exciting new works begin created in the international contemporary performing arts and visual arts fields.  Be first in line to experience art never before presented in the United States.  For more information regarding the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, visit TrustArts.org/Firsts.

About the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity.  Using the arts as an economic catalyst, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.
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Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh