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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Pittsburgh's VIA Festival Announces 2011 Dates, ‘Guess The Lineup’ Competition
A progressive festival that reflects the vibrancy of young artists and emergent technologies of today. VIA 2011 presents genre-pushing musicians and new media artists paired for realtime audio-visual performances.
PITTSBURGH, PA. -- Cited by Resident Advisor as the "blushing debutante" of recent festivals, Pittsburgh's second annual VIA Music & New Media Festival will take place Wednesday, October 5th through Sunday, October 9th, 2011, with a wrap party October 16th, at multiple venues throughout the city.
In lieu of a traditional announcement, VIA welcomes the public to guess the music lineup themselves at http://www.via-pgh.com. Letters will be revealed throughout the competition to help players along. The online game will run from June 17th – July 1st. The first to guess correctly will win a pair of 5-day, all-access festival passes, good for 7 events.
VIA will officially release the first round of musicians and artists on July 10th, with subsequent additions throughout the summer. Festival tickets go on sale starting July 12th, available at http://www.via-pgh.com. As in 2010, VIA 2011 presents a wide range of musicians and new media artists paired for one-of-a-kind audio-visual performances. The schedule is enhanced by daytime lectures and workshops that are free and open to the public, as well as late-night satellite events, curated this year in partnership with the acclaimed RVNG outfit from New York and esteemed Pittsburgh techno crew, Humanaut. Details to be announced.
The inaugural VIA Festival, October 1-3, 2010, received a notable Sprout Seed Award for arts and community engagement, and glowing response from local and national media.
VIA 2010 attracted over 2000 attendees to a wide variety of performances and locations that included a p-popping workshop by Big Freedia at Carnegie Mellon University and a 12-hour a/v marathon at the world’s third largest sound stage (31st Street Studios), which had never been open to the public. Over 40 artists from 6 different countries were highlighted by collaborative performances from Oneohtrix Point Never and Nate Boyce, Dam Funk and Alison Childs, local video artists tearing up the screen for Egyptrixx, Onra, Matthew Dear, Oneida, and Freddie Gibbs, plus interactive installations like 3D video-games from Montreal’s Kokoromi Collective.
In addition to the annual festival, VIA Pittsburgh has organized smaller monthly events since January 2011, aptly named, “VIA Presents.†The series has utlized a variety of spaces including the Brillobox, 720 Records, The Shadow Lounge and underground venues to showcase sold-out performances by artists such as Omar-S, Richard Pinhas, In Flagranti, Runaway, Appleblim, Beautiful Swimmers, Javelin and encores from Big Freedia and Onra.
VIA Pittsburgh is a collective of event producers, promoters, curators, artists and musicians who have organized cutting-edge, critically lauded and well-attended events around Pittsburgh for many years. By combining forces, they hope to produce an unmissable festival and make Pittsburgh an international destination for forward-thinking art and music lovers. VIA's events provide unique experiences with music, visual arts and technology while blurring the boundaries between entertainment and art.
VIA 2011 will be generously supported by Vitamin Water, Iron City Brewing Company, Carnegie Mellon University Activities Board, and local businesses including Round Corner Cantina, 720 Records and more. More information about the organization, upcoming events and the VIA 2011 Festival can be found at http://www.via-pgh.com.
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