PITT ARTS Launches 2009-10 Season, Tying University With City’s Cultural Life

PITT ARTS, the University of Pittsburgh program designed to connect Pitt students, faculty, and staff to the city’s cultural life, will hold events on Sept. 9 and 17 to introduce the Pitt community to the program’s wide variety of cultural events.

From noon to 2 p.m. Sept. 9, PITT ARTS will host the 6th Annual Attack of the Cheap Seats in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room. All of the Cultural District venues that participate in the Cheap Seats program will be represented, and patrons will have the opportunity to buy single tickets to shows or a whole season. A free lunch will be served.

The Cheap Seats program provides deeply discounted tickets to performances at a number of arts organizations. For example, the Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret series will feature Forever Plaid and Nunsense this year, among other shows. The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is offering such classics as Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake. And representatives from the Pittsburgh Opera will be on hand selling tickets to Carmen, Falstaff, and Eugene Onegin.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is selling tickets to performances at the new August Wilson Center for African American Culture, featuring R&B singer Lalah Hathaway, spoken word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and dynamic dance company Philadanco. Additionally, the Trust will sell tickets for performances by Stomp, Click, Clack, Moo and magician David Copperfield. Highlights of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra season this year include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, Holst’s The Planets, Mozart’s Requiem, and Pittsburgh Symphony Pops concerts featuring Music of the Beatles and Cirque de la Symphonie. The Pittsburgh Public Theater explores the classics this year with The Price by Arthur Miller and Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes; it also offers Ella: A Musical and others.

The following week, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sept. 17, PITT ARTS will hold its 11th Annual Art Fair in the William Pitt Union Ballroom.  Members of the Pitt community are invited to browse tables staffed by representatives from approximately 30 Pittsburgh arts organizations, including Pittsburgh Opera, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Andy Warhol Museum, the Mattress Factory Art Museum, the Carnegie Museums, Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild, the Guitar Society of Fine Art, the Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret, and many others. Attendees will be able to pick up free literature, talk with staff, sign up to win prizes and ticket giveaways, and enjoy another free lunch, which will be served at noon.

Funded by the Office of the Provost, PITT ARTS also provides free outings for Pitt undergraduate students, free museum visits for Pitt students, and on-campus art experiences. Each year, PITT ARTS engages approximately 43,000 Pitt students, including those who participate more than once. For more information, call 412-624-1153 or visit www.pittarts.pitt.edu.