Latest News

• 2024 festival merchandise to premiere at 6/29 Gabe Stillman show, to be held inside the Community Foundation Oilhouse!
  Posted on 2024-06-28

  The Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Free Summer Concert Series kicks off TOMORROW (6/29) at Peoples Natural Gas Park, and the show will be held inside the Community Foundation Oilhouse! What’s more, 2024 festival hats and t-shirts are in, designed by the uber-talented Georgie Carnevali of Lemon Bomb Tattoo, and we’ll have these available at the show. (Options: heather black and teal short-sleeve tees, a limited number of long-sleeve black tees, all super-soft “Perfect Tri” District brand shirts, 50% polyester, 25% rayon, 25% cotton; and embroidered trucker hats. Still to come: stickers and enamel pins!) We’ll also have tickets to festival and other shows available.

  Rayne’s Backyard BBQ will vend, and we’ll have a full bar including mocktails. Come out for a great evening of blues!

• Festival photos to be featured at FusionFest, Pittsburgh’s Juneteenth celebration
  Posted on 2024-06-20

  Mike Canton of Pittsburgh’s The Soul Show has photographed Black artists performing in the greater Pittsburgh area for 15 years — including at the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival (he captured this stunning image of Nikki Glaspie of Dumpstaphunk at our festival in 2014). He’s been a friend and champion of our event for many years, and we’re delighted to learn that his concert photography will be featured on June 29 at FusionFest, Pittsburgh’s Juneteenth celebration, in an exhibition titled “Stages of Black.”

  

  Complete description of the exhibition:

  “Stages of Black” is a photographic presentation of African-diaspora musical artists performing in the greater Pittsburgh area. Mike Canton, host and producer of The Soul Show on WZUM-FM The Pittsburgh Jazz Channel, has been capturing high-quality imagery for fifteen years as an extension of his broadcast work. With the media access granted by major organizations such as JAHA (the producer of the AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival), Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Canton photographs from unusual angles such as behind stage and from bird’s-eye vantage points. He is the the most ubiquitous photographer of the local Black music scene.

  Over the full day of FusionFest, “Stages of Black” will project large images on a screen or appropriate wall on the Greenwood Plan interior. Canton will assemble, from his collection of 10K images, approximately 2500 photos for the presentation. They will be staged as hourly “shows,” alternating between local and national artist focus. Mike envisions this presentation as well suited for a sitting or eating space within the FusionFest layout, given that a viewer might want to observe for 5-10 minutes.

• Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Free Summer Concerts are announced!
  Posted on 2024-05-10

  We are delighted to once again offer a strong slate of free summer concerts at Peoples Natural Gas Park! Thanks to the ongoing support of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, these three shows will be offered with free admission:

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