Open Thread Regional Review’s Open Reading Period Closes Nov. 1st!

Regular readers know I'm obsessed with the Pittsburgh art scene's extreme issolation from the outside world.

Yes, It's relatively easy to show your work here but very hard to make even regional connections without leaving the area entirely.This problem seems to be mirored by the even greater issolation of artists in West Virginia and Ohio. It doesn't have to be this way.

Anyway, print and online media are easy ways to try to break this loop

The Regional Review is a publication of Open Thread, a new regional arts organization based out of Pittsburgh. Open Thread seeks to establish frameworks for artistic discovery in the tri-state area, providing local artists, writers, performers, and vendors with opportunities for publication, performance, or exhibition.

October 8th, 2009 Adam Atkinson The open reading period for Volume Two of the Open Thread Regional Review closes on Sunday, November 1st at midnight! We’re considering unsolicited poems, stories, essays, paintings, drawings, prints, photos, video stills, documentation of 3-D work, comics, and mixed media and genres!

Who’s eligible? Any native or current resident of Open Thread’s target region: Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Eligible writers and artists must also be in the early stages of a career in their respective field.

Here’s how to submit: go to www.openthread.org, register as an Open Thread member (free!), and then upload your work at www.openthread.org/submit! Be sure to read carefully: preference is given to work that meets our submission guidelines.

The Open Thread Regional Review is an essential collection of the region’s best emerging art and literature. Volume Two is scheduled for release in early 2010 and is supported in part by a Seed Award from The Sprout Fund. Volume One is available for purchase at www.openthread.org/publications.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 8th, 2009 at 10:42 am and is filed under Call For Submissions, Ohio, Open Thread, Pennsylvania, Publications, West Virginia . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Sprout Fund Hothouse Video

Pop City posted this somewhat dry but nicely shot video showing glimpses of the 2009 Hot House annual fundraiser to support The Sprout Fund.

The Sprout fund, I think would be called a "re granting agency" that allows large foundations and individuals to give more of their money to smaller scale, street level start up projects.

The relatively recent trend towards supporting and nurturing more grass roots ideas @ the non profit level has been a significant change for Pittsburgh's big money and old money foundation community.

I think most people here have experienced and love many of their ideas. Many, are one shot things or at least they provide funding only once. But some have lasted.

Unicorn Mountain
The Visionary Arts Festival
This Is Happening
Encylopedia Destructica
Open Thread

and dozens of other great ideas have been born through their cash. It's one thing to say you want "young people" (not me anymore) to come and stay in Pittsburgh, but it's another thing to actually back their ideas with cash.

Hollywood Is Burning Screenplay Competition

In the interest of promoting Pittsburgh's small but thriving little film industry, I present this Screenplay contest which I found out about from Open Thread.

HOLLYWOOD IS BURNING SCREENPLAY COMPETITION

This is a tough business. It's nearly impossible to break in, and once you do, it's nearly impossible to do anything of quality. Welcome to the entertainment industry!

One of the toughest things to do is to get anyone in any position of power to read your screenplay. Producers usually have stacks of screenplays sitting on their desks at any given time and usually they only read the first few pages (if they're actually reading the things themselves) before making up their minds whether they'll keep reading or move onto the next one on the stack.

HOWEVER, producers will generally pay more attention to scripts that have won some sort of award. This industry loves winners, and they don't usually differentiate between small and large competitions, as long as the words "Winner of the [insert name here] Competition" appear somewhere in the cover letter.

That's where Hollywood is Burning would like to help you.

Founded by Happy Cloud Pictures producers Mike Watt, Charlie Fleming and Amy Lynn Best, Hollywood is Burning likes to champion the indie filmmaker and the struggling screenwriter. The purpose of this competition is to find the best unproduced scripts out there and give out a couple of awards that might help get your foot in the door later on. Do we guarantee it will help? Of course not, but again, the word "Winner" never hurt anyone.

The Hollywood is Burning Horror Screenplay Competition will award:

* A Grand Prize of $250 plus a "Winner" certificate to the author of the best horror screenplay.

* A Second Prize of $50 plus a "2nd Place" certificate to the author of the first runner up.

* AND to give your entry fee a little extra value you can choose to receive a one-page critique of your film written up by screenwriter and producer Mike Watt (writer of the Sci-Fi Channel film "Dead Men Walking", the Happy Cloud Pictures productions "The Resurrection Game", "Splatter Movie: The Director's Cut", "A Feast of Flesh", editor of Sirens of Cinema Magazine and contributor to numerous publications including Fangoria, Rue Morgue, Cinefantastique and Film Threat Magazine)

Again, Hollywood is Burning offers no guarantees - few things in life are sure things - but by entering our competition, you'll be taking your work to the next level and perhaps taking that next step in your career.

FEES AND DEADLINES:

Deadline and Fees:

$25 until October 1

$35 until November 30 - this is the super-late procrastinator's deadline. NO SCREENPLAYS WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER November 30.

More info here

the open thread's variety show, feat. dave bernabo & assembly

Last night after a few days of work-induced insanity I went to the Brillobox to see Dave Bernabo & Assembly play. Pleasant surprise -- the band was playing as a part of Open Thread's Variety show.

I was glad to be there to support; mixed bill shows are notoriously hard to get audience for. This one had a sunny fun feel light on the caustic see-and-be-seen vibe that can sometimes poison parties in Pittsburgh. Drag diva Sharon Needles blew my work stress away with a high-camp Rocky Horror cover re-sewn into Pittsburgh clothing. Not to mention her Pittsburgh Prostitute - astute social critique from a yinzer service-girl in a Steelers jersey.

Artists had a couple of tables modestly attired with collage, photography, and book arts available for sale. I picked up Austin English's Windy Corner Magazine #2, an assemblage-zine with high production values featuring capsule comics, artist interviews, and comic commentary, from Austin himself.

Then there's what I came for ... Here's how Assembly looks:



Owl Barnes/drums

Dave Bernabo/guitar, vox (right)

Chris James/ bass (left)

Brandon Masterman /sax

Daniel Newman/guitar, backing vox
(right, behind Dave)

As to what they sounded like ....

They play highly structured improv spread over complicated rhythm. Its funny to think of Mr. Bernabo as a jazz band leader from the 40's, but its really his role, from my perspective. Each of the artists has an intensely developed skill-set that is featured at different moments in the music's vocabulary. The band strikes the perfect balance of group-produced structure and individual improv. "Smart" music that keeps you moving, complicated sound woven with muscular rhythm.

As usual we couldn't hear the vocals over the Brillobox's system (when are they going to fix that?) but its such a good time, who really cares? DJ Victor Hugonaut set up to close the night with the inevitable dance party. I made my escape.

... Jessica Fenlon