Video: Giant Rubber Duck Makes U.S. Debut for Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts

Studio Florentijn Hofman's The Rubber Duck Project has ignited crazes in Hong Kong, Sydney and other international locales and now makes its U.S. debut in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's International Festival of Firsts. Yesterday The Rubber Duck Project launched on the Allegheny River setting in motion four weeks of diverse programming featuring acclaimed international companies and artists premiering works never before seen in the United States. Presentations of theater, dance, music, performance and visual arts will grace several Cultural District venues, in spaces both traditional and highly unexpected.

The Rubber Duck Project knows no frontiers; it doesn't discriminate and doesn't have a political connotation. The friendly, floating, four-story-high Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them.

"Pittsburgh has a confluence of international activities taking place during the fall of 2013," said Kevin McMahon, president & CEO of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. "The city has been re-imagined and remade and is now hosting major international events-from the Carnegie International to the Remaking Cities Conference- that provide for an intriguing cultural climate. We are glad to be part of the economic, cultural and quality-of-life transformation that is part of the region's 30-year investment in the arts."

About the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust

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. 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.

The Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts is supported by two anonymous donors, the Buhl Foundation, the Carol R. Brown Performance Fund, The Heinz Endowments, the Hillman Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, the Snee-Reinhardt Charitable Foundation, and the Richard King Mellon Foundation.