Meshwork Festival 2027: Pittsburgh Visual Music and Experimental Film, $25 Regular Entry and Free Student Route
An inaugural festival for moving images and sound
Meshwork is a new visual-music festival in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, scheduled for February 25–28, 2027, with support from Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts. Its artistic premise links perception, image, music, computation, animation and live audiovisual practices rather than restricting submissions to conventional music videos. Organisers Johannes DeYoung and Annie Hui-Hsin Hsieh invite international artists and teams to submit work made within the preceding five years. A prior public screening does not disqualify the piece, and no world-premiere status is required. As a first-year festival, it should not be represented as already having a long history of prior editions.
Screen, expanded-media and student categories
Screen-Based Works covers experimental cinema, moving image, digital animation and algorithmic or audiovisual compositions. Expanded Cinema is for installations, live audiovisual performance, multi-projector environments, spatial media and works using technology, physical elements or audience interaction. Applicants must explain hardware, sensors, computers, sound channels, spatial requirements and how the proposed work operates in time. The Student Works category accepts currently enrolled students and some recent graduates who meet its stated timeframe; student submissions can be screen-based or expanded.
Regular fee $25, but student projects are free
The regular deadline is October 31, 2026 with a US$25 fee for the standard screening and expanded-media categories; the late round through November 30 is US$35 and the extended December 20 deadline US$45. Student Works submissions are free, even during the later windows. This is a meaningful distinction: not all entries cost $25 and an ordinary creator should not present a student category as a general waiver. The organiser expects to notify applicants by January 11, 2027 and does not guarantee a cash artist fee, international transport or lodging for every selection.
Institutional backing and rights
Meshwork lists real festival directors, a campus address and venue, submission terms and equipment limitations on FilmFreeway. Artists retain their copyright while permitting selected works to be screened and reasonable excerpts or stills to be used in festival publicity. A technologically complex installation cannot assume the festival will supply every unusual projector or interface. Candidates should confirm what can be safely accommodated before committing installation costs.
Official organiser requirements and application
Information checked 23 October 2026. Confirm the organiser's current eligibility, accepted media, time-zone deadline, submission and later participation costs, copyright and exhibition terms before entering or paying.