Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, which has become "increasingly concerned about the financial health" of the Three Rivers Arts Festival, is assuming responsibility for the organization's day-to-day operations and has eliminated the festival's two senior managerial positions.

In a prepared statement Monday, David Hillenbrand, president of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, said, "By taking this step now, we have an opportunity to not only better assess the organization's finances, but also re-evaluate its operations and its mission. An important first step -- and the responsible thing to do -- was to put a halt on most expenses until we complete that assessment."

The positions eliminated were held by Elizabeth Reiss, who has been executive director of the Three Rivers Arts Festival since 2001. Also eliminated was the job held by her associate director, Chris Taylor, who was hired in May of last year. Ms. Reiss, who was reached on her cell phone today, had no comment. Mr. Taylor could not be reached for comment.

The budget for this year 49th annual festival was $1.6 million, $1.1 million of which was allocated to the 17-day arts festival. For the past two years, the organization has had to scramble for Downtown sites while its usual venue, Point State Park, was under construction.

Deborah Acklin, chair of the festival's advisory committee, said the organization has a cash-flow deficit but did not know the figure.

Read more in tomorrow's Post-Gazette.