One of the decisions that the principals deciding the future of the Three Rivers Arts Festival will have to make is what role the visual arts will play, and perhaps it's time to consider whether they should be included at all.

The festival has changed considerably since it was begun by the Carnegie Museum of Art Women's Committee in 1959, and the occasion of its golden anniversary next summer offers a good opportunity to review what aspects of the festival best serve its audience and suit its Downtown site.

As funding for such events across the country has become less available and costs, such as insurance, have risen markedly, it has become harder and harder to offer a free festival, let alone to be all things to all people.

Judging from the estimated 600,000 people who visit during the festival's 17-day run, the event is as popular as ever, offering an enjoyable experience for Downtown workers at the height of summer and drawing visitors from neighborhoods and the 'burbs to discover other city amenities.

Live music, the artist market and festival food arguably are the largest draws, although the children's area has experienced a growth in attendance in recent years as more effort has been put into activities and families return to check out what's new.

The 4th River Project, begun by former festival executive director Elizabeth Reiss in 2006, also seems a good fit. It has been an umbrella for performance presentations ranging from contemporary poetry readings to new play development, held in venues suitable for smaller crowds than the open-stage events, but kept summer-night casual and accessible.

The visual arts -- the large public art works, until most recently constructed in Point State Park, as well as exhibitions of painting, sculpture, photography, and other current media -- were the core of the original festival, and have a reasonable fan base. But budgetary considerations raise the question of whether an appropriate commitment of staff and fiscal support can continue to be allocated to such arts.

The problems the shipping containers suffered from last summer could most probably have been avoided had the festival retained its full-time curator, an individual experienced in judging whether an artist's idea will work, as well as in knowing that artist's time, material and support needs.

They also suffered from location, and one large issue the festival faces is whether it will be welcomed back by Point State Park now that the city-side renovation is complete. During the two years the park was closed, the festival scurried for sites for its various parts, landing in traffic islands and in Market Square but never becoming comfy.

Public art, unless monumental, tends to get lost within concrete canyons as opposed to on an open lawn. One of the most successful pieces in recent memory was Patrick Dougherty's 2003 "Bivouac," part sculpture, part fairyland fortress, that delighted visitors of all ages and backgrounds who encountered it at Point State Park. But such commissions are expensive, as was the exhibition of Magdalena Abakanowicz's extraordinary sculptures in 2001 when the International Sculpture Conference was in town.

Other visual arts were for decades displayed under yellow pavilions that had outlasted their appropriateness and that the festival, to its credit, disposed of. The art displays were moved inside, becoming more secure and allowing for a range of contemporary expression that couldn't be accommodated by the pavilions. But the resultant exhibition model also required the oversight of a curator and funding.

As well-intentioned and imaginative a concept as the containers were -- and granting they have only had one exploratory year -- they most illustrated that serious art demands the same respect afforded other professional efforts.

Colleen Russell Criste, deputy director of The Andy Warhol Museum who was appointed acting director of the Three Rivers Arts Festival in September, said that one of the possibilities being considered is to invite independent curators to design festival projects, an idea that would invigorate the yearly event and bring requisite knowledge.

Criste is resigning effective Dec. 12 to become deputy director for external affairs at the International Center of Photography, New York City, but Ben Harrison, associate curator for performance at The Warhol, who was appointed festival acting curator of performance in September, is still acting in that role. He says that while the festival board and staff are still brainstorming toward a long-term definition of the arts festival, plans are moving along for the 2009 anniversary celebration.

While that programming hasn't been confirmed yet, Harrison says he is taking the festival audience into consideration. "I never presumed we would replicate what we do at The Warhol."

Criste says that options being considered for the festival's future include becoming an independent organization, continuing its relationship with the Carnegie, merging with another organization or being "put to bed." No one wants to see the latter happen, she says, and the option that appears most plausible so far is a merger.

The bottom line is to present the best festival possible within the means available. That may mean cutting visual arts and putting more resources into music and performance. It may also mean asking more Downtown businesses to ante up if the festival truly is the economic boost some claim it to be.