You'll excuse Joy Toujours (aka Joseph Reichenbacher) if he feels a bit like Fred Rogers this weekend. After all, it's a beautiful day in his neighborhood.

Polish Hill is a small community, consisting of only a few streets sandwiched on slopes between Bigelow Boulevard and the Strip District. Until a few years ago, it was a typical Pittsburgh neighborhood nearly impervious to the march of time -- known mainly for churches, old people living in even older houses and a single bar on Brereton Street called Gooski's, which hosted some indie rock and punk shows.

That all began to change as a new generation gradually moved in, renting apartments, buying houses and literally using Gooski's as a cultural magnet while feeding off similar creative energy in adjacent Bloomfield, Lawrenceville and East Liberty. One of those newcomers was Mr. Reichenbacher.

"I first came [to the city] in 1997, on and off while traveling. A few of those times I lived in Polish Hill, so I knew the area already."

A couple of years ago, Mr. Reichenbacher (who works as events coordinator for Lawrenceville "ultradive" Belvedere's) bought three houses on Melwood Avenue. At 3345 Melwood, he gutted one of the floors and turned the house into the Project 53 Music Resource Center, fulfilling a dream he had to provide free opportunities for aspiring musicians. Since then, Project 53 has been a site for free shows and workshops, from mic cable repair and music theory to ukulele instruction.

Music is not as participatory as it should be, he claims. "You should be able to go to Carnegie Library and take out an instrument to see if you like playing it. The experience of music just isn't accessible enough to make it a part of most people's lives."

The center also has the goal of turning music into less of a structured activity ("playing the same 12 songs in the same 12 bars, to the same 12 fans over 12 years") and more of a game. "You don't play chess thinking it's going to be a big deal where you record the game, sell it, and make money off it. There should be an instrument in every room in the house and it should be part of people's daily activities."

But Mr. Reichenbacher isn't just some rustic, folksy Luddite hoping to return society to the days of the backporch banjo jam. Having recently attended the Future of Music conference in Washington, D.C., he notes that Project 53 is almost the polar opposite of where the music industry seems to be heading on the verge of its collapse.

"The top tier of music is starting to suffer financially, and with [Internet sites like] SonicBids, instead of going to the music fans, they go to the bottom tier of musicians to swindle them. Our goal is not to care about money -- everything we do is free, and we encourage people to put on free shows and have access to the music without financial concerns. You don't buy a guitar thinking you need to play a show to make back the money. That prevents a lot of creativity and [that's why] we don't see enough street performers or free shows."

To that end, Mr. Reichenbacher has brought Project 53 into a collaboration with the Polish Hill Civic Association, which initiated a neighborhood Arts Festival under the auspices of Leslie Clague, an employee at the Warhol Museum. "Three years ago, we had our first festival, and Joy had a presence at it -- his band played, and Project 53 had a table where you could make a musical instrument," Ms. Clague recalls. "So when Joy decided to do a two-day music festival, he figured if it overlapped with the arts festival that's already in place, we could maximize our resources. There's also the church festival that's been there for 80 years, in mid-July, so it's a way of amplifying neighborhood efforts."

Mr. Reichenbacher's proposal blossomed into what he dubbed the Free4All Music Festival, which in its inaugural edition will include eight workshops on such topics as hip-hop poetry, gong healing and how to play a musical saw and create an actual "musical chair." There will also be 20 bands, ranging in genres from Appalachian folk to Brazilian percussion and experimental electronics.

"The main stage will be at the West Penn Rec Center where the [swimming] pool is," he explains, "and the workshops will be at Project 53. We keep everything walkable so you can go between the workshops and the bands. And [Polish Hill's other punk bar] the Rock Room will host an afterparty on Saturday night."

Visitors to the neighborhood will be able to experience all the exciting new developments that seem to have popped up almost overnight in Polish Hill: The brand new Lili's coffeehouse, located below the equally fresh Mind Cure record store and Copacetic comic book shop, will host readings from The New Yinzer literary mag, while Gooski's has a 'post-apocalyptic' film program curated by Jessica Fenlon. Ms. Clague also touts activities one might normally expect at an arts fest. "We have about 25 vendors and craftspeople, and sit-down projects for all ages from the Andy Warhol Museum, the Mattress Factory and Hot Metal Happening."

And you can't forget the food -- the church will offer the traditional fare of pierogies and kielbasas, while Italian ices and the enterprising Goodie Truck will cool off the kids. "It's a smaller, quirkier festival," she adds, "and we have such a mix of people, everyone from nuns to punks."

As for Mr. Reichenbacher, he's excited about Free4All and relieved to be taking a short break from his band, Joy Toujours and The Toys Du Jour, who recently celebrated a CD release at the New Hazlett Theater and toured for two weeks out to Portland, Ore., and San Francisco and back. He wants to use his festival to get more people involved in Project 53, as well as expand the instrumental loan library. "I have people calling me every week to loan out mics and cables and guitars and drums. I just have a space and I want people to use it."

Though unable to host performances this year because he was too busy getting his store up and running, Mind Cure Records owner Mike Seamans concurs with the importance of what Mr. Reichenbacher is trying to achieve.

"I live on the same street between [Joy] and some of the other house shows that are going on. Joy's really making a go of having that place be a viable space for all music, not just folky punk stuff. He's trying to foster many different angles of independent music, whether it's how to perform it or information on how to be a part of [the scene] and make it grow. [With Free4All], he's done a good job of rounding up a wide variety of people and bringing them to this neighborhood."

But then again, Mr. Seamans adds, that process is still ongoing. "I live on the same street between Project 53 and some of the house shows that are going on. Polish Hill has become a more inclusive place for music to happen since it's not just limited to bars. I'm at the shop every day and I see the increased volume of people that come here during the day, not just to go to the bar. It's become more than just a drinking destination."

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.