ORONO – The first Ayers Island contemporary arts festival, “Without Borders: Experiments in Art, Culture and Technology,” will be held Aug. 21 through Sept. 15.

The art festival opening is set for noon-10 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 22, at One Ayers Island. The event is organized by the University of Maine Department of Art, the University of Maine New Media Program, and the University of Maine Computer Science program.

The goal of the festival is to create a gathering place for those interested in diverse forms of contemporary art and cultural expression.

Featuring emerging international, national and local artists in an eclectic array of music, performance, poetry, film and exhibition programs, the festival will include a main exhibition centered around installation sculptures created by using new technologies. The event also will include performances, live music, poetry readings, video screenings and workshops.

Organizers hope the festival will be a catalyst for artistic development within the region, and will prompt an awareness of, and create a demand for, contemporary forms of visual, literary and performing arts.

The festival will include artists from Canada, France and the United Kingdom who will join Maine artists to facilitate interactions between those countries and to foster the creative connection that already exists between them.

Participating groups include the UM Department of Art, the New Media Program, Universite du Quebec a Montreal in Canada, Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Arts de Paris-Cergy in France and the Wimbledon School of Art in the United Kingdom.

For information about the festival, call 866-0103, or visit www.withoutborders.ayersisland.com.