Grand Marais Arts Festival organizers hope to see more local participants in the July 2011 Arts Festival. Contact the Art Colony for more information on how to be apart of the event.
For 21 years, the Grand Marais Arts Festival has been a celebration of the artistic vitality of our community. Over the years the festival has featured a variety of local and regional artists selling their wares on the street of downtown Grand Marais. Over 2,000 festival-goers return annually to visit a favorite booth, check out new artists, participate in organized activities and stroll the beach of the Grand Marais harbor. People love the laid-back feel of the festival and the scenic location.
This year, the Grand Marais Art Colony, organizer of the festival, is interested in seeing more local participation. “People are interested in seeing local art and craft,” said Amy Demmer, Art Colony director. “After all, this is the Grand Marais arts festival and visitors know how many talented, creative people live in this community.”
To make the Grand Marais Arts Festival more accessible to the local participation, the Art Colony hosted a discussion in December to find out what might be obstacles and solutions for increased participation. One solution that came out of the conversation was allowing two people to share a booth. This means the artist vendors can share covering the booth during festival hours, as well as having enough artwork to fill a booth.
Another discussion point was that both art and craft work is accepted into the festival. “Although we have always accepted craftwork, I think it is a good reminder to folks that we are interested in both high-quality arts and crafts for the festival,” said Kjersti Vick, events coordinator for the Art Colony.
Applications are due on March 11 and can be found on the Art Colony website – www.grandmaraisartcolony.org – or by contacting the Art Colony at 218-387-2737 or arts@boreal.org. The Art Colony is also looking for people or groups interested in organizing an activity or volunteering during the festival.
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