Buckeye Creative Connection hosts arts festival in Franklinton
Gretchen McIntosh’s course “Developing Arts Careers: Positioning Passion” (ART EDUC 5683) came to fruition on April 18, 2021 when Buckeye Creative Connection hosted Spring Arts Fest, an interactive community arts festival located at 400 West Rich St. in the heart of Franklinton’s Arts District. The overarching goal of the event was to actively promote engagement between creative networks operating within Columbus, to share their narratives of creative entrepreneurship. Bringing established artists together with emerging student artists fostered many ideas and connections.
The pandemic has brought many challenges for the Columbus creative community, a topic which is explored in detail in Rachel Skaggs article. For those whose livelihood depends on the patronage of others, these challenges necessitated new directions and new opportunities. Vibrant events such as this community arts festival enabled critical discussions and connections, yielding best practices by which emerging artists could thrive in these challenging times.
For the first time since the onslaught of the pandemic, Buckeye Creative Connection brought creatives physically together in this outdoor event that offered numerous opportunities for art making, performances and discussion. Artist’s talks and workshops featured notables from the Franklinton arts community, such as theater professionals Jess Hughes and Edward Carnigan; workshops and presentations by award-winning poets Amy Turn, Rachel Wiley and Barbara Fant; visual artist talks by Richard Duarte Brown and Dana Lynn Harper; a filmmaker panel with Donte Woods-Spikes and Jon Sherman; a music panel with Keith Hanlon, Roger Phelps and Eric Rollin; visual artist panels with Chantal Stone, Kavadis Hill and Sky Dai followed by Tiera Suggs, Mandi Caskey and Bri Gluszak. There was a student gallery exhibition that served as a backdrop for many of the sessions and live musical performances. In addition to these art attractions, local food truck Aloha Aina served award-winning food and participants were encouraged to paint a mural in a designated interactive space. The community arts festival was made possible by generous support from the Franklinton Arts District.
"The Spring Arts Fest gave me opportunities to make important contacts in the local arts scene, build references and longterm relationships, as well as sharpen many necessary skills as I emerge into the professional scene of arts administration." - Lauren DeCamillo (BA Arts Management, 2021)
