Artsfest creates community bond since 1980

In recent years, it’s been more rain than shine. Coming off back-to-back soggy events, Artsfest organizers are prepared this year: Artsfest umbrellas will be on sale with other special items to commemorate the 25th anniversary, said Shellie Jones, festival manager at Urban Districts Alliance.

Recent inclement weather caused organizers to consider moving the date.

“We did a 30-year history of average rainfall along with taking into consideration conflicts like graduations and other shows,” Jones said. “We decided the date needed to stay.”

The unfortunate weather history didn’t deter 143 artists and 20 food vendors from reserving space this year. Artists go through a selection process before receiving their booth space.

“We send out 1,500 applications a year for artists,” Jones said. “Exhibitors are chosen by an Artsfest jury system. The artist submits four slides representative of what they will sell. We have three outside jurors – teachers, artists and gallery owners – to review and score. The best ones are chosen.”

The booth fee for a 10-by-10-foot space is $200. That fee, along with the $3 per person admission, raises the bulk of the funds to finance the event. Profits go to the Springfield Regional Arts Council, an Artsfest sponsor. Other contributors are corporate sponsors Associated Electric Cooperative, McDonald’s, Mid-America Arts Alliance, National Endowment for the Arts, Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co., Springfield-Greene County Park Board and Youngblood Volkswagen.

“We assume the risk,” said Kay Logsdon, executive director of the SRAC, which contracts with UDA for event production. “They submit a budget proposal to us each year itemizing the expenses and the expected revenue. Expenses include everything from a nominal payment to the performers, to the toilets and tents, to printing. Revenue comes from the $3 gate fee, corporate sponsorships and booth fees. Any revenue over expenses is specifically for operating costs for Arts Council, with a percentage split with UDA. Artsfest has been the primary source of Arts Council revenue for many years, fitting in with the board’s philosophy of using grant funds for special programs and trying to earn our way by producing events that pay for themselves.”

The cost of putting on the festival has been around $40,000, according to Logsdon.

“Revenues vary, with the weather being the biggest factor,” she said.

In decent weather, Artsfest can generate nearly $90,000 as it did in 2003. Low attendance last year due to rain and cold dropped revenues to $44,000.

“Thankfully, we had begun putting money aside each year as a rainy day fund,” Logsdon said. “We did have to draw on that this year because of the huge drop in 2004, so we are heavily dependent on good weather for the 2005 festival.”

A successful Artsfest enables the organization to use other donations to enhance and expand local art programs.

Planning for Artsfest begins in January with a committee that meets weekly through April. “There are 20 people on the committee who have various tasks – obtaining volunteers, performers, planning the hands-on area,” Jones said. “We have a database of volunteers to pull from. We work with schools and service organizations.”

About 250 volunteers work directly with Artsfest, while additional volunteers work for the various organizations on hand at the event. In all, there are more than 600 volunteers, Jones said.

Creating Artsfest

The event has come a long way from its humble beginnings to attracting as many as 35,000 people.

Jan Horton, co-chair of this year’s Artsfest performance committee, remembers attending the first festival in 1980, which netted $68.

“It had a different kind of configuration,” she said. “It was a three-week long celebration of the arts. You could pick events from different locations in town. I remember the brass quintet at First & Calvary Presbyterian Church as one of those events. Those special performances highlighted other planned performances, such as the theater and the symphony. It was the only time that format was used.”

In 1981, SRAC Director Jim Livingston led Artsfest into its present form. The first such event was held at the amphitheatre at the Springfield Art Museum and included artists paintings, children’s projects and educational aspects.

“In 1982, we had a four-day long Artsfest with 25 performances and 20 arts and craftsmen,” Horton said, remembering others involved in the early days: Nancy Brown Dornan, Lou Schaeffer, Bob Bradley and Sam Freeman.

More than 3,700 attended that year. Admission was free and booth artists paid $2.

“As it grew, in 1984 we had a big event, with the ‘world’s largest community band’ that marched from SMS to Phelps Grove Park,” added Horton. “Dickerson Park Zoo had an elephant to ride and the Shriner clowns were there.”

In 1988, Artsfest moved to Walnut Street.

“Moving gave Artsfest a boost forward and added a lot of interest,” Horton said. “It gave it a historic designation with the renovation of the Walnut Street homes.”

Something new this year is ArtsFiesta, a separate, free festival in Founders Park beginning at 6 p.m. May 7. ArtsFiesta features a performance by the Mariachi Juvenil de Tlaquepaque, Mexican fashion, food, a crafts marketplace and kids’ activities. The mariachi band comes to Springfield from Tlaquepaque, Mexico, a sister city of Springfield, through a grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance and the National Endowment for the Arts and work of Springfield Sister Cities Association members.

The mariachi band also performs at 12:30 p.m. May 7 on the Park Board Showwagon Stage and will serve as street performers.

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