Kudos to the Des Moines Arts Festival for their outreach to engage their community and build enthusiasm for the Arts Festival taking place June 23-25. For the second year in a row they hosted an event at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines where they "REVEALED" the artists who will be participating in this years festival.
At the ticketed gala event, REVEAL, sponsors and stakeholders and enthusiasts of the event watched a multimedia event that showcased the 180 artists who had been chosen by a jury who:
previewed more than 6,000 images in a variety of mediums submitted by a pool of 1,002 applicants from 43 states, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Israel, and Taiwan.
The full list of invited artists can be found on the Festival’s web site at www.desmoinesartsfestival.org/visual-arts.
Stephen King, executive director of the event shared this audience building event with other show directors at last fall's Zapplication Art Festival Conference in Houston. It is a wonderful idea that would work in many communities.
Full press release: 180%20Artists%20to%20be%20Represented%20at%20the%20Des%20Moines%20Arts%20Festival%20.pdf
Have you encountered this audience development at any other shows?
