Columbus Arts Festival

About the 2006 Festival

More than 250,000 people visited the downtown riverfront June 1-4 to enjoy the 45th annual Columbus Arts Festival presented by Chase. Hundreds of artists, corporate partners and volunteers worked together to host another successful festival. Even with two days of rain, central Ohioans braved the weather to show support for the many artists who travel to or are from Columbus.

The Columbus Arts Festival joined several other fine arts festivals across the country in using ZAPPlication™ (ZAPP), a digital visual artist application process. ZAPP offers many exciting and convenient features to artists, including the opportunity to apply online to participating festivals from anywhere across the country, e-mail notifications and the ability to track their status for shows to which they have applied.

Festival preparation moved into high gear during the first week in January with the receipt of over 1,200 artist applications. Approximately 6,000 digital images were juried, narrowing the field down to the 300 artists selected to participate in the Festival. A team of five volunteers assisted Festival staff in preparing for the first all-digital jurying process that took place the first weekend in February. The jury, consisting of five artisans of varying backgrounds, selected the artists who exhibited in 2006. Artists from across the United States, Canada, England and Israel participated in the show this year.

More than 65 musical acts performed on the Bicentennial and Broad Street Club stages. Acts ranged from traditional jazz to rock to world music. On Saturday evening, Bicentennial Park was filled to capacity with families enjoying the evening with one of Columbus' greatest artistic organizations – the Columbus Jazz Orchestra – accompanied by local favorites Jeannette Williams, Dwight Lennox and many others. Saturday and Sunday featured numerous local performance groups on the Community Stage. It continued to be a favorite of the Festival patrons.

Saturday and Sunday featured hands-on arts activities for both children and adults. In the Cultural Arts Center's courtyard, children were assisted by local arts organizations including the Columbus College of Art and Design and the Deaf Services Center, Inc. as they created masterpieces of their own. The Adult Arts Activities area offered adults the opportunity to work on a potter's wheel, learn warm glass techniques while making glass beads and learn the fine art of creating Ikebana, a Japanese style of flower arrangement. The local arts organizations involved in these activities provided an introductory experience to the arts for all ages and access to excellent resources.

The Ohio Magazine Poetry Corner, a tent and stage offering a coffeehouse atmosphere dedicated to the art of the spoken word, featured readers who auditioned in front of a jury of accomplished local poets and educators in March. Student poets from the Columbus Public Schools were featured on Saturday and Sunday. One of the most popular events at the Poetry Corner was the third annual Columbus Arts Festival Poetry Slam, featuring 10 of Columbus' finest slam poets. A "slam" is a live contest, all in fun, where audience members participate in judging the poets' performances. The poet who elicits the most enthusiastic audience response is the winner.