ART IN THE PARK 2006

The Art in the Park Festival begins at 9:00 a.m. on the first Saturday in April at 9:00 a.m. and continues until 6:00 p.m. Attractions include Hands on Art for Children, a juried art exhibit and competition, a student art competition and exhibit, a special local entertainment stage, a separate stage for the Jimmie Rodgers Foundation Gospel Competition, children's paid activities and food vendors.

Art in the Park 2006 was extremely successful this year for the Meridian Council for the Arts, Inc. We had great weather with the exception of being unseasonably hot.

The Art in the Park Festival was moved this year to Bonita Lakes with great success.

Looking at the economic impact of the festival to the city we are able to generate these facts.

The Meridian Arts Council awarded a total of $1,450.00 in cash prizes to artists that competed in the Arts in the Park juried art competition. The artists participating as a whole reported that they sold approximately $14,000.00 worth of their art to the crowds as well. We had many visitors from neighboring cities attend Arts in the Park.

Also, approximately three fourths of the artist and crafters and the children's activity vendors entered in the festival were from out of town and had to have lodging and food for Friday and Saturday night. The 5 food vendors had to purchase supplies from local businesses and were so busy that most of them had to purchase additional supplies because they ran out several times during the day. It is estimated that the festival itself generated approximately $40,000.00 dollars in revenue. The bulk of the goods and services purchased to run the festival were purchased from our local businesses.

And since a portion of the artists and crafters were local people the art they sold, cash awards they received impacted our local economy. A total of 42 fine artists and crafters signed up for the festival this year. And over 250 student artists competed in the student art show and competition and submitted over 550 pieces of student art. The award-winning students won various prizes worth a total of $500.00. So, the fun-fill Saturday of Arts in the Park is a great, family oriented, celebration of the arts as well as quite a boost to our local economy!

Documenting attendance at Art in the Park is extremely difficult.

Several things make an accurate count of people attending Arts in the Park very hard to document. This year we did request a one dollar donation as admission to Art in the Park but we had such large crowds that many people walked around the two entrances and entered the park from many different areas. Second, no fee is charged to watch entertainment performed on our two separate entertainment stages. Third, the Arts Council sponsor's children's hands-on art activities free of charge all day on Saturday.

The only way to estimate an attendance count is to get a look at how many people did pay the admission donation and to get an approximate count from your parking lot and park security and volunteer staff. All of our staff involved with an attendance estimate agreed that we had a good steady crowd all day Saturday. Our entertainment stages had near capacity crowds for each performance and our artists admitted to having good sales from the crowds. Our best estimate of 2006 attendance is approximately 4 - 5,000 thousand people. This estimate is based on prior counts, annual surveys, admission donations, and experience.

Revenue sources are vendor fees, artist or craft booth rent, artists reported sales, plus donations and sponsorships. This revenue does not include , restaurant sales, artist and vendor supply sales, hotel/motel room rentals, or gasoline sales that were spent in the area by Arts in the Park vendors, artist or tourists for the weekend.

The 2006 Art in the Park was a successful one both financially and as a celebration of the arts for the Meridian Council for the Arts, Inc. and for the City and County as well.

The Meridian Council for the Arts, Inc. is the official sponsor of the Art in the Park Festival. But it would not be possible without donations from the Mississippi Arts Commission, local businesses and individuals, the Lauderdale County Tourism Bureau, as well as hard work and in-kind donations from the City of Meridian, its council members, department heads and entire city staff.

Art in the Park 2007 will be held again at Bonita Lakes on April 7, and will be the 36th anniversary of the event. Mark your calendars and make plans to participate and attend. It is already shaping up to be a fun filled festival!

Threefoot Art Festival

Click here to see information on the 2007 Threefoot Art Festival

October 14th 2006, was the date of the Fourth Annual Threefoot Art Festival. The weather was perfect and so was the festival!

Meridian Council for the Arts, Inc. is dedicated to providing high quality art experiences and the Threefoot Festival is no exception.

The mission of the Threefoot Art Festival is to showcase work of exceptional quality and creativity by artists in a variety of mediums. It is our goal to nurture artistic expression by providing an opportunity for artists to share and sell their work; to educate the public about the creative efforts of artists; and to add to the cultural climate and quality of life in the community, state, and region.

The festival was held on and around Dumont Plaza, and on 4th and 5th Streets between 22nd and 23rd avenues. This is the area next to the MSU-Riley Performing Arts and Educational Center now called “The Riley Center” in the heart of downtown Meridian .

Twenty-five exhibitors from several states were selected to be a part of our festival using a juried-artist criteria that is governed by Meridian Council's for the Arts standards of quality, originality, and creativity as interpreted by a jury of visual art professionals. Twenty-one of the artists were from out of town. Most of the out of town artists arrived on Friday night and stayed overnight in local motels at least one night and ate in local restaurants as well as purchasing gasoline for their return trip home. The Lauderdale County Tourism Bureau worked with our local hotels and offered packages and special festival prices to the artists to entice them to stay at their hotels.

A concert and dinner was held on the Friday night prior to the festival in downtown Meridian in Weidmann's Restaurant featuring Spencer Bohren, a regular on "A Prairie Home Companion". Spencer's performance was held to promote the arts and to promote hiring artists from the New Orleans and Gulfcoast Region of Mississippi who were impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

A total of $3,750.00 was awarded to the artists participating in the show as art awards. A respected artist from Louisiana chose the winners of these awards. There was also a total of $2,875.00 spent with the artists in the form of purchase awards. These purchase awards are sponsored by corporations and individuals and guaranteed to be spent with the artist during the festival. Our artists turned in sales tax receipts showing a total of approximately $8,000.00 in art sales for the day of the festival.

The Threefoot Art Festival also featured live music and entertainment throughout the day. Four Chili Cook-Off Teams decorated there booths and cooked their chili on site to compete for trophies and $ 1,600.00 dollars in prize money not to mention the bragging rites as “Best in Show” Threefoot Art Festival Chili Cook-Off Team of the year. The crowds of festival goers choose a People's Choice Chile for 2006 as well, by sampling the wares of the Chili Cook-Off Teams. Festival goers were also able to purchase food and beverages from three local organizations scattered throughout the festival. Local downtown stores joined in the fun and held special sales and promotions. The Meridian Downtown Merchant's Association sponsored a Sidewalk Art Competition from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the festival, offering $500.00 worth of prizes to participants. So you can see that the festival turned out to be an economic plus for the downtown merchants, local restaurants, hotels, and for the artists that participated in the festival.

Admission to the festival is free so it is hard to get an accurate count of attendees. We do know that sales were good for the artists and that the crowds were heavy for the chili cook-off teams and to listen to and watch the free entertainment. We estimate 4,000 to 5,000 people attended this year's festival.

The Meridian Council for the Arts is proud of the public reception to our newest art endeavor and is pleased to be able to say that the Threefoot Art Festival was a success in every way and that the date for next years festival has already been set for October 13th, 2007, and that we are already working to make it a success as well.

The Threefoot Committee has also already begun to plan next year's Chili Cook-Off competition. Vendors will again compete to win the designation of the “Best in Show” at the Threefoot Art Festival Chili Cook-Off and Sale . And again next year other food vendors will be open for the festival attendees' convenience.

Live music and entertainment will be showcased all day again in 2007. Our entertainment will feature a diversified array of artists to entertain the crowds attending. The local Meridian Downtown Merchants Association will work with us again in 2007 to include our downtown businesses in the festival. This involvement has proved to be an economic plus to downtown businesses and shops in the past, and we are sure that it will continue to do so. The October 13, 2007 Threefoot Art Festival is shaping up to be a banner year, by growing in size and in economic impact.

Threefoot Arts Festival Application

Around Town Carousels Abound
Cities worldwide are bringing art (and animals) to the people with wildly popular painted pigs, cows, fish and moose. They are stampeding and swimming through the streets from New York to New Orleans in the form of fanciful public art. And they are bringing business with them.

The brightly painted, life-sized sculptures are gaining popularity across the globe, proving that everyone can appreciate art-especially when it's painted across a beguiling animal. Public art is also pumping millions of tourists and dollars into the cities that open their arms to the whimsical beasts. It's an opportunity for the art industry to give back to the community and bring recognition of its artists, galleries and sponsors. Meridian is the first city in Mississippi to join the national animals on parade phenomenon. What more natural icon for Meridian than the Carousel Horse -thus Around Town Carousels Abound was born.

The fiberglass carousel horses measure approximately 5' x 4, 11", will be painted by local and state artists and be permanent art throughout the city. Plaques will designate the artist and sponsor of each horse.

"The primary goal of our project with the life-size carousel horses is to instill within the citizens of Meridian and Lauderdale County a deeper love, thirst and appreciation for art. We feel there is no better way to accomplish our goal than to expose people to public art." Quoted Debbie Martin.

If you have an interest in being a sponsor or a participating artist, contact Hope Village 601-553-8660.