Want your kids to have artsy fun with Midlands artists? Check out Saturday’s festival
The 701 Center for Contemporary Art is hosting its annual Young Artists Festival Saturday at three locations across Columbia which will give kids and teenagers the chance to see and create art.
“The festival is unique,” the art center Director Michaela Pilar Brown said. “It is the only one of its kind in the state and one of a few in the region that celebrates the work of budding artists.”
Starting at noon and going until 3 p.m., the festival will have arts and activities at these three locations:
- 701 Center for Contemporary Art at 701 Whaley St.
- 1013 CO/OP at 1013 Duke Ave. in Eau Claire
- Richland Library Southeast at 7421 Garners Ferry Rd.
Having three locations for the festival is new this year.
“It’s often hard for kids from different areas to participate in programs outside of their immediate environment,” Brown said. This year’s festival “allows us to expand access to arts programming to a more diverse audience by showing up in other neighborhoods.”
The 701 Center will have performing and visual exhibitions by young artist and a “creation station” in which kids can make art with professional artists as well as other activities.
Featured at the 1013 CO/OP in Eau Claire will be a mural created by young artists. A poet and visual artists will teach kids about their craft, including Columbia Poet Laureate Ed Madden and muralist Cedric Umoja.
At Richland Library Southeast there will be an art show by young artists. A photographer, vocalist and dancer will show kids about their arts. It will also have a puppet musical and theater production by Puppet Time Machine Theatre and NiA Theatre Company.
“The Young Artists Festival serves to spotlight the talent, brilliance and industry of Midlands young people.,” Brown said. “These are our future artists, entrepreneurs, arts professionals and patrons doing what they love.”
The 701 Center for Contemporary Art is a non-profit “that promotes understanding, appreciation and enjoyment of contemporary art, the creative process and the role of art and artists in the community.”