MATTIE KELLY ARTS FOUNDATION EXTENDS
AN OPEN CALL FOR VISUAL ARTISTS & SPONSOR SUPPORT
21st Annual Festival of the Arts to Award $10,000 in Cash Prize Awards
DESTIN, FLA (April 18, 2016) — Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation (MKAF) announces a call for artists for its 21st Annual Festival of the Arts. This year’s Festival will be held October 29-30, 2016 throughout the grounds of the Mattie Kelly Cultural Arts Village in Destin, Florida on the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast.
MKAF has a rich history of this award-winning fine art festival, dating back to 1995, and this year it enters its fourth year of staging art on the lawn of the spacious Village Green and live music on stage at the contemporary Dugas Pavilion located within the scenic MKAF Cultural Arts Village. The Festival site is on 6.76 acres of expansive green space and can accommodate 110 artist booths and other festival amenities for this regional juried fine arts and music festival.
“Thank you so much for inviting me to participate in the 20th Annual Festival of the Arts,” wrote Claire Whitmore, fiber artist from Huntsville, Alabama, in a note to MKAF event producers. “As always, 2015 was a well-run show with lots of helpful volunteers. It’s always a pleasure to do this show. The quality and variety of fine art and fine craft is excellent.”
Artist applications and poster competition entries are now being accepted for the MKAF’s 21st annual Festival of the Arts.
Artists will compete for $10,000 in cash awards. Artist entry fees include a $30 non-refundable jury fee and $200 booth fee.
The winning design for the official poster competition will become the signature artwork reproduced on festival t-shirts, posters, marketing collateral, specialty merchandise and prominently displayed on the cover of the official Festival of the Arts guide with a distribution of more than 30,000. Just one component of a comprehensive marketing campaign MKAF will launch surrounding the event.
A $500 cash prize will be awarded to the winning artist’s design. The artist entry and poster contest application deadline is June 20, 2016.
“We welcomed about 5,000 art lovers to see our exhibits of more than 100 juried artists representing a diverse palette of artistic styles in many different art mediums last year,” said MAKF Artist Market Chair Deb Nissley. “We are proud of the caliber of our art in our event and we were thrilled to recognize 28 artists hailing from 18 different cities with $10,000 in cash prizes for artwork representing 12 different art mediums.”
For Artist Application, Rules of Participation and Poster Entry Form, visit online at mattiekellyartsfoundation.org.
MKAF events are made possible with the generous support of local businesses. Several sponsorship opportunities are available for the 2016 Festival of the Arts. For more information, contact MKAF CEO Marcia Hull at (850) 650-2226.
For more information, call (850) 650-2226 or email www.mattiekellyartsfoundation.org for more festival and sponsor information.
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About Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation (MKAF), a 501-c-3 not-for-profit charitable arts organization, was founded in 1995 on the cultural, educational and spiritual beliefs of the late Destin matriarch, Mattie Kelly. MKAF’s mission is Northwest Florida’s champion of cultural arts and arts education for all.
