Celebrating 20 Years of Honoring The Arts

Gianna Willcox

On Saturday, Oct. 14, and Sunday, Oct. 15, The Carrollton Center for the Arts presented its 20th annual Arts Festival of Carrollton. Although the festival’s primary purpose was to allow both local and national  artists to sell their artwork to the Carrollton community, it was so much more than that.

“In addition to our artists selling artwork, we have demonstration artists, educational art stops, three stages of entertainment and several food trucks that will be there both days,” said Tim Chapman, Arts Manager for the Carrollton Center for the Arts. “So, it is a much larger event than just an arts festival.”

In honor of the festival’s 20th anniversary, the committee decided to include special demonstrations and activities they have not done before to commemorate this milestone. 

“Some special things that we’re doing this year include a chainsaw artist by the name of Chris Lantz,” said Chapman. “He’s going to do some demos in the morning and the afternoon on both days.

“We’re doing a community weaving project that everyone who comes to the festival can participate in if they choose,” Chapman continued.

The University of West Georgia also got involved this year. The Department of Art had a stop motion drawing activity where they digitized people’s drawings and made videos of them. They also had an art education activity for the kids. 

Although there were a lot of special demonstrations for the 20th anniversary, they had a plethora of returning art techniques, including a glass-blowing demonstration.

“We select the artists based on their submissions to determine the quality of their work,” said Chapman. “So, everybody that applies, which was well over a hundred, didn’t get to come.”

Out of the hundreds of applicants, only about 72 artists made it through the committee’s jury process and came to the festival. However, no matter how many artists were at the festival, it was an excellent opportunity for the Carrollton community to appreciate, enjoy and purchase local and national artists’ work. 

There was also a Mardi Gras-themed parade to kick off the festival on Saturday.

“It’ll start at 10 o’clock, and the parade will go through the festival grounds, so it’s not on the street,” said Chapman. “We’re calling it ‘Arti Gras,’ and it’ll just be a fun, celebratory thing in honor of our 20th anniversary.”

They made the festival bigger and better than in past years to celebrate its 20th anniversary. However, this year’s festival was significant for another reason besides the anniversary. 

“There is a magazine sent out to artists all over the country that tells them about art festivals they can be a part of all over the United States,” said Chapman. “Once a year, the magazine does a survey among the artists and asks them to rate the festivals across the country.

“This year, our festival was ranked number 14 out of thousands of festivals,” Chapman continued. “This means that artists rated our festival as being one of the top art festivals to come to.”

The festival’s ranking sets it apart from other art festivals, and it was a reward for all of the committee’s hard work to make the festival so outstanding. The ranking also showed that artists all over the country recognize the Art Festival of Carrollton’s as prestigious.