| festival photography by Brian Luenser |
In the early 1980s, the City of Fort Worth initiated a movement of urban revitalization in the Central Business District. And as that momentum began to build, businessman Robert Bass led an effort to create an event that would showcase the attractions of the city's reawakening downtown center. Bass and other prominent civic leaders proposed a multi-faceted festival that would transform downtown into an outdoor gallery and concert stage on an early spring weekend.
The first MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival was a three-day event with 140 artists, 60 performance groups and 600 volunteers. Attendance was about 80,000.
Today's Downtown Fort Worth has a pulse of its own, in a glittering and thriving live-work-play setting. And nearly three decades after its conception, the arts festival has become the largest in Texas and in the Southwest region of the United States. It is annually ranked as one of the finest arts festivals in the nation.
Presented by Coors Distributing Company of Fort Worth and produced by Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc., the four-day 29th MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival (MAIN ST.) event, to be held from April 10-13, will span more than 27 blocks from the Tarrant County Courthouse to the Fort Worth Convention Center.
"For four days in April, MAIN ST. brings art you've never seen before; stunning, one-of-a-kind, good pieces that reflect the unique creativity and talent of all our juried artists," said Jay Downie, the festival's producer. "The gathering is one of the biggest and most prestigious events in North Texas, transforming the streets of Fort Worth into a super-sized art gallery for one weekend," Downie said. "It's a really popular social event for the city . . . It brings people downtown who normally wouldn't come downtown."
MAIN ST. is also billed as Fort Worth's largest free music festival. The venue features 120 distinct performances, including local and national entertainment acts and musicians, dancers and street performers, and performance artists.
Family-friendly arts-and-crafts activities, tempting culinary options from local restaurants, beer and wine tastings and more, promise fun for everyone.
This is Marilyn Ackmann's second year as chairman of MAIN ST. "The festival continues to fulfill its original purpose of changing perspectives and enhancing the quality of life of Downtown Fort Worth," Ackmann said. "It has also been a major catalyst for our city's cultural growth by welcoming and bringing together people from all sides of life, from local cowboys, foodies and music lovers to artistic mavens, gallery owners and global art dealers and collectors. It is because of these reasons that MAIN ST. has risen to be one of the top-rated, fine arts festivals in the country and received worldwide acclaim and recognition."
This year marks the debut of the new Sundance Square Plaza, a pedestrian-only, 55,000-square-foot outdoor venue featuring 32-foot-tall umbrella shade structures, hundreds of jetted interactive water fountains, pools, waterfalls and cascades, a permanent two-tiered multi-purpose stage complete with LED stage lighting and audiovisual equipment, bicycle racks, seating, and indigenous plants and landscaping in the heart of downtown on Main St. between 3rd and 4th streets. The plaza will serve as the location for the renewed MAIN ST. "Artist's Square," as well as the new Performing Arts Stage, which is one of the three entertainment stages throughout the festival.
"Performances by Fort Worth's world-renowned, resident performing arts organizations are an incredibly special and wonderful addition to MAIN ST.," Downie said. "The new Sundance Square Plaza provides a vibrant, engaging venue for the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Opera and Cliburn performances. The willingness of these organizations to showcase their talents to thousands of patrons during our downtown celebration is a special opportunity for our guests and visitors."
MAIN ST. Arts Festival is a long-standing tradition in the city and an event that really exemplifies Fort Worth's culture, says Tracy Gilmour, Director of Marketing for Sundance Square. "This will be the first year the Sundance Square Plaza will be part of the backdrop for MAIN ST., and we are thrilled guests from all across North Texas will see the city in a new perspective," Gilmour said. "It takes a lot of work and energy to undertake this event, but the rewards are great when thousands of people enjoy the artisans, food, and ambiance in downtown Fort Worth."
The festival is a powerful economic engine that generates about $27 million in overall dollars. Hundreds of thousands of visitors attend the annual event.
"MAIN ST. pours more than $5 million to $8 million a day into the local economy, whether in overall spending and impact or total dollars generated," Ackmann said. "That adds up to some serious fun."
The sea of visitors walking through downtown means big business, despite street and parking closures.
"As we close down the streets, we know we're actually bringing commerce to the streets," Downie said. "This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest weekend for restaurants in downtown Fort Worth."
One of the most important aspects of this festival is that it requires 1,200 volunteers to produce, says Andy Taft, president of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. and Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc.
"We couldn't do it without our volunteer corps. There are a number of teams that are structured to deal with all the logistical issues that surround this event. They work all year and then they all come together during that week of MAIN ST. A lot of people think this magically appears. It doesn't. It all has to be installed and then disappear before people come to work on Monday morning," he said.
"The other aspect is that our jury picks the cream of the national touring crop and they look for artists that they think will appeal to a North Texas audience," Taft said.
Art enthusiasts have plenty of eye candy-15+ mediums, including sculpture, ceramics, photography, metalwork, jewelry, glass, wood, printmaking, painting, digital, fiber, and glass.
As a juried art fair, artists are required to submit their work to an esteemed panel of national and local judges before being selected. Of the nearly 1,400 applications received, only 213 artists were chosen for the 2014 festival, including 26 award-winning artists from the 2013 festival.
Returning Merit Award 2013 winners include Thomas Wargin of Menomonee Falls, Wis., (Sculpture); Michael Paul Cole of Hannibal, Mo., (Photography); E. Douglas Wunder of Kutztown, Pa., (Jewelry); Fred Tate of Austin, Texas, (Jewelry); Marvin Blackmore of Durango, Co., (Ceramics); and George Raab of Millbrook, Ontario, (Graphics & Printmaking).
Jennifer Lashbrook of Dallas, won Best Emerging Artist 2013 for Mixed Media.
Fort Worth mixed media artist Thomas Diel won Best of Show in 2013 and Best Emerging Artist in 2011. Diel's history with the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival-outside of attending as a patron-goes back to being on the selection and site jury in 2007 and seeing the process from the inside out.
Diel mixes architectural structure to produce detailed mini furniture edifices.
Late in 2010, he returned to the MAIN ST. well to see how the public would respond to his aesthetic and ended up winning Best Emerging Artist 2011. Never having done a festival or selling his work directly to the public was outside of his comfort zone, Diel says, but he found the personal interaction exhilarating and life-changing. Just four months after Diel first exhibited, he opened his current studio and gallery on Vickery in Fort Worth. The festival has remained his primary marketing event.
"That type of one-on-one exposure in my own backyard is priceless," Diel said. "One of the greatest things is to have returning festival-goers remember that huge concrete table from 2012 or another work I had brought to a previous festival, which makes each year harder and harder to trump. I don't think I can beat my Best of Show 2013 win, but it makes coming up with new and fresh work all the more challenging. I have MAIN ST. to thank for the nitro-boosted jumpstart."
Wunder says that his experience with the festival has been positive and good for business. In addition to the Merit Award for Jewelry in 2011 and 2013, Wunder received the Juror Award for Jewelry in 2012.
"The City of Fort Worth opens its arms wide for everyone involved," Wunder says. "Patrons come interested and engaged, providing a nice energy throughout the event. MAIN ST. has always been one of the best for sales. The exposure, business and surrounding presence of art at the MAIN ST. festival have been a great benefit for me and my career."
Raab says he's thrilled that his graphics and printmaking art resonates with the art lovers who attend the festival. In addition to winning the Merit Award in 2013, he was an Honors Award winner in 2006 and Juror Award winner in 2007 and 2010.
"Exhibiting at the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Art Festival is a wonderful experience for me," he said. "Both for the keen appreciation I receive for my artwork and also for the strong sales I have been fortunate to have, year after year."
Award-winning local artists Pamela Summers and her husband, Raymond Rains, are also returning this year. Summers, a ceramics artist, makes handmade tiles, ceramic mosaics and wheel thrown vessels.
Rains uses glass as his artistic medium, incorporating many of his sculptural glass works with welded steel or copper.
The couple own and operate Cliff House Studio and Gallery near Eagle Mountain Lake in Fort Worth.
"MAIN ST. is one of the best juried art festivals in the country," Summers said. "For the artist, it is exceptionally well run, and they make every effort to make artists feel welcome, comfortable and safe. The art is of the highest quality, and because the jury changes yearly, so does the art. Even though I am from Fort Worth, I have made so many new contacts and met new art patrons by exhibiting at MAIN ST. The more I put myself out there in the public eye is good for my career. People start to recognize my ceramics and me. We are connected. MAIN ST. gives me that opportunity. And the festival is free. This is a great gift to the city of Fort Worth."
Rains said that unlike many art festivals, people come "not to just look at art, but to buy art. Most of the artists I know that participate in MAIN ST. say it is their best show," he said. "Participating has provided exposure to galleries and retail customers that we would have never met, increasing our customer base significantly. One of our best gallery relationships came from meeting the gallery owner at MAIN ST."
Ackmann says that MAIN ST. has exceeded what anyone originally thought was possible. "Year after year, thousands of people take this opportunity to enjoy all that downtown has to offer in one of the world's largest outdoor art galleries and music venues, produced by hundreds of dedicated volunteers," she said. "We just couldn't be more appreciative of all the efforts made to ensure our event continues to be the success it has become over the past 29 years."
How do organizers brace for Mother Nature's mood swings?
"It starts months prior with the development of a complete emergency plan designed to provide clear direction and guidance to our staff and volunteers," Downie said.
"If it's April in Texas . . . is about as far as our jokes go," he added.
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