STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, held this year July 9-13, brings more than 100,000 people to downtown State College and Penn State’s University Park campus to celebrate the arts. Ranked consistently as one of the top outdoor fine art and fine craft shows in the nation, the 48th annual Arts Festival boasts the honor as the top show in the nation according to trade publication Sunshine Artist magazine.
The 48th Annual Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition will be held Thursday, July 10, through Sunday, July 13, and will host more than 300 juried artists and craftspeople from across the nation. To encourage and support the visual arts on a regional basis, the Sidewalk Sale and Exhibition also sets aside booth spaces for artists whose primary residence is in the following Central Pennsylvania counties: Blair, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Huntingdon, Mifflin and Union. Through the Central Pennsylvania Division of the Sidewalk Sale, many artists have been introduced to exhibiting at juried outdoor shows.
Highlighting events this year is a series of exhibits and performances entitled “Seeing America,” part of a series of “Seeing America” activities made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. In lieu of its annual juried “Images” exhibition and to accommodate construction at its traditional exhibit space, the Arts Festival will host the juried photography show, “Seeing America: Centre County in Photographs.” The exhibit will be held June 30 through July 13 at the Art Alliance of Central Pennsylvania in Lemont, Pa. In addition, Penn State’s Palmer Museum of Art will present the photography exhibition “Seeing America: Photographs from the Permanent Collection,” May 20 through Aug. 10. Featured are works by Alfred Stieglitz, Walker Evans and Ansel Adams. Finally, “First Person: Seeing America” will be performed by Ensemble Galilei, with narration by Kimiko Gelman and Adrian LaTourelle and photographs from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, at 2:30 and 8 p.m. on Saturday, July 12, at the State Theatre, downtown State College.
Children and Youth Day on Wednesday, July 9, welcomes families for music, merriment, activities and more. The Children and Youth Sidewalk Sale invites regional artists ages 8 through 18 who make original works of creative expression to apply for exhibitor space; the application deadline is June 20.
Traditional favorites including the giant sand sculpture, the Downtown State College Italian Street Painting Festival and BookFestPA will return as well.
Each year, the Arts Festival hangs over the festival route an enormous variety of brightly colored banners, each once an entry in the Arts Festival Banner Competition. The deadline to submit a banner this year is June 20, 2014. Complete rules and a banner application are available on the Arts Festival website.
The Penn State Alumni Association welcomes Penn Staters for Arts Festival Alumni Weekend. Alumni can reserve residence hall accommodations in West Halls and several special events, including a “Behind the Scenes” tour hosted by the Arts Festival’s executive director and staff. More information is available by calling the Alumni Association’s Alumni Events office at 800-548-LION (5466), option 4.Rounding out Arts Festival weekend are the 39th Annual Sue Crowe Memorial Arts Festival Races on Sunday morning, July 13. Races of 10 miles, 10K, 5K and a Kids Fun Run of a quarter-mile will start and finish near Medlar Field at Lubrano Park, near Penn State’s Beaver Stadium. Race applications are available at http://nvrun.com/index.php/racing/club-sponsored/arts-festival-races. Race proceeds benefit youth running activities in Centre County and the continuing operations of the Nittany Valley Running Club.For Arts Festival applications, event details and additional information, visit http://www.arts-festival.com.