Buffalo Rising Online

Aug 20th, 7:41am By Sandra Williams Gordon

About 13 years ago, a stirring began among artists in Buffalo. Stirrings borne of discontent with the local arts festivals became a vision, an idea of what could be.

Seeds of that idea were planted and began to take root in the minds of local artists as well as creative thinkers in the community, who had participated in and experienced other art festivals around the country. Seeing positive things happening in other areas, a vision soon formed to create a true, regional, grassroots festival that celebrated the regional visual and performing arts as well the cultural and environmental resources of the city. That idea germinated and grew to become the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts.

"This festival is a natural expression and celebration of our community creative spirit," according to Joe Dipasquale, executive director of the festival. Celebrating its 9th year, the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts continues to grow in scope and in their mission.

Over 170 juried artists will be participating this year in creative categories such as Fine Art Jewelry, Photography, Ceramics, Digital Art, Domestic Crafts, Fiber, Glass, Leather, Wood, Metal, Basketry, Mixed Media, Paper, Painting/Drawing, Sculpture, and Children's Toys. It is an alchemy of these essential elements, melded together to make a fine arts community festival.

Wholistic vision.

"Artists were always the main aspect of the festival, and dance and music were always on the bill," said Angel Hastings, who schedules and organizes the dance and music performances for the festival. With 50 performances on three stages, Angela has been very busy. "It's fun! I love being in contact with all of these wonderful performers!" she said.

The enthusiasm and vision of folks like Dipasquale and Hastings is representative of the energy that fuels this annual event. One of the many things that distinguishes this festival is that it is volunteer run, with 150 volunteers that work throughout the 2 days of the festival. This is not to mention the numerous volunteer committees working for 10 months to get the festival up and running. This is a true community-making event.

It is estimated that 80,000-100,000 people turn out for the weekend. "It's a celebration of the creative spirit, inclusive of people from all walks of life in our region," Dipasquale said.

A cornerstone of the festival is Kidsfest. The idea for Kidsfest came from the many arts and crafts festivals in which Tanya Zabinksi and her husband Joe Dipasquale participate. They had a great opportunity to see what was going on at other festivals, what worked, what didn't. Pete Seeger's Clearwater Music and Environmental Festival was a quintessential influence upon the idea of Kidsfest. While these festivals were fun, there was a deeper purpose and conviction behind them. And that was key to what Tanya and Joe had in mind. Thus began Tanya and Diane Shaeffer's collaboration to create the template for Kidsfest.

"This year's theme is The Garden," says Zabinski. Kids can chose to make felted snakes, plant crocuses in their own handmade newspaper biodegradable flowerpots, and collage butterflies, crowns and antennae, creating a kingdom of magical creatures.

"On one level it is about the circle of life," said Zabinski, "but parralel to that – with a seed, you plant it in the ground, give it water and sunlight and it grows. And ideas and wishes are kind of like a seed."

To illustrate this point, Kidsfest will have wish sticks, on which kids of any age can write a wish. They'll write how they would feel if it came true on beautiful silk ribbons, and attach them to the sticks to wave in the wind. "These are like the Tibetan Peace flags…. the wind carries the wishes," Zabinski mused.

And speaking of water and sunlight and wind, Alternative Energy will be prominent at the festival. Two of the performance stages will be solar powered, and juices from the Festival Café will be made with solar blenders. Both Cultural Row and Environmental Row will feature organizations that have lots of information on clean Wind and Solar energy alternatives. Do you want to learn how to decrease energy consumption while lowering your utility bills? Stop by Environmental Row to discover what is happening with our local waterways and learn about all of the green happenings in Buffalo.

One way you can save energy and money (the more to purchase art!) is to bike to the festival. This year, Environmental Row will offer Bike Valet service for 30 bikes, courtesy of Go Buffalo (formerly Buffalo Blue Bikes.)

In between shopping for fabulous artworks, experiencing great performances and stopping by Cultural and Environmental Row, take a break to refuel at the Festival Café. With a variety of vendors, you can find anything you desire, from vegetarian fare to the traditional hotdog. And don't forget those solar smoothies to cool down in the shade!

Erin Cala from UB Green has been instrumental in attaining 'green' biodegradable, compostable plates and flatware for the Festival Café. And all of the vegetable waste from the Festival Café will be composted on site, to be distributed back into the community. Marika Frankenstien and Kevin Lee have been instrumental in this process. "When we started Environmental Row four years ago, UB Green came onboard and from there we really blossomed in terms of our mission of environmentalism, which has been one of the Festival's objectives from the start," Frankenstien said. In fact, recycling has been extremely important from the concept of the festival, and you will see recycling bins throughout the venue. This year's Festival is dedicated to Walter Simpson from UB Green.

"The Festival becomes its own art form–a working, living system," noted Dipasqualle. The closing parade on Sunday afternoon culminates a cycle of all that is the EAFA. This event is about more than coming to buy art and appreciate performers. It's meaning has deeper roots. It is about participation in something bigger than ourselves, and coming together to celebrate our regional community. "We've accomplished a lot of the goals that we set out to accomplish, but there is much more to grow from this event."

And so the seeds of an idea that were planted many years ago, much to the credit of EAFA co-founder, Newell Nussbaumer, are enjoying their 9th year in bloom.

Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts
Saturday, August 23rd, 10 – 7
Sunday, August 24th, 11 – 5 (parade begins at 4PM)
Phone: (716) 830-2484
http://www.elmwoodartfest.org/