Festival Overview
Description:
The North Charleston Arts Festival is an annual nine-day event highlighting national, regional, and local artists and performers in the areas of Dance, Music, Theater, Visual Arts, Crafts, Photography, Media Arts, and Literature. The event, now in its 29th year, draws over 30,000 visitors annually. The Main Event, held the first weekend in May at the North Charleston Performing Arts Center and Charleston Area Convention Center, offers free admission and parking to over 40 performances on four themed stages; Cultural Heritage, Youth Entertainment, Bands, and General Audience. Other Main Event activities include judged art and photography shows, the SC Palmetto Hands Juried Fine Craft Exhibit, a gem & mineral show, an antique show, children's activities, arts and crafts vendors, an outdoor foodcourt, and more. The Arts Festival continues with 50+ events throughout the week at various locations around the City of North Charleston. An array of free and ticketed events include street dances, concerts, an Art Walk, children’s programs, workshops and demonstrations, a National Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition, and much more. The festival concludes with the Grand Finale at North Charleston Riverfront Park featuring performances, children's activities, and fireworks over the Cooper River.
History and Goals:
The North Charleston Arts Festival began at Park Circle in 1982 as a one day community celebration with the goal of enhancing the quality of life of residents through showcasing the arts. As the annual event matured, the festival’s reach expanded to include visitors, prompting the addition of tourism development as a goal. In 1995, the Arts Festival moved from Park Circle to the North Charleston Coliseum and expanded to two days. By 2000, the opening of the Charleston Area Convention Center, the North Charleston Performing Arts Center, and additional new venues, provided the springboard for the festival to expand to nine full days of performances and activities for residents and visitors throughout the City. In 2008, the Arts Festival was recognized by Southeast Tourism Society as a Top 20 Event. Today, the festival maintains the spirit of a community celebration with the mission of presenting a comprehensive, multidiscipline event schedule that provides an array of performing, visual, media, and literary arts events for people of all ages and backgrounds.
Strategies:
The Cultural Arts Department works with the North Charleston Arts Advisory Committee (NCAAC), a volunteer group comprised of a cross section of the community, to develop year round programming for the city, including the Arts Festival. In addition to this core committee, numerous key volunteers work to develop individual components of the festival. Research is conducted on a continual basis and strategic plans and implementation are done ten months out of the year. Annual Festival evaluations by participants, staff, and volunteers are used as a planning tool for the following year.
Target Audience:
The target audience for the festival reflects The Cultural Arts Department's mission of increasing awareness of the arts and making arts experiences available to the widest spectrum of the community. The assortment of free and ticketed performances and activities scheduled throughout the festival ensure that there is something for everyone, ranging from seniors to youth and families to individuals. In addition, festival programming includes performances rooted in a variety of cultures (European, African, Asian, Latino, Native American, etc.). The best example of the festival’s broad appeal is the Main Event, where performances and activities attract audiences from every demographic category: male and female; all ages; all cultures; and all economic backgrounds.
Advertisements and general press for the event span the tri-state area of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia.