ArtsWeek Returns

Media mayhem: Members of the Media Unit provided mid-morning entertainment at the July 11 press conference in Columbus Circle announcing the ArtsWeek schedule. {Maddy Jones photo}

The Syracuse Arts & Crafts Festival enters its 42nd year later this month, as part of a larger arts-themed event, ArtsWeek. A sunny press conference held Wednesday, July 11, at the heart of the ArtsWeek festivities, Columbus Circle, featured speakers from two participating: Larry Luttinger from the Northeast Jazz and Wine Festival, and Syracuse New Times publisher Bill Brod, representing the Stage of Nations Blue Rain Ecofest and our signature event, the Street Painting competition.

ArtsWeek will begin Wednesday, July 25, to Sunday, July 29, in and around downtown Syracuse. Events take place along the informally designated Arts Walk, which flows logically from Everson Plaza, along South State Street, toward Columbus Circle, to Hanover Square and ending at Clinton Square. Traverse this half-mile route during those five days and you’ll experience some of the finest artistic and cultural groups Syracuse has to offer.

“Arts and cultural events make for a vibrant downtown,” said Merike Treier, executive director of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse; Treier was paraphrasing comments made by state Sen. John DeFrancisco (R-50th), a longtime supporter of the event. “And the lynchpin of ArtsWeek, the Arts & Crafts Festival, is entering its 42nd year, making it the longest-running event in downtown Syracuse.”

In addition to the jazz festival and Stage of Nations, ArtsWeek participants can enjoy a community celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Erie Canal Museum, the 40-Below Typewriter Poetry Gallery, the Media Unit’s annual book sale, Sound Garden’s “Flicks on the Crick” series, Syracuse Stories and much more. A complete schedule can be found at www.syracuseartsandcraftsfestival.com.

Brod further outlined additions to the annual Street Painting competition, the core of which remains our world-famous sidewalk chalk drawing contest. New this year is a Paper Box Painting Competition, as well as a Figure Drawing Competition, featuring a live (clothed) model. Figure drawing winners will have their work displayed in the large front windows of the Syracuse New Times’ global headquarters, 1415 W. Genesee St., and then see them auctioned later in the year to benefit Syracuse Habitat for Humanity.

Look for comprehensive information about ArtsWeek in the July 25 edition of the Syracuse New Times