2008 Woodie Awards
ECU to host 4th Annual Youth Arts Festival
Children in the Greenville community exposed to art
Nancy Croes
Issue date: 4/3/08 Section: News
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Over 100 artists will be present at the festival to share their artistic work with children in the Greenville community.
The festival will also feature special musical and dance performances throughout the day.
Children will have the opportunity to make their own artwork, assisted by the visiting artists and student volunteers.
Artists will be demonstrating the process of work of different art forms, such as working with metals, weaving, creating pottery and many other activities.
Many faculty members in the arts department are participating in the event, as well as several graduate and undergraduate art students. Some artists will be coming in from out of town.
Returning to perform this year are the African American Dancers from Durham, NC, who will be performing at 1 p.m.
"We had them [perform] last year, and they were so good, we decided to have them again this year," said Dindy Reich, drawing and design instructor at ECU and coordinator of the festival.
Other performers include ECU Indian dance group Muqabia, the ECU Percussion Ensemble, a mariachi band, and storytellers Mike Hammer and Louise.
Campus Recreation and Wellness will also be participating, and will have parachute games for the kids.
As part of the festival, there is a yearly poster contest, sponsored by Kinko's.
Also of interest, a sculpture group will be creating a giant sculpture on the mall during the festival. Onlookers will be able to view the entire process from start to finish.
The music department of ECU will perform two percussion acts, and will be hosting an instrument petting zoo, where kids will get to play with different instruments.
The festival has been growing larger every year. The first year about 500 kids attended, compared to about 1,500 last year.
The focus of the festival is educational, according to Reich. The participating artists donate their time and, in some cases, materials for kids to use at the festival.
"It's like a giant service project for the school of art and design," Reich said.
Reich, who has been coordinating the festival from the first year, also teaches a community arts management class every spring, in which students get hands-on experience planning this event. This is one way students can be involved in the festival.
Another way they can help is by volunteering on Saturday. Volunteers are needed to assist in many different ways, including helping artists attend to the kids' activities.
There is still time for students to sign up to volunteer by contacting Reich.
Co-sponsored by the ECU School of Art and Design and Emerge Gallery, the event has also received generous grants from the North Carolina Arts Council, the ECU Arts Enthusiasts and Pepsi.
In case of rain, the event will be held in the Leo W. Jenkins Fine Arts Building on Fifth Street.
All the events are free and open to the public.
This writer can be contacted at editor@theeastcarolinian.com
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