Metro Spirit - 09.28.17

Arts in the Heart a
brilliant ray of sunshine after Irma
A few dAys before Hurricane Irma brought tropical
weather to the Augusta area, Arts in the Heart of Augusta
Festival organizers were wary of what effects it might have
on their festival, held the weekend after. The tropical storm
blew through on Sept. 11, and the festival took place Sept.
15 through Sept. 17.
But thankfully, the weather cleared up a few days before,
and despite losing a day of work to the storm, organizers,
volunteers and other festival workers came together to put
on a bigger, more successful festival in its 37th year.
Along with the help of many others, the Greater Augusta
Arts Council organizes the festival every year. The Art
Council’s Executive Director Brenda Durant and Project
Manager Pax Bobrow were exceedingly pleased with
how the weekend turned out. Arts Council estimates put
attendance between 88,000 and 90,000 this year; last year,
it was estimated that upwards of 88,000 people showed up.
“I don’t know that there’s enough new adjectives for me,
but I thought it was wonderful, amazingly wonderful,” said
Durant, who has been a part of Arts in the Heart for more
than 20 years. “I thought it had a great feel to it. I thought
it was smooth — we’re learning efficiencies (as each year
goes on), and that shows. The community turned out. I
thought it was just amazing, great. It was a happy weekend.”
Art vendors at the festival couldn’t stop praising festival
organizers, and especially Bobrow, who they said did
everything she could to meet their needs throughout the
weekend.
Artist Amy Thompson was one of those artists. She and
her husband, Mark, from Englewood, Ohio, create works of
art infusing wood with stained glass. The Thompsons have
done other shows and festivals, but this was their first time
at Arts in the Heart, and even their first time in Augusta.
“The show was just well-done. Pax was hands-on; I mean,
she was all over the place, very helpful. Everybody on the
staff was great,” Amy Thompson said. “If you do a lot of
shows as artists, there’s other promoters out there, and
(the Arts in the Heart staff) put them to shame; they did
a good job.”
Although Thompson stayed in her booth most of the
time, she was able to get out and see some of the numerous
performers who were set up on the five stages throughout
the festival.
“I saw some of the entertainment, but we weren’t able to
try any of the food,” Amy Thompson said. “But if we come
back, we really want to, because it all looks amazing. I’ve
never personally been to a show or festival where that type
of set-up with all of the food. That was just so overwhelming
to see all of that in one area, in one show.
Amy and Mark Thompson’s art can be viewed online at
glassandwoodworks.com
Another artist who was new to being represented at the
festival (but not new to the festival itself, as she lives in
Aiken) was Cindy Pearce. She weaves wire around stones
to create one-of-a-kind jewelry. (See her work online at
underwrapsjewelry.com.) Pearce described the experience
of selling at Arts in the Heart as “overwhelmingly positive.”
“I have been in art shows before, but not one of this
magnitude, and I think I was so surprised at how positive
and wonderful the people were,” Pearce said. “They were all
just so complimentary, and they were warm and welcoming,
and I was just overwhelmed by all the wonderful things
people were saying and how they just lit up and talked to
me. I had the best time — it was just a very, very positive
experience all the way around.”
Pearce said she thanks the Arts Council “for hosting a
wonderful show, and I appreciate all their hard work. That is
a really big thing to put on.”
Bobrow, who along with many others worked hard to
make the festival a success, said this was the best year yet.
“It was really great that we got to expand the fine arts and
crafts market,” Bobrow said. “We had more artists than we
have ever had before; we had 153 this year (up from about
120 last year). And even though Hurricane Irma caused a
few of our artists to have to cancel at the last minute, we
had a bunch of people on our wait list who were just dying
to get in, and they took their places. We expanded onto
the sidewalk of the 800 block. … it was packed — and the
artists did well. I’ve gotten feedback from about 25 artists
so far, and they’ve all told me it was fantastic and one of the
best festivals they do all year.””
The food booths also were a hit, as usual. As soon as the
tents begin to pop up at The Global Village at Arts in the
Heart, people’s stomachs begin to growl, and they can’t
help but start to salivate.
There is no doubt about it, one of the best parts of the
festival is the food from around the world. Within a few
V28|NO39
By Amanda Main
blocks of downtown, Augustans can sample authentic
ethnic food from more than 20 countries that is all cooked
by volunteers of local ethnic associations.
This year, there were 24 countries represented in
the Augusta Common, including three new booths for
Cambodia, South Sudan and Vietnam.
Looking back, looking forward
The Arts Council is constantly evaluating the festival,
even as it’s going on, to try to perfect it. Durant said one of
the biggest successes this year was making the entrances
to the festival smoother than ever.
“I would say we got better at managing our gates; we
really worked at that this year, we had meetings with the
finance team that mans the gates, with CitySpin, who does
the online sales and then over the weekend does the credit
card sales and the redemption of the online tickets at the
gates,” Durant said. “And then the banner and sign team,
we all got together and worked on how to label the gates,
how to set up the gates, we added a second gate at our
busiest area, which is 10th and Broad.
“So there just wasn’t a real clog at the gates,” she
continued, “which made us feel like no one was coming, and
we were like, “Ah! How come there’s no line?” and then we
realized that we were just doing it better.”
Durant said that looking forward, the Arts Council
is hoping to get some more help from the community in
keeping the festival clean.
24 METROSPIRIT AUGUSTA’S INDEPENDENT VOICE SINCE 1989 28SEPTEMBER2017