Warrenville arts festival deadline extended to Oct. 15
“Art Works: A Visual and Performing Arts Festival,” founded three years ago in Warrenville, will make its first appearance at Hubble Middle School Nov. 13.
The application deadline has been extended to Saturday, Oct. 15, to allow for increased participation from area schools.
The newly formed Warrenville Arts Council introduced Art Works in November 2009 at IBEW Local 701 to a crowd of more than 500 visitors. The initial event featured 15 adult visual artists, 30 student visual artists and 30 performers either from Warrenville or Warrenville schools.
By the time Art Works was held again in 2010, the arts council had established status as a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization with a newly elected board of directors and partial funding from the Tourism and Arts Commission.
Eager to expand its largest event of the season, the council recruited half of the 30 visual artists from 14 cities other than Warrenville, including one from Wisconsin. Of the 44 performing artists, 18 were from Warrenville and 26 were from Chicago and the Western suburbs. Several artists could not be accepted due to the limited space at IBEW.
Moving Art Works to Hubble Middle School, 3S600 Herrick Road, Warrenville, provides increased space. Visual artists will be featured in two large gymnasiums, students in one and adults in another. The size of the exhibit areas will provide for the usual 10-by-10-foot booth space, but will allow more room between booths for storage of supplies and equipment.
Large groups of performing artists will be featured on stage in the Performing Arts Center auditorium. Smaller groups and individuals may perform in one of the rehearsal rooms adjacent to the stage.
New this year will be live demonstrations and workshops in classrooms featuring both visual and performing artists, such as ceramics, jewelry, drawing, voice and guitar.
Visual media will be in the area of Fine Art. Artists may apply in the categories of painting, drawing, sculpture, fiber, paper, glass, wood, metalwork, ceramics, mixed media, photography, jewelry, digital art and enamel.
Performing artists may apply in the categories of music, dance or drama.
Applications will be evaluated by a committee from the arts council who will review electronic samples of the artist’s work through photos, video or MP3 files for music entries.
All applicants must pay a $10 entry fee. Groups may submit one entry fee that covers the entire group. Student groups supervised by a faculty member entering visual art are assigned space based upon the number of participants and the type of display.
Adult amateur and professional visual artists are required to pay a fee to reserve a booth. The booth fee for members of the Warrenville Arts Council is $55; nonmembers pay $65. If the applicant is an adult faculty member or full-time student, the fee is reduced to $30 for members and $45 for nonmembers.
Professional performing artists will be asked to state their standard rate on the application that will be negotiated with the arts council. Adult and student amateur performers are welcome to participate on a volunteer basis.
A prospectus is available from the arts council and includes the event rules, an application and payment forms. Contact the council at (630) 876-2935 or WarrenvilleArtsCouncil@gmail.com.