Budding artists and musicians abounded Saturday as families streamed into the Vero Beach Museum of Art for the 35th annual Children’s Art Festival. It’s an event meant to stimulate the next generation and highlight their talents in music, dance and theatre as well as the visual arts, and for more than three decades it has done just that.
“Thirty-five years – who knew it would go on this long? This is fabulous,” said Toni Hamner. A museum docent, Hamner was involved with the very first festival, which was held alongside a “museum in a tent” exhibit as the museum had not yet been built. “It was really the seed that helped to introduce a Center for the Arts [as it was known prior to its museum accreditation] to the community. The Alliance for the Arts [the original fundraising group] was well on its way, but people brought their children and grandchildren out and that really cemented it.”
The Friends of the Museum worked hand in hand with museum staff at the festival, providing plenty of volunteers to help make things run smoothly. Festival co-chairs Jackie Ferrell and Susan Smith coordinated the arts and music programming.
Student talent was everywhere you looked, with one-day showings of the Congressional Art Competition and the K-5 Elementary School Art displays. If you missed the festival, the wonderful artwork of the Indian River County Juried Student Exhibition will remain on display until May 31. There were also performances all throughout the day by talented musicians, choruses, dancers, theatrical groups and even twirlers from area schools and organizations at various locations, indoors and out.
Dozens of strollers were parked outside the museum’s education rooms, which were beehives of hands-on activity. A host of art projects encouraged little ones to bring out their inner artiste, creating their own paintings, bookmarks, tote-bags, 3-D stick art and even graffiti – on paper, of course.
“We usually reach an average of 500 to 600 per hour, so that translates to about 3,000 more or less,” said School and Youth Programs Manager Shanti Sanchez, estimating the number of attendees. Sharing how the cycle of artists often goes full circle, she said that Lyle Michos, a Sebastian artist who now works for Morningstar, designed the tote-bag silkscreen art that the children were busily coloring. “He used to volunteer for our summer art camp and now he’s an actual working artist in Vero.”
“I think it’s really cool. I think it’s good for kids to have exposure to creative outlets,” said Michos. “It teaches the kids to think creatively, which I think is beneficial as they become adults.”
