Sun beats gloom
No recession in the art park: Bayou City Arts festival doubles its contributions
- The Bayou City Art Festival staff and board members and Capital One Bankrepresentatives awarded $160,000 in total to the festival’s 17 non-profitpartners.Photo by Ben DeSoto
- Art Colony Association board president Mike Piana awards SNAP (Spay-NeuterAssistance Program) director of development Laura Welch with a check.Photo by Ben DeSoto
It's been a difficult time for fund-raising efforts, but the Bayou City Arts Festival surprised its 17 non-profit partners last week by doubling their expected contributions.
The award-winning biannual arts showcase at Memorial Park gave $160,000 to its partners after a record-breaking attendance of more than 30,000 visitors. CultureMap caught up with festival executive director Kim Stoilis to talk about the surprising recession success.
Stoilis says of the recessions' perceived pinched pockets: "People that aren't buying new homes are buying art for their existing homes. It's become about improving their lives locally."
The banner year allowed BCAF to max out their donations after the cost of the festival was paid. Stoilis says that apart from admission cost directly benefiting partners, Houstonians are avid art-buyers.
Among the non-profits benefiting from BCAF's success this spring are Art League Houston, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Lawndale Art Center, Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Orange Show.
"The idea of non-profits benefiting under one umbrella is meaningful for a lot of people," Stoilis says. "We try to keep up with what people are needing; and people need sun, they need wine and they need fun and art."
CultureMap was the online media sponsor of the Bayou City Arts Festival this spring, and we'll be back in the fall.