Paint Spot's Annual Art Walk

Art Walk

Art Walk recently took place in Edmonton, Canada. It is eight blocks of unrestrained creativity with around 450 artists and craftspeople - Graffiti, pop, surrealism, art nouveau, impressionism, and just plain cool looking items. Festival producer, and owner of the Paint Spot, Kim Fjordbotten, has been there since the beginning in 1995. In its 22nd year, Art Walk brings waves of symbolic communication of imagination in the public realm. The Edmonton Journal said “Kim deserves credit for institutionalizing, coordinating and making possible something our bylaws-obsessed local reality would otherwise instinctively stand in the way of in the name of law and boredom.”

Encouragement and opportunity are a big part of what draws crowds and artists to the festival. Artists usually have to turn to either the online storefront, or just hope for a gallery show, Art Walk provides a space for everyone to equally display the fruits of their labour.

Kim hopes someday Art Walk won’t just be for a weekend in July, but for the entire summer. She makes a strong case – “It’s an important part of the community. It takes the art from out of the studios and the closets and the garden sheds and brings both the work and the artists to where the people are. I call myself a mother bear sometimes, because I think art often gets relegated to frivolous or looked at as the first thing we can cut because it’s not that important. For those of us in the arts to articulate why it is important is really hard. People see it as it’s nice, or it’s enjoyable, or it’s stress relieving. To me, it’s the cornerstone of our society.”

Go back

Latest Newssee all


NEA Funding once again Saved!

 

Earlier this month, the House of Representatives brought to the floor the FY’24 Interior appropriations bill with two floor amendments introduced by Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Scott Perry (PA-10) that would have eliminated all future funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Both amendments were soundly defeated in a bipartisan fashion with 100% support of Democrats and nearly 40% of Republicans voting against the amendments.

This victory is due, in no small part, to the hard work of arts advocates, like you, across the country. While more work needs to be done for the House to match the Senate's higher appropriations amount of $207 million each for the NEA and NEH for FY'24, this vote demonstrates the influence arts advocates have when united to support important federal arts and humanities programs.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, it is important to take a moment to thank the House Members who voted against these egregious amendments. These 292 House Members worked in a bipartisan fashion to protect arts funding and puts Congress on a path to match last year’s funding levels of $207 million each.

Please thank Members of Congress today who voted down these amendments on the House floor that would have eliminated NEA and NEH funding.

Read more …


Let Congress Know You Support Full Funding NEA

Be Informed - Know Your Facts - Speak Out to Support the Arts - Read the House & Senate Action on FY24 Appropriations - www.artsactionfund.org

Read more …


Namta's First Creativation Alliance for the Arts & Crafts

This year at Creativation by Namta 2023 in Columbus, OH , Namta created an alliance with a local organization called Directions for Youth and Families (DFYF).  Directions improves lives of individuals, families, and communities through counseling, education and support. What better way to do this than through the creative channel. Because of the generosity of several of Namta members, during Creativation by Namta in Columbus, OH a mural which expressed Directions mission was created by participants from the program. This mural will be displayed in Directions new facility.  This was just the first endeavor for Namta to leave its' mark on the community where we came together to celebrate creativity. The collaborative project between Directions and Namta was the first of an on-going initiative for Namta to develop community partnerships in all future Creativation by Namta host cities.

 

Read more …


NAMTA's Partners in Art