HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-31-2007 SBRMA’s Festival of Banners to Highlight Art Beat 2007 4SOUTIIB�� DOWNTOWN '
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NEWS RELEASE
Friday, Augaust 31, 2007
4:30 PM
Contact: Mikki Dobski, Director of Communications&Special Projects, 235-5855 or 876-1564
Jessi Lentych Loyd, Curator of Education/Public Programs, SBRMA, 235-9102
Marco Mariam, Interim Director, Downtown South Bend, Inc., 282-1110
SBRMA's Festival of Banners to Highlight Art Beat 2007
The South Bend Regional Museum of Art, in association with Downtown South Bend, Inc. and
the City of South Bend, presents Live the Arts. -Festival ofBanners 2007 in celebration of
SBRMA's 60'year of service to Northern Indiana
Sixty banners, designed and painted by local artists and community members will displayed on
poles along Jefferson and Wayne Streets in downtown South Bend. The Festival will kickoff with
a news conference on Tuesday, September 4 at 1:30 p.m. on Jefferson Blvd next to Century
Center and just west of the Jefferson Bridge. Winning designers in each of three categories,
Adult, Teen, & Children, will be announced at the news conference. The winners will also receive
awards during Art Beat at Scene 5 (corner of Michigan & Wayne Streets) at 8:00 p.m. on
September 6, 2007. The banners will be on display for two months.
Festival of Banners was patterned after the Nanaimo Art Gallery's Festival ofBanners in British
Columbia, and was brought to South Bend by SBRMA board member Jerry Thoma "When I
first saw the Festival of Banners last August, I was very impressed at how successfully the
Nanaimo Art Gallery was bringing `art to the people' and how they had done so with growing
appreciation from the community for the past 20 years! With the SBRMA looking for creative
ways to extend it's reach into the South Bend community, and the downtown seeking events and
businesses that build on the entertainment district theme, it was not a big leap to be excited about
trying this here. I think this can become a cultural hit in downtown South Bend for many
summers to come!"
The Festival brings the local art community together to create a moment in history that celebrates
creative life and activity in the heart of downtown South Bend. This year's theme, Live the Arts.
reminds us of the important role art plays in our daily lives.
-more-
The work began with the dedicated chair of the program, Kathryn Armstrong and massive
coordination of community participants. The City of South Bend and Downtown South Bend,
Inc. were approached as valuable civic partners. The idea was enthusiastically embraced by all
and a partnership was forged. A call was put out for entries at schools and in the community, and
the response was overwhelming - nearly 100 designs received! After the entries were juried,
efforts were spent coordinating 60 artists to come to the museum at appointed times to paint their
accepted entry on a 24"x48" canvas. Sewing the banners became the next step and Danny Troyer
of the Canvas Shop LLC in Shipshewana stepped up to the plate to ensure this critical stage of the
project was completed. Painting the banners was the final stage of preparation and paint was
generously donated by Rollie Williams to complete this last portion of the creative process.
Banners were energetically painted over a two-month time frame. A brochure has been created,
and all banners can be viewed on Wayne St. and Jefferson Blvd. in downtown South Bend.
Beginning October 14, an online auction will be held at www.sbrma.org, for anyone wishing to
purchase one of these extraordinary pieces of community art. Minimum bids will begin at $25,
and bidding will close November 6"'. All proceeds from the auction will go back to SBRMA for
educational programming.
The Live the Arts! - Festival of Banners project is just one of many programs SBRMA is bringing
to the community in celebration of 6 decades of the forest visual arts and arts education
programming in Northern Indiana.
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