Blog

October 25, 26, & 27, 2024
Decatur, Alabama
City Hall campus
Friday 5pm-9pm, Saturday 9am-5pm, & Sunday 10am-4pm
80 Artists
Deadline: July 1, 2024

Application fee: $40/Booth fee $175

River Clay is a juried, rain or shine, outdoor show. Located in the beautiful Tennessee Valley, Decatur is a burgeoning arts community whose City Hall campus is surrounded by Alabama's largest Victorian historic district and a picturesque, revitalized downtown complete with numerous bistros, restaurants, and unique retail boutiques. The city of Decatur is conveniently located midway between Nashville and Birmingham. You'll find Huntsville, home of NASA, Redstone Arsenal, and numerous technology/engineering firms boasts the highest per-capita level of education and income in Alabama, just 25 minutes to the east.

Now in it's 9th year, the River Clay Fine Arts Festival remains a big hit with artists and collectors in the venerable Southeast fine art festival schedule! Our past participating artists reported great sales, exceptional organization, and unparalleled volunteer assistance.

River Clay kicks off with our patron preview, River Clay Rendezvous, on Friday evening with great food and drinks for you and your helper/guest. Our artist market is Saturday and Sunday, set in the greenspace surrounding City Hall.

Our dedicated staff provides our artists with volunteer support, including help at load-in and load-out, breakfast, lunch, snacks, water, booth sitters, and an artist helpline.

Artist amenities include judging by art professionals, cash awards, personalized service by staff, indoor artist-staff only restrooms, high-quality work, and absolutely no buy/sell.

New Weekend:

In hopes of cooler temperatures for our artists and patrons,
and to get a little closer to the holiday shopping season,
we've moved River Clay to October 25-27.
Same great festival - just cooler!

For more information: https://www.riverclay.org/
Contact: Alison Belcher Artistinfo@riverclay.org

October 19 & 20, 2024
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Snow Hinton Park
Saturday 8am-5pm* & Sunday 9am-4pm
270 Artists
Deadline: June 2, 2024

* Benefactor-level VIPs get one hour of early shopping Saturday morning. The festival opens to the general public at 9:00am.

Application fee: $35 until May 15 then $50 Booth fee starts at $275-$650

The Kentuck Festival of the Arts has a 53-year history as a hub of creativity nationally recognized for its quality, diversity, and celebration of artistic style ranging from folk to contemporary arts and traditional crafts. Every year, over 15,000 people travel from across the country to become immersed in a Southern experience of prolific creativity at the Kentuck Festival of the Arts. In 2018, the Kentuck Festival of the Arts was ranked 5th in the nation by Sunshine Artist Magazine in the category of Classic and Contemporary Craft Shows.

Less than 5 miles from Kentuck Art Center, this park is currently undergoing renovations to provide accessible pathways, allowing those with mobility challenges to safely navigate the park. Additional improvements include new bathrooms, several permanent pavilions, and many benches for festival guests to use.

Artist amenities include: $12,200 in awards, a new jury panel every year, qualified buyers, booth sitters, an artists' hospitality tent with food and beverages, drive up load/unload at majority of booth spaces in Snow Hinton Park*, onsite security, brand new security camera system, flat booth rate (no commission), ATM onsite, VIP program featuring pre-paid Kentuck bucks that can only be spent on art at the festival, an artists' party with a catered dinner and libations on Saturday night.

*In the two small sections of the park where drive up load/unload is unavailable, City of Tuscaloosa employees will be present with ATVs to shuttle artists and their equipment to and from their booths. Please see the park map on our website for more details.

Testimonials

"I've been working professionally as an artist for about 7 years, and part of time I spend traveling around the festival circuit. I've toured all over the U.S., and [The Kentuck Festival] is still one of the best shows I've ever done. There's something magical here, and the community is so supportive, plus the staff, and patrons of Kentuck come and show the artists so much love. It's really just on the next level." - Sydney Gruber, 2D artist from Austin, Texas; has exhibited at the Kentuck Festival for 5+ years

 "Kentuck is the best-organized, friendliest festival I do on the circuit. They take care of their artists, the weather is always good, it's so well organized, and the sense of community that Kentuck has is like no other. So, Kentuck is my number one festival on my list every year." - JK Terrell, glass artist from Northport, Alabama, has exhibited at the Kentuck Festival for 5+ years

Kentuck is a heaven of a place.

For more info: https://www.kentuck.org/artists-apply
Contact: Exa Skinner kentuck@kentuck.org

October 15 & 16

• $7000 in awards: Best of Show ($1,500), 2 Awards of Distinction ($1,000 each), and 12 Merit Awards ($300 each). Award winners are automatically invited to the 2023 Festival
• A new jury panel every year
  
• Booth sitters
  
• Drive up unload/load
  
• Security overnight and during the Festival
• Qualified buyers. Admission per day is $10, with children 12 and under free with a ticketed adult
• An artists' hospitality tent where fresh doughnuts and hot coffee are available at 7:00 a.m. Saturday and Sunday morning. Drinks and snacks are served throughout the Festival.
• ATM on site. Credit card processing is also available for a 6% processing fee at the Information Building
• VIP program featuring pre-paid Kentuck Bucks that can only be used to purchase art from artists at the Festival
• An artists' party with dinner and live music Saturday night at Kentuck Art Center. Judges are introduced, and awards are announced