Just as Broker Charlene Roberge was beginning her real estate career, she stumbled upon a non-profit she fell in love with and continues to support today.  It was during a Rotary meeting she was invited to 25 years ago that she experienced a taste of what the Springfield Arts Council has to offer the community.  A group sang a few songs to promote the upcoming Summer Arts Festival. That was it, Charlene was hooked. The Summer Arts Festival runs for one month, June 14th - July 14th this year, and of course, Charlene will be there.

  

Krissy Brown, Associate Creative Director for the Springfield Arts Council shared this information about its long history in the community.

Since 1967, the Springfield Arts Council has been dedicated to building a better community by sharing the performing arts with all citizens of Springfield, Clark County, and the region. We achieve this goal through presenting our Showtimes Series, Arts in Education programming, and our Summer Arts Festival. This year is the 57th Annual Summer Arts Festival, and as has been the tradition since 1967, all shows remain admission-free, but financial donations, which help it remain free, are collected at intermission of each performance as volunteers pass the hat. The Springfield Arts Council’s Summer Arts Festival is the longest-running admission-free festival in the country. We attribute the success of the Summer Arts Festival to our dedicated volunteers and board of directors that help us run concessions stands, man the Welcome Center, usher VIP seating areas, and pass the hat every night.

 

The 2023 Summer Arts Festival will include some crowd favorites as well as new acts. The Festival opens on June 14th with our Youth Arts Ambassadors presenting Newsies Jr, where there will be 70 youth (grades K-12) from all over the community on the stage. Phil Dirt and the Dozers, Griffin House, and Parrots of the Caribbean are among crowd favorites that will return to Veterans Park. Some new acts we are excited to present this year are Simply Spice, which is music from the Spice Girls, and The Ten Band: Tribute to Pearl Jam. Crowds at the Summer Arts Festival can get as large as 10,000 people in an evening. Folks may bring their lawn chair to Veterans Park Amphitheater as early as 6 am on show days to reserve their spot in the audience.

 

The Summer Arts Festival has been a staple in this community and is a much-anticipated event every year. People celebrate anniversaries and birthdays at the festival, bring their friends from out of town, and some even plan their vacations around making sure they can attend Summer Arts Festival events. For many people in Clark County, the Summer Arts Festival is the first place they experience any type of performing arts. We are proud to make the arts accessible to everyone in our community!

 

More information can be found at www.springfieldartscouncil.org