Submitted by Sylvia Mallory on Behalf of the Bedford Cultural District Partnership
The Bedford Cultural District’s Music & Arts Festival 2024 will give visitors plenty of opportunities to get creative. The fair will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 15, on Bedford Common, The Great Road. The event is free and open to the public.
The festival’s theme this year is “Imagine.” The word “Imagine” can stimulate our vision and creativity in infinite ways. In these times of widespread divisions and tensions, the word “Imagine” has the potential to reorient us – to spark hope, possibility, and creative thinking that might lead to collaborative solutions.
Interactive art activities celebrating the “Imagine” motif will be a centerpiece of the Music & Arts Festival. People are invited to drop by and sample the following hands-on opportunities – suitable for all ages – to create your own imaginative artistic statements.
Paint an “Imagine” Sign
The Cultural District Partnership invites community members to visit the District’s art tent to paint blank lawn signs rendering the word “Imagine” in individual ways. Activity organizer Chris Wojnar stresses that painting the lawn signs requires neither artistic training nor expertise.
Sign makers will be greeted by coaches who will provide not only paint, brushes, and stencils, but also ideas and inspiration. Participants may choose to paint their own sign or may add their brushstrokes to a collaborative sign. Those who paint a personal sign may take it home to finish and later send the Bedford Cultural District Partnership a photo of their work for posting on the Bedford Cultural District’s web page.
Participating painters will also have a chance to share their imagination and creativity with the community. The Bedford Cultural District Partnership will select some signs for installation on the Narrow-Gauge Rail Trail. The sign display will run during July and August. It will be the Bedford Cultural District’s premier event for an Art Walk with ongoing exhibits along the trail.
Spark Your Creativity with ArtSpark
Trish Ng of Bedford’s ArtSpark School of Visual Art will lead festival visitors in decorating a mural with a motif of tree branches. Prompted by the question “What Can You Imagine?” participants from children to adults will use markers to apply their own imaginative touches to small circles that will be attached to the pre-painted tree to form its leaves. Poetry, song lyrics, drawings, doodles, and more are all fair game at the ArtSpark tent.
Send a Kind Message with Kindness Rocks
The Kindness Rocks Project’s tables will provide pre-painted rocks that visitors can use to write positive and inspirational messages. With their encouraging sentiments, the rocks will then be spread in the Bedford community and beyond. As Kindness Rocks spokesperson Angela Lee Carpenter said, “One message at just the right moment can change your whole day, outlook, life.”
The Music and Arts Festival 2024 will feature a fine art show and five live music performances, plus open houses at local organizations involved in artistic and cultural programming. Down the road at 7 Mudge Way, the Bedford Free Public Library will be holding a pop-up book sale from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For further information about the Music & Arts Festival 2024, contact Housing and Economic Development Director Eric Salerno at [email protected].
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There will also be a Friends of the Library Book Sale at the Bedford Free Public Library from 11-3 as part of the Festival.