The Salem Arts Festival promotes the arts in downtown Salem through a collaborative festival for residents and visitors providing opportunities to highlight the existing artist community and encourage general community participation in the arts. The festival regularly draws over 5,000 visitors. The festival is looking for art and performance for the sophisticated art patron as well as for the art novice including interactive events for children. It will engage participants of diverse backgrounds and ages by reaching out to current art patrons, local students, and the community at large.
The 2017 Salem Arts Festival, running from Friday, June 2 through Sunday, June 4 will celebrate the arts in all its forms: painting, photography, sculpture, installation, dance, music, writing, film, new media, performance, theater, poetry, culinary, visual art, and more. The 2017 festival will consist of a gallery of juried artists’ work in Old Town Hall, performance in an outdoor stage venue, indoor performances, a street fair, and opportunities for the community to actively participate in the arts. Individuals are welcome to contribute at multiple venues and events.
The Salem Arts Festival is organized and planned by Salem Main Streets and many members of the community volunteering their time. Salem Main Streets’ goal is the revitalization of downtown Salem as a vibrant, year-round, retail, dining and cultural destination through business recruitment, retention and the promotion of downtown Salem. Salem Main Streets operates with the support of Mayor Driscoll, the Salem Chamber of Commerce, Destination Salem, Creative Salem, and local business supporters.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Salem Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
The Salem Arts Festival is offered free to all! We rely on volunteers to bring this wonderful festival to the community. If you are interested in helping with the organization of the Salem Arts Festival, contact Kylie Sullivan at kylie@salemmainstreets.org or (978) 744-0004 x115.
The SAF organizing committee consists of John Andrews, Creative Salem; Kate Babcock, Hunter Creative Labs; Jim Bostick, Salem Arts Association; Stan Franzeen, Salem Film Fest; Karen Gahagan, Salem State University; Carissa Gerber, Salem YMCA; Deborah Greel, City of Salem; Nicole Heena, Salem YMCA; Leslie Levesque, The Phoenix School; Betsy Miller, Salem State University; Claudia Paraschiv, Salem Public Space Project; Karen Scalia, Salem Food Tours; Kylie Sullivan, Salem Main Streets; and Doneeca Thurston, Peabody Essex Museum, with support from Kate Ferris, Salem Jazz & Soul Festival; Kate Fox and Stacia Cooper, Destination Salem; Kevin Levesque, Berklee College of Music; Kati Nalbandian, Creative Salem; and
Christopher Wilson, SkewSound.