Press Release from www.columbusartsfestival.org. In addition to the Columbus Arts Festival being canceled June 12-14, ComFest is also canceled June 26-18.
Out of an interest for public health and safety in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Greater Columbus Arts Council (Arts Council) board of trustees voted today to cancel the 2020 Columbus Arts Festival. This decision is in keeping with Governor Mike DeWine’s and the Ohio Department of Health’s current recommendations, which have an uncertain end date.
Artists and vendors who were selected to participate in the 2020 festival will have their fees refunded, and all accepted artists will be automatically juried into the 2021 festival.
While the Arts Council board of trustees and staff consider how to help people connect with Festival artists in the coming months, 2020 participating artists are featured on the Festival’s online Artist Gallery at columbusartsfestival.org/application/artists. Artists invited to the 2020 Festival represent 38 states as well as Canada, Israel and Nigeria.
“After closely monitoring Governor DeWine’s and Dr. Acton’s advice, we made the decision to cancel the 2020 festival and present this year’s juried artists in 2021,” said Sean Kessler, director of the Arts Festival. “The festival depends on hundreds of artists and vendors from around the country and the world to come together; coordinating all those pieces makes it very difficult to reschedule for this year. While we are heartbroken about this decision, we feel it was essential that we do our part to curb the coronavirus’ spread. We encourage the public to discover the inspiring work of this year’s artists through the online gallery.”
For the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s complete statement on the cancellation please read Arts Council President and CEO Tom Katzenmeyer’s Letter to the Community.
Other Facts
- Thirteen of the 2019 award-winning artists were invited to return this year
- More than 40 artists from the state of Ohio were invited to participate in the 2020 festival
- Twelve central Ohio artists were invited to be part of the Emerging Artist program this year
- Nearly 270 artists, including the Emerging Artists, were selected from almost 900 applicants through a blind jury process
The artists and their mediums that correlate with the above facts are available here.
