OKLAHOMA CITY – A longtime spring tradition in Oklahoma City is hitting a major milestone.
The 60th annual Festival of the Arts, presented by Arts Council Oklahoma City, opened April 23 at Bicentennial Park and runs through April 26.
The event features hundreds of artists across mediums such as painting, fiber art, photography, and jewelry, along with food vendors, live performances, and family-friendly activities. In addition to arts vendors, there are also opportunities to shop for handcrafted goods and locally-produced food.
“It’s a very special celebration of who we are as a community,” Arts Council Oklahoma City Executive Director Angela Cozby told Free Press. “I think the arts are all about joy, and nothing’s more joyful than the Festival of the Arts.”
The Festival of the Arts serves as a long-standing spring tradition for many Oklahoma families.
“I think we all have a story about visiting and participating, whether it’s Pottery Place or Strawberries Newport or buying our first work of art,” Cozby said. “It’s about making memories. It’s a tradition, and it’s a favorite time of year for a lot of people in our community.”
Arts Council Oklahoma City relies on the festival to fund programs like Arts in Schools, Creative Aging and Teen Arts Council.
“This is our largest fundraising activity that helps us produce our other very important programs,” Cozby told Free Press. “So many wonderful things that we do to fulfill our mission of bringing the arts and the community together are because of the Festival of the Arts.”
Cozby said the festival’s 60-year legacy is only possible through broad community support and several hundred volunteers.
“It’s just really a true testament to the community and how much Oklahoma City values the arts that we’re going into 60 years,” Cozby said.
Much-Anticipated Food Vendors
The festival’s International Food Row remains one of its biggest draws, with over 32 food vendors, including four newcomers, covering a wide variety of cuisines.
“There’s everything from delicious roasted nuts to Italian specialties to Latin cuisine to unique entrees from Africa,” Cozby said.
Ashley Kennedy, owner of A Sweet Hot Mess, has served loaded baked potatoes at the Festival of the Arts since 2018.
“We’ve been coming here for a long time, and we love every bit of it,” Kennedy told Free Press. “Each year gets better and better, especially in its 60th year.”
Even with the wide variety, Arts Council Oklahoma City is keeping the festival affordable, with options like $4 hot dogs.
Visual Arts at the Festival’s Heart
This year’s festival features 144 juried artists from 30 states and dozens of returning artists, with 85 making their festival debut. Five artists are recognized with awards including Best in Show, the Mayor’s Award, and top honors in 2D and 3D categories. Plus, this year’s Emerging Artist mentorship program showcases new artists’ work at the west end of Bicentennial Park and provides participants with two years of classes and guidance to help them develop their practice.
The festival also features exhibits like the Sculpture Park, an outdoor display of kinetic works from 15 artists that move with Oklahoma’s winds.
Returning this year, the Pro/Am Gallery pairs local artists with local celebrities and features a champagne bar on the west steps of City Hall. For adult guests, Park West offers craft beer and wine, Arts and Drafts provides seating with views of the main stage and local drinks, and the VIP area includes complimentary beverages and private seating behind the main stage.
Amy Sanders de Melo, a Tulsa-based ceramic artist, is one of many Oklahoma artists featured at the festival. Her work explores disability, identity, and healing through tactile storytelling. She said she has enjoyed creating new work for the festival, with many of the ceramic pieces on display made in the past few months.
“It was really nice to have a reason to get back in the studio and explore new ideas starting in January,” Sanders de Melo said. “For me, it’s really nice to look at this collection and see an evolution of the last few months.”
With both vision and hearing loss, Sanders de Melo uses Braille on clay to make emotions and stories physically accessible, inviting all viewers into moments of connection and reflection.
“People have been exceptionally kind here,” Sanders de Melo said about her experience. “With my work having Braille on it, and with it being about accessibility, when people are interested in that, it gives me faith in humanity.”
A featured work is Greg Erway’s oil painting “The Tender Season,” which depicts a scissortail flycatcher on a redbud tree and signals the arrival of an Oklahoma spring. In an artist statement, Erway said the piece captures a fleeting seasonal transition and reflects renewal, optimism and new beginnings.
He told Free Press that much of his work draws from Western culture and his time in southwest Oklahoma, especially the Wichita Wildlife Refuge. Now in his third year at the festival, he said he was surprised and honored to be this year’s featured artist.
“I wanted a way to make Western culture come alive, to discuss it in a different way,” Erway told Free Press. “I thought I would try painting. I made my first painting about 15 years ago, and just kept working at it and learning. Now here I am.”
Hands-on Activities for All Ages and Young Art Collectors
Families with children will find several areas designed for younger festival-goers, including the Children’s Art Field, themed “Shake Your Tail Feather” and inspired by Erway’s work, where kids can create their own art of Oklahoma’s state bird.
Visitors can also create their own art at the Creation Station, where all ages are invited to contribute to a collaborative sketchbook marking the festival’s 60th anniversary just east of City Hall.
Nearby, the Community Canvas, presented by the Artisans Young Professionals group, lets festival-goers help create a mural inspired by the anniversary poster by flinging, splattering, and spreading paint.
Another popular stop for young attendees is the First Collectors Club, designed specifically for kids under 12 to start their art collecting journey and pick out their own pieces, all priced from $1 to $10.
Plus, on Saturday, the Youth Art Sale continues, giving artists ages 8-18 the opportunity to showcase and sell their original work.
The long-running Pottery Place continues the festival’s partnership with Paseo Pottery, giving visitors of all ages the chance to paint their own pieces. Festival-goers leave their work to be fired on-site and can pick it up about an hour later, creating a finished, hand-painted keepsake for $5 to $25.
Nicole Watterson attended the festival with her child, Carson, and said pottery painting is one of their favorite Festival of the Arts traditions.
“We love to get out and always hit the pottery part first so they can have time to fire it while we go and check everything else out,” Watterson told Free Press.
Music, Performance and Art Experiences
Two main stages anchor the festival’s live performance offerings: the East Stage, sponsored by The Chickasaw Nation and the Main Stage, sponsored by The Inasmuch Foundation and MidFirst Bank. The festival features more than 100 performances, from school choirs and dance groups to singer-songwriters and full bands, plus performances from the Oklahoma City Ballet.
“Looking through the roster of performing artists, we really have anything that you could absolutely want,” Cozby said.
The festival will also continue the Arts Council’s Art Moves program, which extends performances beyond the stages and out onto the grounds.
“We’re going to have musical performances on the steps of the Civic Center, but also roaming magicians and chalk artists popping up throughout the grounds,” Cozby said. “It’s truly just a beautiful experience to be strolling across the grounds at the festival.”
Another highlight is the returning Fresh Paint Mural Exhibit, a partnership with the Oklahoma City Thunder featuring five young artists of color creating large murals in the southeast corner of Bicentennial Park. They work alongside established muralists Tiffany McKnight and Maddie “Holatte” Sanders in a mentorship focused on both craft and the business of art.
“These beautiful 8×8 murals have a unique cultural perspective of these young artists,” Cozby said. “And it’s an amazing way to support young artists here in Oklahoma,” Cozby said. “We’re just so grateful that the Oklahoma Thunder cares about the arts and are supporting the Festival of the Arts.”
The 60th annual Festival of the Arts from Arts Council OKC runs now through Sunday, April 26th in Bicentennial Park in downtown OKC.
Parking is available in garages and paid lots, and the OKC Streetcar offers free rides with a stop near the east entrance.
On-site services include festival headquarters on Colcord Drive, restrooms, a device charging station, recycling and composting bins, and cash-to-card machines.
For more, visit artscouncilokc.com/festival-of-the-arts.
Zoe Elrod covers events and happenings around Oklahoma City for Free Press bringing her skill as a reporter and photographer. Zoe has spent her career covering local musicians, artists, politicians, and everyday folks.
