Three Rivers Arts Festival to return

Not bigger than ever, but maybe better. Could be.

This year's festival has been shortened from its seventeen day run to ten days. The festival will have all of the same components that previous festivals have had. Including the rain! Yep, TRAF is scheduled to begin on June 5. Historically, this area experiences quite a bit of rainfall at that time of year. With the weather that we're experiencing now, I'm wondering if we'll see snow...

The Artists Market, performances and children's area are all on the docket. The visual arts will return too, although there are no details available on the website that explain what form it will take. Last year's container exhibits had some problems. Actually, there have been several problems facing this component over the last several years, foremost being where to install the exhibit.

This seems like an elegant solution to the problems that have plagued TRAF in recent years. I think it might actually be for the best.

TRAF anticipates the return of gallery row and the emerging artists program to the Artists Market. I am not too sure about gallry row. The participation and interest of local galleries in this program has waned. However, the emerging artists program seems like a keeper. This program is not limited toyong artists but rather to artists new to TRAF that have never exhibited with the festival. I think that this program is a great way of introducing newcomers to the festival scene as well as bringing individual artists to the festival who otherwise might not have considered showing in this format.

More details about the festival are available on their website and the application for both the Artists Market and the Emerging Artists program is already up.