March 16, 2022

14th Annual Salem Arts Festival Prepares For 2022

by Felicia Cheney

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The Salem Arts Festival announces an invitation for the community to participate in the festival’s 14th year, running June 3 through June 5, 2022. Over 8,000 people regularly attend the family-friendly festival, transforming downtown Salem, MA into an opportunity for the arts community to showcase a wide range of talents. The festival includes a gallery of juried artists’ work in Old Town Hall, outdoor stage venues for performance and dance, an artist and artisan street fair, a collaborative public arts project, and much more! Special thanks to this year’s returning title sponsors Salem Five and Peabody Essex Museum for their continued support.
 
“The Arts Festival was the first community event we were able to hold when COVID-19 restrictions began lifting last year, and it was absolutely wonderful, but it was definitely in an adjusted form,” said Kylie Sullivan, Executive Director of Salem Main Streets, co-organizer of the Salem Arts Festival. “We are so looking forward to bringing this special event back to full capacity in 2022.”
 
The Salem Arts Festival is especially pleased to announce that the festival, initially run as a project of Salem Main Streets, will continue to run in collaboration with the Creative Collective. Creative Collective LLC is a program with the mission of fostering the sustainability of the creative industries and supporting creative workforce development. John Andrews, founder of the Collective states, “The expansion of the event and overall celebration of arts and culture in Salem is so critically needed as we try and heal from the past and the creative community is still struggling to get back on its feet so we are excited to support and celebrate this critically important industry of creators.”
 
Applications for performers, street fair vendors, and the annual mural slam are now live at salemartsfestival.com, with deadlines in late March and early April. A juried gallery will be selected by an on-site review process again this year, to be held the weekend before the festival, May 27 through May 30. Artists interested in the gallery should complete an Intent to Apply online at salemartsfestival.com in order to receive the most up-to-date information about the gallery process.
 
For the 9th year, a community-built public art installation will be included as part of the festival, and the committee is currently in search of proposals from locally-based artists for this year’s project.  The project will ideally provide opportunities to create community engagement leading up to the festival, engage with a relevant issue in the community through the lens of art, and provide a compelling visual connection with this year’s festival theme of Connection and Connectivity.  The deadline for proposals is March 31st. More information is available at salemartsfestival.com/community-art-project.
 
The Salem Arts Festival is organized by Salem Main Streets, the Creative Collective and a collaboration of Salem organizations. This festival and many others are supported by tourism dollars, Destination Salem and the City of Salem. If you would like to support this dynamic annual cultural mainstay and economic driver, please contact Arielle Kaplant at arielle@creativecollectivema.com or visit salemartsfestival.com/2022-sponsor-opportunities
 
For more information about the Salem Arts Festival, please see www.salemartsfestival.com or contact Kylie Sullivan at kylie@salemmainstreets.org or (978)744-0004


Please consider supporting the 2022 Salem Arts Festival! 

Salem Arts Festival Facts

All donations to the Salem Arts Festival are tax-deductible through Salem Main Streets, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.

The Salem Arts Festival announces an invitation for the businesses and individuals to support the festival’s 14th year, running June 3 through June 5, 2022.

Over 8,000 people regularly attend the family-friendly festival, transforming downtown Salem, MA into an opportunity for the arts community to showcase a wide range of talents. The festival includes a gallery of juried artists’ work in Old Town Hall, outdoor stage venues for performance and dance, an artist and artisan street fair, a collaborative public arts project, and much more! 

The Salem Arts Festival is a proven economic driver and that is made possible by the support of our sponsors. Through your generous sponsorships we are able to compensate many in the creative industry, the same folks that make up your consumers… and in alot of cases, your employees and neighbors. These dollars also help us market the event to a large audience of consumers that attend events like this creating a much greater value proposition than some traditional sponsor opportunities. 

NEW THIS YEAR! (Working Title) Salem Art Days will be an 11 day celebration of Arts, Culture and creative connections throughout the community! We want to promote and highlight all the amazing artistic happening throughout the community driving consumers to your businesses and events!

Salem Arts Festival promotes our vibrant downtown, in the heart of one of America’s most culturally active historic port 
cities, and highlights our local artists community in a truly unique fashion. The Salem Arts Festival normally attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world. During the festival over 300 artists, performers, and creatives share, 
promote, and sell their remarkable and unique creations. The Salem Arts Festival celebrates the arts in all its many
 forms and, this year presents an opportunity for us to truly make up for the lost ground of the previous year when it comes to enjoying and supporting the arts. – Mayor Kim Driscoll

Contact arielle@creativecollectivema.com to discuss sponsorship opportunities and to secure your level now! 


What is Creative Collective?

Creative Collective is a group of economic development strategists, small business supporters, activation specialists, and believers in the importance of the creative workforce. We foster growth, sustainability, and scalability for small businesses, creative thinkers, organizations, entrepreneurs, and innovators.

Learn more and join Creative Collective at www.creativecollectivema.com/join