Midsummer Festival of the Arts (Sheboygan, WI) – Call For Artists
[Side Arts Certified Sponsored Listing] John Michael Kohler Arts Center announces a call for artists for the Midsummer Festival of the Arts 2023. This year’s festival will be July 15 – 16, 2023. The event will feature up to 100 juried artists including returning award winners from last year. The Arts Center will host an emerging artist area for up to five artists, offering an opportunity for collegiate and rising artists to learn about business in the arts.
Click here for the application / registration
Enter by: 1 March 2023
Acceptance notifications will be sent to artists on April 4, 2023.
The Midsummer Festival of the Arts remains committed to “generating a creative exchange between artists and the public.” Held at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in downtown Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a few blocks from Lake Michigan, the Festival, now in its 53rd year, nurtures connections between artists and community. This weekend event offers live music and performances, exhibitions, hands-on art making, demonstrations, food, and fun on the grounds of the Arts Center and Sheboygan’s City Green. To ensure the continued participation of as many interested artists as possible, exhibiting artists’ fees are kept moderate and many amenities are provided.
In response to the exhibition on view during the festival, Cloth as Land: Hmong Indigeneity, and in celebration of the Sheboygan Hmong Summer Festival happening the same weekend, an additional minimum of five artists of Hmong heritage will be selected to be featured inside the Arts Center. The Arts Center may designate additional spaces for local and community partnerships coordinated and selected by Arts Center staff.
Midsummer Festival of the Arts Artist Awards
Cash awards will be given based on the artist’s entire body of work. Excellence, regardless of medium, will be the determining factor. Judging will take place on Saturday, July 15, between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Awards will be announced and presented on Sunday, July 16; prizewinners who do not return to exhibit on Sunday forfeit the award.
Artist Amenities
- 15,000-20,000 people are anticipated to attend this event.
- An early shopping opportunity for Art Patrons is provided. Guests who attend our Art Patron Breakfast get first shopping opportunity and promise to spend a minimum of $100 on art at the festival.
- Complimentary booth-sitting service will be provided, subject to availability.
- A detailed or complete view of one image from each artist’s slides will be shown on the Arts Center’s website. Artists can choose to have their contact information displayed as well. (The Arts Center does not release this information to patrons.)
- Artists will be able to purchase Festival T-shirts in advance.
- Security guards patrol the grounds Friday and Saturday nights.
- Advertising, digital marketing, billboards, newspapers, television coverage, radio ads, Festival newspaper inserts, day-of-Festival program, cooperative advertising, Arts Center website, and the Art Patron Program reach local and regional buyers.
About John Michael Kohler Arts Center
The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is a lively visual and performing arts complex dedicated to generating creative exchanges between an international community of artists and a diverse public. JMKAC’s original exhibitions, commissioned works of art, performing arts, community arts initiatives, education programs, and publications promote appreciation of and engagement with the work of contemporary and self-taught artists. The Arts Center actively nurtures emerging and mid-career artists, giving them a range of opportunities to create new work including the internationally respected Arts/Industry residency program.
For more information, contact midsummerfestival@jmkac.org.
