Message from the Chairman 2022
Welcome back to the twenty-first annual Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts. We sure missed celebrating the creative spirit of our community over the past two years. The Pandemic has made it abundantly clear how interconnected we are, in so many ways. The Festival has always tried to bring together people of different backgrounds, ages, and beliefs. People from different neighborhoods and communities. By coming together, we gain insights in to what can hold us together. We gain insights in to our commonalities. What better way to do that than singing, dancing, eating and making art. Let’s celebrate!
Joe DiPasquale
Our Mission
The Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts mission is to foster growth in and awareness of Western New York’s artistic and cultural treasures and improve the fabric of our unique urban environment. We strive to accomplish our mission in an environmentally sustainable manner.
The goals of the Elmwood Avenue Festival of the Arts are:
- To give regional artists, craftspeople, musicians, arts organizations and community groups a family oriented venue in which to present their work, and to help foster the creation and growth of these grassroots enterprises.
- Create a children’s festival that celebrates and educates through the Arts. Offering hands -on art projects, some collaborative, that will bring together children of all ages, backgrounds and abilities.
- Commission and fund public art, fund tree plantings and other beautification projects.
- Create an environmentally sustainable event.
- Highlight the richness of Buffalo, the Elmwood Avenue Village and its stores, restaurants and people.
We plan on accomplishing this by seeking out regional artists and developing marketplaces for them in cooperation with our volunteers, commmunity groups, neighborhood businesses, regional arts organizations, galleries, colleges and universities and our sponsors. We feel that providing such a venue is an economic development tool for the neighborhood, city, region and state.