Celebration of the Arts

Join Us for the 2022 OUT OF THIS WORLD
Hiddenite Celebration of the Arts

Saturday, September 24, 2022
9 am until 4 pm
Hiddenite Church Road in Alexander County
Admission is free!

The Hiddenite Arts & Heritage Center’s Celebration of the Arts festival has featured diversely talented artists, crafters, and performers since 1981. This one of a kind arts and cultural heritage festival is held annually on the fourth Saturday in September on Hiddenite Church Road in Alexander County from 9:00am until 4:00pm. Celebration of the Arts is a free admission street festival that features family friendly activities for all ages and hands on opportunities to experience the arts. The Hiddenite Arts & Heritage Center is thrilled to have been selected as a grant recipient from South Arts In These Mountains project grant to provide funding support for the festival.  South Arts is committed to funding traditional arts projects in rural communities with populations under 50,000. The South Arts In These Mountains grant is provided to organizations to conduct projects that promote the sharing, teaching, learning, preserving, and documenting of folk arts and traditional culture of Central Appalachia.  Within the Folk Life Pavilion and throughout the festival, lessons in folk art and folk ways are taught through hands on activities and living history demonstrations. The festival is funding in part by South Arts & NC Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources with funding from the National Endowment of The Arts.

Celebration features shopping for fine arts and handmade products, living history demonstrations by skilled craftspeople, four live performance stages with music, dance, and storytelling, an interactive Art in Action area, and so much more!

The Center’s Historic James Paul Lucas Mansion museum, art gallery, permanent collections, and the Alexander County Visitor Center (housed within the Lucas Mansion) will be open for visitors throughout the day. Self-guided museum tours will be available at a reduced cost of only $1 per person on Celebration of the Arts day. All other Lucas Mansion exhibits are free and open to the public.

The festival will include fun activities for children of all ages. Both the young and the young at heart will enjoy giant slides, bounce house activities, and face painting. Numerous food vendors will be on hand to provide a diverse selection of festival food favorites. Spend the day with us and experience unique ways to celebrate the arts!

The Hiddenite Arts & Heritage Center is currently seeking fine arts and crafts vendors and commercial vendors to participate in the festival. Vendor spaces are available for arts, crafts, commercial items, and food sales. Public information booths are also available for non-profit organizations, businesses, and individuals.

Cost for a 10×10 vendor space is $45 per space if purchased prior to August 15^th. Vendor spaces purchased on August 15^th or after that date are $50 per space. Public information booths for distributing information with no sales are $25 each.

First time artists and crafts vendors applying to show at Celebration are required to submit a minimum of three photos or slides representative of the work that they plan to offer for sale.