The first Dougherty County School System Fine Arts Festival, an outdoor celebration recognizing students’ talents in visual art, music, and dancing, will be from 10 am-2 pm Saturday, March 25, on the grounds of the Albany Museum of Art, located at 311 Meadowlark Drive. The event is free and open to the public.

The festival will promote the fine arts in Albany and Dougherty County schools as part of National Youth Art Month. Art instructors from the school system will showcase students’ artwork. In addition, activities will include stage performances by choruses, bands, and dance groups from the school system. Food trucks also will be on hand for the event.

“We want to get the community out and show them what the students have been doing all year, as well as expose the museum to more people,” DCSS Lead Art Teacher Samantha Fields said. “This is our inaugural year. We are hoping this can be a yearly event.”

“We are always pleased to partner with the Dougherty County School System. With spring just arriving, this is a wonderful time to celebrate talented local students and the arts,” AMA Executive Director Andrew J. Wulf, Ph.D., said. “Art has a positive impact on a student’s development, sparking creativity and stronger critical-thinking skills, and opening their minds to new concepts and ideas. It is a saving grace in all of our lives.”

Artwork by DCSS students will be on display in the Willson Auditorium.

“We will have two displays going on at the museum,” Fields said. “One is the Kiwanis elementary exhibit. The other is what we call DCSS Presents the Mosaic. We call it a mosaic because it will be K through 12 artwork shown together.”

Fields said 10-by-10 tents will be used for arts and crafts, and that a 40-by-20 tent will also be available for those watching the live entertainment events that will be performed on a portable stage.

“Outside, we will have bracelet making, sand art, some sidewalk chalk, some mask making and some headband making, as well as face painting,” she said. “We’ll have live entertainment—students from chorus, theater, dancing, and bands. They will be out from 10 until 2.”

AMA Director of Education and Public Programming Annie Vanoteghem said the festival is an example of the strong relationship that the AMA has with DCSS. During the school year, every second-grader in the school district has the opportunity to participate in a free field trip to the AMA, which includes a gallery visit, an art project, and creative play in the AMAzing Space activities center. She said the hope is to expand that program to include other grade levels as well.

“The Fine Arts Festival is a terrific way to close out Youth Art Month,” Vanoteghem said. “This event will help everyone realize all of the good things the Dougherty County School System does with the arts—not only visual art, but also music and dance.”

Fields said the goal is for the DCSS Fine Arts Festival to become a growing annual event at the AMA. “I’m hoping to incorporate some entities outside of DCSS and the AMA each year and make it bigger and bigger,” she said.