Today some of our Festival team visited with our friends at Kupcakes & Co. to finalize plans for a SIGNATURE CUPCAKE in honor of the Festival’s Silver Anniversary!
After weeks of planning (and tasting), we think we’ve found the perfect cupcake to celebrate the Festival and the start of summer.
Here it is:
This rich dark chocolate cupcake is made with Belgian cocoa and Barry Callebaut mini chocolate chips. A generous swirl of raspberry buttercream icing, dash of silver nonpareils, and a single red star provide the finishing touch.
We’re partnering with Kupcakes & Co. to make this decadent treat available in June. We’ll be selling cupcakes at LakeFest (June 15-17) and our ticketed events (June 18-30), PLUS it will be available for a limited time at the Kupcakes & Co. bakery in Elkridge with a portion of the proceeds going directly to the Festival.
Can’t wait until June to taste this drool-worthy cupcake?
It’s also going to be part of the dessert for our Gala Celebration on May 19th at Howard Community College!
And, to tease you a little more, here’s another view: 
If so, the Festival is currently seeking artists for its 2012 community art project, Boxes & Bowls!
- Bowl Created by Sharon Trumbull
Turn a plain wooden bowl or hinged box into a piece of art for a chance to have your work publicly exhibited! If selected, your entry will be showcased at this year’s LakeFest (June 15-17), and at other Festival events through June 30. The Festival’s Visual Arts Committee will judge submissions based on craftsmanship and originality. If selected, the entrant will be able to set the sale price for his or her piece.
The $25 Registration Fee covers your choice of a bowl or a box to use. A limited number of bowls and boxes are available.
Visit our website for more information!
]]>
Entries are now being accepted for ArtPark 2012. Our juried, invitational show returns during LakeFest, a three day celebration for the arts, June 15th – 17th and is seeking artisans with original work, representing a breadth of media including functional and wearable art in the following categories: Ceramics | Clay, Drawing | Painting, Glass, Jewelry, Leather, Metal, Mixed Media, Photography | Digital, Textile, and Wood. In addition to ArtPark, Lakefest includes a variety of musical entertainment, sidewalk chalk art competitions, the always popular make-it/take-it kids’ arts and crafts tent, and much more.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Columbia Festival of the Arts hosts a summer season of world-class events, including gala performances, exhibitions, free concerts, family activities, master classes, workshops, community dialogues as well as LakeFest. Traditionally, ArtPark has drawn artists from all over the region and mid-Atlantic. There is no entry fee and no commission on sales. Don’t miss this opportunity to showcase your original artwork! Deadline for entries is March 2, 2012. For more information and to apply, visit http://columbiafestival.com/2012ArtParkForm.aspx
]]>I’m not a big shopper, but I love trying to find the perfect gift for each person in my life. I enjoy making my own home made gifts, or, failing that, buying a unique handmade gift from a local and/or independent artisan.
It may seem odd to think about the winter holidays in June, but when I’m out at LakeFest each summer, I try to take a bit of time to walk around our fine arts and crafts show and sale, identifying those artisans whose products would make great gifts for my friends. If I’m shopping online, I try to check out websites like Etsy – an online marketplace where you can find creative people from all around the world selling handmade items. In fact, some of our ArtPark artists have their own virtual “shops” on Etsy. At the bottom of this blog post, I’ve included the links to some of these shops.
We at the Festival are also doing a bit of “shopping” this time of year too. We spend the months of December, January, and February trying to identify those performing artists who would be the perfect gift to our community in June. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait few more months to unwrap this present – but that doesn’t mean you can’t add the Festival to your gift list!
I’d be remiss in my role as Fundraising Coordinator if I didn’t mention that you can make a donation to the Festival by simply going online. Your contribution to the Columbia Festival of the Arts will help us to continue giving the gift of the arts to our community this year and in years to come. Plus, making a donation in honor of a friend or family member is a lovely gift for that person in your life who seems to have everything.
Happy Shopping!
Diana Fooksman
Fundraising Coordinator
As promised, here are just a few of our 2011 ArtPark artists with online shops:
]]>If you braved the crowds for some post-Thanksgiving shopping, chances are you might have heard this tune, or others such as White Christmas, The Little Drummer Boy (Bing Crosby & David Bowie – MUST SEE!), or the dreaded Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer. With the exception of the novelty Grandma tune (30 years old now) it seems there is very little contemporary music that has been absorbed into the holiday cannon. I am not sure the reason for this, though I suspect it has to do with the role traditions play during the holidays. Just try introducing a fake tree into a house that cuts down a live one every year. Or maybe you’d like to be the family member who suggests ham instead of turkey?
2012 will mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Festival. And while it’s hard to compete with holiday traditions, we are very grateful for the opportunity to serve in some small part as a summer tradition for patrons of the arts here in Columbia, Howard County, and greater Maryland. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Enjoy the weeks ahead as you sit back and relax with friends and family and celebrate your favorite holiday traditions. I know my season will have officially started just as soon as CBS airs A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Happy Holidays
Josh Stoltzfus, Programming Manager
]]>
]]>
Wise Fool New Mexico. Photo by Gary L. Brown
If you weren’t at Lake Kittamaqundi this weekend, you truly missed out on what we think was one of the best LakeFest weekends EVER!
Friday in our office was a flurry of activity as we began setting up for the weekend. Our crew and the terrific team from Columbia Association got to work setting up the stage and all of the various tents and food booths that we would need throughout the weekend while we packed up stuff in our office and started carting things down to the lakefront.
In the midst of all of this activity our Programming Manager, Josh, met up with the terrific performers of Wise Fool New Mexico at HCC for a small group workshop – Moving Through Physical Theatre (Wise Fool taught an additional workshop, Partner Acrobatics for the Whole Family to nearly 45 participants on Sunday morning).
- Wise Fool New Mexico’s Sunday Workshop
When the events at the Lakefront kicked off with a parade through the Festival grounds from the March Fourth Marching Band we knew we were in for an exciting weekend. The musical groups represented styles from Southern Soul to Gypsy to Irish to Reggae to Blues and Jazz. The headlining performances by March Fourth and Wise Fool had people coming back to LakeFest night after night.
March Fourth Marching Band. Photo by Gary L. Brown.
For people interested in the visual arts, this year’s Festival featured more than 65 artists participating in our ArtPark invitational show and sale, more than half appearing for the first time. Also in ArtPark were three different wineries offering tastings and a number of new delicious food offerings.
This event was extra special thanks to our many Festival partners. HoCoPoLitSo shared the literary arts with everyone in attendance, the Howard County Office of Tourism and Promotion once again presented the Chalk-it-Up street art contest, and KidzArt provided free arts and crafts activities and instruction for children and their families. Also for the young (or young at heart) were clowns, face painters, balloon artists, and more.
But we’re not done.
LakeFest was just our kick-off weekend, and we still have more in store for the 2011 season. Check out ColumbiaFestival.com for more information!
What was your favorite part of LakeFest? Share in the comments below!
]]>]]>
We’ve spent most of the afternoon getting ready for 
tomorrow, setting up the room (with help from the great team at Howard Hughes Corporation), putting out linens, and preparing the centerpieces for the tables.
Our transformation of the space finishes
tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll be updating our Facebook and Twitter pages with more photos as the room comes together.
This year marks the 5th year that the Columbia Festival of the Arts has hosted a comedian or comedic group as part of a special evening at the Howard Hughes Corporation’s Spear Center.
Tomorrow night, Jon Reep will take the stage (following a New Orleans-inspired meal from Linwood’s) and share his supersonic energy with the more than 200 guests in attendance. Jon appeared at the 2010 Festival with two other winners of NBC’s Last Comic Standing and had the audience rolling in the aisles as he told stories about his life growing up in Hickory, NC and the transition from the deep south to the glitzy world of Los Angeles, CA.
This is one e
vent we look forward to each year as the kick off to the Festival season! In less than one month we’ll be in full swing, and this helps to get our whole team excited for what’s next!
We’ll see you tomorrow as we “let the good times roll” all night long!
For those of you who can’t join us tomorrow, here’s a great video of Jon doing stand-up.
Diana Fooksman, Fundraising Coordinator
]]>Lots of great ticketed music this year as well, particularly looking forward to soul legend Bettye LaVette at the Smith Theatre on June 21. Bettye came up during the golden age of soul music in the 1960s and is currently experiencing an career resurgence do in no small part to her Kennedy Center Honors and Obama Inauguration performances. Even if you aren’t familiar with Bettye, you might know a lot of tunes off her new album, Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook which features stunning new takes on tunes by the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and many more.
]]>