Benton Harbor Children's Art Fair

A non-profit
organization

Benton Harbor Children's Art Fair

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- History and Mission of the Art Fair
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History of the Benton Harbor Children’s Art Fair

The Benton Harbor Children’s Art Fair was born of discussions in 1997, between the developing arts district in Benton Harbor and Dar Davis of the Krasl Art Center in St. Joseph and has become part of the fabric of our community. Our mission is to provide free access to the arts in all its forms and bringing together people and families from widely diverse backgrounds creating important bridges and relationships between generations, individuals, families and communities.

There was a need to highlight the developing area, but on a grander scale there was an under-served population in Benton Harbor. We thought holding it conjunction with the Krasl Bluff Art Fair would add to its visibility and would compliment the "grown-ups" art fair. It is with this in mind that brought the first Benton Harbor Children’s Art Fair to the community.

With a committee of five we planned a community garden and laid the foundation for a clothesline art fair of children’s art and hands-on art activities to run in conjunction with the Krasl Bluff Art Fair. We brought Professor Richard Westmacott, author of African-American Gardens and Yards in the Rural South, of Atlanta, Georgia to Benton Harbor. There was a display of photographs from his book at the Benton Harbor Public Library that ran the month prior to the Children’s Art Fair, culminating with 2 lectures by Professor Westmacott and a critique of our community garden. It was a 2-day fair, with approximately 60 pieces of art from area children, 6 hands-on art activities and approximately 40 children participated. This was accomplished with money out of committee members’ pockets.

The Second Annual Benton Harbor Children’s Art Fair became more focused with a larger committee and some funding. We settled on a 1-day fair and hired shuttle buses to run between the fair and the housing developments and the fair and Krasl’s Bluff fair. More schools participated with the clothesline art display and attendance was up.

Each year we have experienced a continued growth in participation from volunteers, fair-goers, funding and expansion of arts offered. We introduced performing arts with local and professional performers in music, dance, puppetry and storytelling. (e.g. Southwest Symphony Orchestra, MadCap Puppeteers, Citadel Dancers, All God's Children) For the past 2 years we have experimented with selling student artwork and will expand that facet of the fair this year.

In 2004, we became a 501(c)3, which has opened the door to more grant possibilities. Because the Benton Harbor Children’s Art Fair is a FREE event, we must count on those grants along with an extensive volunteer base.

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