The SPLASH Summer Arts Festival is steadily becoming a Chattanooga staple, and is, at its core, a celebration of children’s creativity and art, with an emphasis on fostering community and building a family friendly environment that highlights Chattanooga youth’s uniquely diverse arts scene.
This year’s festival will also feature children’s art demonstrations, a kid’s zone with children's activities, games, arts and crafts, food trucks, vendors, and live music on Miller Park’s stage.
The sixth annual festival will be held at Miller Park downtown from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. this Saturday, August 16th.
The festival is organized by the local non-profit, SPLASH Youth Arts Workshop, which is co-founded by Charlie Newton and his wife, Iantha Newton. When discussing the origins of how SPLASH Youth Arts Workshop got involved in creating the festival, Charlie Newton mentioned how crucial SPLASH is for the festival.
“SPLASH is a year-round free art school for kids from 3 to 19 years old. Any child can take a SPLASH class. All of the classes are taught by professional artists. SPLASH is the organizer of the festival," Newton said. "It is a festival centered around kids. A diversity of youth organizations come together to put their youth's talents on display, be it music, dance, or visual arts. Professional artists participate by displaying and selling their artworks, and they conduct activities and demos for the kids in attendance. And the festival is free."
This year’s festival will also feature live music, all of which is by children except for one performance. The featured acts will be children, including the Chattanooga Boys Choir, the Chattanooga Girls Choir, the Pop-Up project, Trezz, CCA Brass Combo, CCA Choo Choo Kids, and Songbirds.
While the festival is incredibly fun and full of homespun talent, food trucks, and local vendors, at its heart it is about fostering inclusiveness and community through shared art. The festival is also a major fundraising opportunity for the non-profit and helps to contribute to their free, year round arts education for Chattanooga’s youth and underserved. SPLASH began in 2012 and helps serve the community in such a vibrant and meaningful way.
“The festival offered SPLASH an opportunity to bring the city’s youth, arts organizations, and youth organizations together to celebrate the accomplishments of the young artists that we serve year-round with free art classes,” Charlie mentioned. “We view it as an opportunity to showcase the solidarity of our arts partners and the diversity of our city, as evidenced in the manifold opportunities in the arts throughout our city. It was also envisioned as a fundraising event for our nonprofit organization. We hope to one day expand it to bring in young artists from all over the country.”
SPLASH Summer Arts Festival.
- Saturday, August 16th
- 10:00 a.m.to 3:00 p.m.
- Miller Park, 928 Market St.
- splashyouthartsworkshop.org