For the third year, Ripley’s Aquarium and Arrowmont’s School of Arts and Crafts have joined forces with the city of Gatlinburg to host the annual Fine Arts Festival May 19-20. The festival is one of several events scheduled for that weekend in Sevier County. Held on the same weekend as the Gatlinburg Scottish Festival and Games, Sevierville’s Bloomin’ Barbeque and Bluegrass and the Robert F. Thomas Foundation benefit concert featuring Dolly Parton, it may seem like there’s too much to do and not enough time to do it. But arts festival organizers say their event compliments the others.
The Fine Arts Festival began three years ago when Ripley’s president Bob Masterson thought sudh an event would be good for the area. “We were trying to attract more clientele into the city of Gatliburg,” said Steve File, general manager of Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies. “We though a fine arts festival would be a good way to do it.”
Ripley’s then approached Arrowmont and its director, David Willard. They formed a committee and began looking into holding a festival. With “tremendous support” from the community, the Fine Arts Festival was born to offer a varied selection of fine arts that would attract more visitors to the area.
From day one, File said quality, not quantity, was the number one goal of organizers. “We wanted to have top quality,” File said of the type of artists the festival committee was looking for. “We wanted to have quality more than we wanted all the numbers.”
“From my perspective, we wanted fine arts,” Willard said. “Fine with a capital F.”
The quality of the fine arts has continued to rise over the years, Willard said, with organizers working to bring in artists working in various mediums.
Proceeds from the Fine Arts Festival benefit Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and the Sevier County Arts Council.
Information courtesy of The Mountain Press