COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) –The Greater Columbus Arts Council canceled the 2020 Columbus Arts Festival in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. They say juried artist will be present in 2021.
A press release states the decision is to follow Governor Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health’s current recommendations, which have an uncertain end date.
Officials say all 2020 Festival artist and vendors will receive reimbursements and will be automatically juried in to the 2021 festival and featured in their online gallery.
“After closely monitoring Governor DeWine’s and Dr. Acton’s advice, we made the decision to cancel the 2020 festival and present this year’s juried artists in 2021,” said Sean Kessler, director of the Arts Festival. “The festival depends on hundreds of artists and vendors from around the country and the world to come together; coordinating all those pieces makes it very difficult to reschedule for this year. While we are heartbroken about this decision, we feel it was essential that we do our part to curb the coronavirus’ spread. We encourage the public to discover the inspiring work of this year’s artists through the online gallery.”
In a letter to the community, GCC president & CEO Tom Katzenmeyer says the desicion was hard, but a good one.
