For one weekend every fall, artists line the historic streets of Williamsburg for An Occasion for the Arts. The free community event puts paintings, photography, sculptures, jewelry and other works on full display for the community to admire, with many available for purchase.
“What’s so amazing about the festival is that direct interaction between the public and the artist,” said Hannah Barco, executive director of An Occasion for the Arts. “One great way to think about it is like a museum in the streets with 150 different exhibitions, and in each solo show, the artist is there.”
The festival returns Oct. 2-4 for its 58th year, drawing professional and student artists, live performances, hands-on activities and more to Colonial Williamsburg. The annual event started in 1969 and has grown into a longstanding Williamsburg tradition supported by generations of artists, volunteers, visitors and local organizations.
Liz Moore & Associates is the presenting sponsor of this year’s festival. Company President Liz Moore believes supporting An Occasion for the Arts plays an important role in the Williamsburg community.
“My husband, Roger, and I have attended An Occasion for the Arts for as many years as I can remember. We look forward to it every fall and make sure that we’re in town. We ran out of walls to display all our treasures, and so we turned to collecting birdhouses! It’s one of the special things about living here in Williamsburg, for sure,” Moore said.
Celebrating art in Williamsburg for 58 years
When An Occasion for the Arts debuted in 1969, the festival featured just 23 artists. Still, more than 13,000 people showed up.
The festival has grown considerably since then. Organizers estimate about 40,000 people attended last year’s event. This year, more than 150 professional artists will participate, along with hundreds of student artists, while more than 20 live performances are planned throughout the weekend.
This year also includes a new dedicated space for Williamsburg’s local arts community. After holding mixers and surveying local artists about what they wanted from the event, organizers created Front Porch, a new exhibition featuring work from dozens of local artists.
While the event has changed over the years, its connection to the Williamsburg community runs deep.
“There are folks on the board now who were in the student showcase as middle schoolers,” Barco said. “The idea of taking this weekend every fall to celebrate the arts and to come out and just focus on the arts is a part of what makes Williamsburg what it is and why it’s a vibrant, thriving, creative community.”
Meet the artists behind the work
Professional artists from across the country will participate in this year’s juried exhibition. Artists are selected through a jury process, with work spanning 13 categories including painting, photography, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture and other forms of art.
Throughout the weekend, those artists have the chance to speak with thousands of visitors about their work, how it was created and the ideas behind it.
For painter Clare Spooner, the festival is also a chance to reconnect with the community she grew up in. Now a full-time painter in New York City, Spooner has also spent summers painting in the South of France as an artist in residence at the Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing. She first participated in An Occasion for the Arts in 2018 and has returned every year since.
“There are people who have been coming back to my booth at Occasion for years and years, and whether they buy or not, it’s a nice little yearly catch-up,” Spooner said.
Meeting the artists gives people a chance to hear the stories behind the work on display. Spooner paints primarily from life, so she can often tell visitors where she was, what she was doing and even what the weather was like when she created a particular piece.
“If you ask me, ‘Do you remember where this was painted?’ I say, of course! It was on July 28, and I had dinner with so-and-so, and I can just tell you the whole story,” Spooner said. “I might say, ‘Oh my gosh, it was so windy that day and it flew off my easel.’ And yes, that really happened.”
The festival also gives young local artists a place to share their creativity. Their artwork will be displayed in Wren Yard as part of Avant Garden, a youth-centered area created in partnership with the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary. Avant Garden will also feature a youth stage, hands-on workshops, community art projects and a chalk-art competition, with drop-in activities for kids.
Plan your visit
This year’s celebration begins Friday, Oct. 2, with a kickoff concert featuring Pressing Strings in Merchants Square starting at 6 p.m. The main festival follows Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 3-4, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Artists will line Duke of Gloucester and North Boundary streets, while the new Front Porch exhibition will be located in Merchants Square.
Festival supporters can also take a break from exploring the artist booths at Patron’s Patio, an area featuring complimentary food and wine tastings, specialty drinks, artist demonstrations and live music. Access requires a donation, with single-day passes available with a gift of $50 or more.
The P3 parking lot will be home to the festival’s Block Party, featuring the main performance stage, regional musicians, food and drink vendors and sponsor exhibits throughout the weekend. The lot will be closed to parking during the festival.
Visitors can park at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center for $10 per day and take a complimentary shuttle to the Historic Area. Other public parking lots in the area will also remain open.
Admission is free, so visitors can stop by for a few hours or make a day of it.