ARTSPLOSURE - The Raleigh Arts Festival

Artplosure's spring arts festival is one of the North Carolina's most acclaimed and well attended outdoor arts festivals, attracting more than 70,000 people annually to the Moore Square Park area of downtown Raleigh. The weekend-long celebration is free to the public and features more than 250 visual and performing artists. It is scheduled each year for the third weekend in May.

An ART MARKET in the streets showcases the talent of more than 170 juried visual arts and crafts exhibitors from across the country. A Call for Entries is mailed to visual artists and is available on line before the end of September each year. The deadline for applications is in mid-January. An independent jury meets in February to select the artists to be invited to exhibit and sell their work in the festival. Artists compete for six cash awards: Best in Show, Judges' Choice, two Merit Awards, and two Honorable Mentions totalling $3,500.

MUSIC STAGES feature both legends and rising stars from the national and regional jazz and blues scenes. Performing artists presented at Artsplosure have included: Chuck Mangione, Los Mocosos, John Faddis, Joshua Redmon, Tito Puente, Michael Brecker, Nnenna Freelon, Cyrus Chestnut, Eddie Palmieri, Dianne Reeves,Terence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Elvin Bishop, Rory Block, Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana, Bill Bruford's Earthworks, Lenny Marcus Trio, Cigar Store Indians, Bio Ritmo, the Bluerunners, Mamadou Diabate with the Ben Allison Trio, Ex-Centric Sound System, Matapat, the Miri Ben-Ari Experience, Carey Bell and Bob Margolin, Flora Purim and Airto, Christian McBride Band, Los Hombres Calientes, Ray Baretto and the New World Spirit, John Mooney, Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets with Sam Myers, Tracy Nelson and the Nighthawks, Greg Glassman Quartet, Alvin "Youngblood" Hart, Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem, Yerba Buena, the Sauce Boss, Lao Tizer, Curtis Stigers, Dave Samuels and the Caribbean Jazz Project, Bobby Rush, Charlie Hunter Trio, Mosadi Music and Jimmy Thackery & the Drivers, among many others.

KIDSPLOSURE offers an art extravaganza of interactive visual art installations with numerous free "make-and-take" activities for young children and their parents. Children are given opportunities to experience various artforms such as sculpture, painting and drawing with their parents in a relaxed artistic environment. The Kidsplosure Stage presents entertainers geared specifically for children and families.

BUSKERS invade the streets of the festival with high wire acts, guerilla feats of juggling and improvisation. SANDY FEAT, a team of sculptors under the direction of Ed Moore, creates a unique sculpture out of several tons of sand each year.

THE STUDENT ART EXHIBITION is a student visual art competition and exhibition of visual artwork in both two and three dimensions. It is open to all middle and high school students enrolled in Wake County public and private schools. More than 300 students enter the competition each year and those who are accepted compete for $500 in merit awards. Festival attendees are treated to an exhibit of outstanding visual art created by the area's most talented young artists.

JAZZ LUNCH CONCERTS, a series of concerts in downtown Raleigh, feature some of the region's best high school and college performing ensembles in the days leading up to Artsplosure. The concerts offer the bands an opportunity to perform for a wider audience and provide great lunchtime entertainment for the thousands of people who work in downtown Raleigh.

Some past Artsplosure festivals have included PREVIEW CONCERTS, co-sponsored by Artsplosure and the North Carolina Museum of Art at the Joseph M. Bryan Jr. Theatre in the Museum Park on Friday evenings before the weekend. Past concerts have featured The Flatlanders, Marcia Ball, and Geno Delafose and French Rockin' Boogie, The Mahotella Queens, Los Lobos and Dr. John.