It’s time once again for the largest annual arts event in Fort Wayne, featuring a full day of the city’s best in the visual arts, music, dance, theater, comedy, restaurants and food, and educational activities. 

Taste of the Arts is a free event that will have activities at Promenade Park, The Landing, Rosseau Plaza, and Arts Campus downtown. 

The festival runs from 11 a.m.-6 p.m., but if you stick around Promenade Park, you can hear some after-hours music from JJ & McRae at 5:30 p.m., KelsiCote at 6:40 p.m., and Los Galaxy at 8 p.m. during WBOI’s Meet the Music.

Providing resources

Arts United is the local nonprofit umbrella organization that puts on the Taste of the Arts.

“Our role in the community is to help provide resources, not only to other nonprofit organizations in the arts and culture scene, but also to be an advocate for arts and culture for everyone here in our community and northeast Indiana,” said Rachelle Reinking, director of communications for Arts United. 

They serve through arts advocacy and promotion, fundraising and grantmaking, business services support, and community and economic development, using the Arts Campus Fort Wayne facility.

“The reason that we host Taste of the Arts every year is because this is one of the few chances that our community has to experience the variety of arts and culture we have without the barrier of cost,” Reinking said. “There’s nowhere else that you’re going to see more than 80 performances and be able to shop multiple art markets all in one place.”

Going to Market

The centerpiece and highlight of the festival is the Artlink Market, where more than 40 local artists spanning all the visual arts media will showcase their work and present it for sale. You can meet each artist in their own booth. 

This isn’t your average festival marketplace: The artists have been hand-selected by Artlink, so you will see the finest work this area has to offer. This is the best time to experience the whole range of northeast Indiana’s visual art — although Artlink also has a smaller winter event on weekends in November and December. 

For a list of artists, go to artsunited.org/taste/artlink-market/.

Culinary arts

The “taste” part is enjoyable, too. You can buy food and drink from 40 local restaurants representing the full range of cuisine that Fort Wayne has to offer. You’ll find the Restaurant Rows on the Arts Campus, Rousseau Plaza, The Landing, and Promenade Park.

“One of my favorite things is just the sheer variety that we have this year,” Reinking said. “There’s something for everyone’s taste. We really highlight local cuisine.” 

You’ll find fare from the town’s favorite breweries, taco trucks, barbecue, hot dogs, ice cream, and restaurants emphasizing fish, South American, Jamaican, and Middle Eastern dishes. 

“Personally, I’m always excited to grab a coffee during the long day as well as grab something from Banh Mi Pho Shop, because I love their spring rolls,” Reinking said. 

You can read the list at artsunited.org/taste/tastings/.

Performers

About 80 bands and artists, theater groups, dance, and comedy acts will be performing nonstop on 12 stages throughout the day. You can hear everything from heavy metal to pop, hip-hop and R&B, big band jazz, high school choirs and orchestras, and singer-songwriters. 

Amaneceres de Mexico, the Fort Wayne Dance Collective, and the Serpent of the Maumee belly dancers are only some of the dance groups. Fort Wayne Civic Theatre, Youtheatre and more will be doing scenes and revues, and Broken Pencil Improv and the Maumee Mary & Joseph comedy groups will be there too. 

You can see the full list of performers and the schedule at artsunited.org/taste/performances/.

The music, theater, and comedy is spread throughout the festival thanks to buskers and strolling performers. 

“Typically we have some that are willing to teach you how to do certain things, such as juggling,” Reinking said. “We have a local aerialist who sets up a tall rig in Calhoun Street, and she lets people have a try on silks.”

For those who would rather stay grounded, Artlink has its figure drawing club. Anyone is allowed to come in and have their picture drawn or try their hand at a charcoal drawing of a friend or family member. 

Stories and artists

Inside Arts United Center, the Human Library Fort Wayne chapter will provide storytelling. People of diverse backgrounds are loaned as “books” to initiate a dialogue with visitors on challenging topics. 

Also, Purdue University Fort Wayne will host its virtual reality art experience, and Cinema Center will present select film previews from the upcoming Hobnobben Film Festival in October.

Artlink will present two exhibitions, Moments: The Plein Air Movement and The Red Planet by Mary Johnson.

Fort Wayne Artists Guild will present the Kekionga Plein Air Event. Kekionga is the name that Native Americans originally gave the Fort Wayne area, and “plein air” refers to painting in the open air. Come and see artists compete, working in real time.

Fort Wayne Sister Cities connects us with the city of Taizhou, Zhejiang, China. Inside Fort Wayne Museum of Art you can meet five artists from the Huangyan Jiufeng Landscape Painting Academy, working live. Their exhibition will be on display at the museum until Sept. 17.

Alexandra Hall, director of Art This Way, will be conducting 1-mile walking tours of our vibrant murals and public art at 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m., starting at the Helmholtz sculpture west of Arts United Center.

Something for the kids

For the kids, NIPSCO will once again host their STEAM Park (that’s Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics) in Freimann Square, where kids and parents can get hands-on. 

“It’s mostly comprised of our arts and culture partners,” Reinking said of presenters. 

For example, ARCH “brings in Lincoln logs to talk about engineering, and kids can figure out how to build their own structures based on different architecture types. Usually, Embassy Theatre comes in and demonstrates how their theater pipe organ works.” 

Other organizations will have small projects that students can put together and take home with them as well.

“There’s a whole lot of interactive opportunities,” Reinking said. “There’s no shortage of different things to do and experience.”

For the latest updates and schedules, go to artsunited.org/taste/.