About/History
The Women's Art Festival was started in the late 70's by a group of women who were interested in promoting the work of women artists. This outstanding annual one day rain or shine festival has always operated the third Sunday of August. The original concept for the festival has, for the most part, remained unchanged.This unique, rain or shine art festival has four facets:
connect with women's organizations
This non-juried festival features original art designed and created by women and includes painting, printmaking, sculpture and pottery, jewelry, drawing, photography and fabric art to name a few.
The number of artists who exhibit has grown from about 50 in the beginning to over 200 in 2008. About 1/3 of the exhibitors each year are new to the festival. Several artists have inspired their daughters and granddaughters to participate, resulting in multiple generations exhibiting together!
Artists donate 20% of their sales to the women's organizations who have applied to the Festival for funding. In addition, they are invited to donate a piece of art to the silent auction. In the last 27 years, the Women's Art Festival has donated over $70,000 to support women and children who live in Kingston and the surrounding area.
The event has grown from its small roots to be a well-recognized and highly anticipated event. For many years now, we have seen a consistent turnout of approximately 3000 plus people for this one-day event. The crowd is always representative of the whole community and many local residents make it an annual outing for the whole family. It has also become a favourite with the tourist crowd. In addition to the wonderful artwork, visitors can enjoy an afternoon of music, a children's craft area, and a silent auction.
If your group is a Kingston based women's organization and is interested in applying for funding, please contact wafkingston@sympatico.cafor further infomation on the application process.
We Are Proud to Sponsor the Following Projects and Initiatives:
Join us on August 16th, 2009 in City Park, Kingston, Ontario to enjoy the day and help us support the worthwhile projects of the following women's groups who continue to make a difference in our community.
Childbirth Kingston Inc., an independent not-for-profit organization promoting and supporting informed decision making through prepared childbirth classes, a childbirth educator training program and a Doula registry.
Health Pursuits Reading/Study Group, is the subject of a study by the Environmental Health Clinic at Women's College Hospital, Toronto, studying arthritis, FM, CFS, MCS, etc. and this cookbook will help with diet and nutrition.
Women's Counselling Program providing individual and group counselling and support to women who are (or have been) in an abusive relationship.
Kingston Community Health Centre programs and services are based on our mission statement: To care, To Respond and To Build. We work with the community to reduce barriers, and social isolation, language barriers, povety and promote positive integration.
Street Health Centre our organization has a client population of 50% women. We provide a multitude of services which include wellness care, prenatal food boxes, milk coupons, vitamins and support with legal and safety issues when needed.
The following are some of the organizations to have received funding from the Women's Art Festival:
Dawn House Women's Shelter
Interval House (Kingston and Lennox and Addington)
Baby and Me
Disabled Women United for Change, Kingston
Elizabeth Fry
Kingston Community Counselling Services
Street Health Centre: Creating a Better Life Program
South Eastern Ontario Breast Feeding Coalition
Kingston Immigrant Services Multicultural Women’s Program
HIV/AIDS Regional Services
Post Partum Adjustment Coalition
Breast Cancer Action Kingston
Women’s Training and Employment Program
Disabled Women’s Network
Anorexia and Bulimia Association of Kingston
As a 20th Anniversary initiative in 2001, the Women's Art Festival established the Performing Arts Bursary which assists women in music and dramatic arts at Queen’s. This is in addition to our established Visual Arts Bursary, which is for female visual art and film studies students.These bursaries are awarded to women with demonstrated financial need and this decision is made by the Student Awards Office at Queen's.
