It has been listed among the Top 10 Arts Festivals in America, and
Oklahoma City’s 37th Annual Festival of the Arts aims to live
up to its reputation. Oklahoma City’s own “rite of spring”
begins Tuesday, April 22 and runs through Sunday, April 27 in downtown
Oklahoma City’s Festival Plaza and Myriad Botanical Gardens.
Founded in 1967, the Festival has become a favorite event that draws
more than 750,000 people annually. The Festival received more than
500 applications from artists wanting to be one of the 144 Plaza Artists
selected to exhibit their work.
The 2003 edition of the Festival of the Arts will feature the fourth
annual Pro-Am Exhibit consisting of original pieces of collaborative
artwork by Oklahoma artists and local business and cultural leaders.
Windscapes will feature dynamic, kinetic art perfect for when those
Oklahoma winds come “sweeping down the plains.”
Succulent snacks and mouth-watering meals are sure to please Festival
goers. To tantalize taste buds, the Festival International Food Row
will play host to many of OKC premier restaurants. Continuous live
entertainment on four stages will feature everything from rock to
blues and classics
to country.
While at the Festival of the Arts be sure to make time to visit the
Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory located at Myriad Botanical Gardens.
National fame revisited the Crystal Bridge recently when USA Today
reviewed a book in their Travel Section listing the Crystal Bridge
as one of the Top 10 conservatories in the U.S.
The book, Crystal Palaces: Garden Conservatories of the United States,
by Anne Cunningham, features 25 greenhouses spanning the Victorian
era to present day. In the book Cunningham lists her favorite conservatories
including the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory. Other favorites
included the Longwood Conservatory in Kennet Square, PA; Enid A. Haupt
Conservatory, New York Botanic Garden; U.S. Botanic Garden Conservatory,
Washington, D.C.; and the Climatron in St. Louis, Missouri. At 14
years old, the Crystal Bridge Tropical Conservatory is one of the
youngest gardens on the list.
The
Myriad Botanical Gardens is located at Reno and Robinson in downtown
Oklahoma City. For information call 297-3995 or visit www.okccityhall.org/BotanicalGardens.
For
information about the Festival of the Arts call the Arts Council of
OKC at 270-4848 or visit the web at www.artscouncilokc.com.
