The 62nd annual East Lansing Art Festival is this weekend.
To preview the event, WKAR’s Scott Pohl takes us Inside The Arts with a conversation with the festival’s coordinator, Heather Majano.
Interview Highlights
On the art festival's main offerings
We have 170 artists this year, the same footprint as usual down Albert Avenue and up M.A.C. We have a great lineup for our artist demos this year. Some of our artist demonstrators are different, but the concept is the same. And then we have two great days of performers.
On some new additions
We're working with Tiny Bit of Wood this year. It's a business in Lansing that works with wood, and the guests will be able to experience some different interaction there. We also have a really cool collaboration with the Downtown Development Authority and the (East Lansing Public) Library. They will be working to create a woven mural that the community can participate in the weaving process. It is being woven with an upcycled gate and then banners from previous events that are cut up and then used as the materials. We're also piloting a scavenger hunt for public art [in] downtown East Lansing.
On navigating parking downtown
We have actually collaborated with the MSU Arts and Crafts Fair. We have created a parking map for MSU and East Lansing. It is on our website on the parking and getting here page, and it is also on the MSU Arts and Crafts Fair’s show page. So, it shows you what parking is available, accessible parking, where that is because we increase the amount of spaces during the festival, the parking garages, what the rate is going to be when you enter the garage, how you're going to pay if it's metered or if you're paying when you leave the garage. So, we've really tried to reduce the ambiguity of parking when you come downtown.
Interview Transcript
Scott Pohl: With Inside The Arts, I'm Scott Pohl.
The 62nd annual East Lansing Art Festival is this weekend.
To preview the event, we go Inside The Arts with a conversation with the festival’s coordinator Heather Majano.
With regard to this year's East Lansing Art Festival, let's start with what returns and next, we'll talk about what maybe is new this year.
Heather Majano: We have 170 artists this year, the same footprint as usual down Albert Avenue and up M.A.C. We have a great lineup for our artist demos this year. Some of our artist demonstrators are different, but the concept is the same.
And then we have two great days of performers, which we actually have some WKAR hosts emceeing the stage for us. We're excited for that collaboration. And then we have an amazing food court with some favorites and then some new ones as well.
Pohl: All right. So what's new at this year's festival?
Majano: We're working with Tiny Bit of Wood this year. It's a business in Lansing that works with wood, and the guests will be able to experience some different interaction there.
We also have a really cool collaboration with the Downtown Development Authority and the (East Lansing Public) Library. They will be working to create a woven mural that the community can participate in the weaving process. It is being woven with an upcycled gate and then banners from previous events that are cut up and then used as the materials. We're also piloting a scavenger hunt for public art [in] downtown East Lansing.
And then I'm really excited about some of our new food trucks, too. We have one that is Dominican cuisine. We have some smoothie bowls, and then some returning favorites like Fire and Rice and Picnic Food Truck and Melting Moments. We can't have a festival without Melting Moments. A good mix.
Pohl: We're talking with Heather Majano about the East Lansing Art Festival coming up this weekend. One concern that people always have about the East Lansing Art Festival is traffic and parking, and I would add construction to that discussion. Tell me about the flow of people to and from the festival this year.
Majano: We have actually collaborated with the MSU Arts and Crafts Fair. We have created a parking map for MSU and East Lansing. It is on our website on the parking and getting here page, and it is also on the MSU Arts and Crafts Fair’s show page.
So, it shows you what parking is available, accessible parking, where that is because we increase the amount of spaces during the festival, the parking garages, what the rate is going to be when you enter the garage, how you're going to pay if it's metered or if you're paying when you leave the garage. So, we've really tried to reduce the ambiguity of parking when you come downtown.
And then of course, we're working with CATA again this year to have the shuttle from Lot 89 on campus all the way up to Grand River. So, that's going to help reduce some of that congestion and some of the confusion. And then, yes, there is construction on I-496 and US-127. They have great detours. Follow them, or come up Saginaw or down Grand River. There's lots of ways to get to us.
Pohl: One more question about the music offerings this year. I'm afraid we don't have time to mention everyone, but are there one or two highlights you might want to mention?
Majano: We have some really cool new, new to me, performers, not necessarily musicians, but the Greater Lansing Area Ballet Folklorico crew is coming. We have Kuungana African Drum and Dance from Flint that's going to be here. We also have the Eagle Medicine Dancers coming back which is a fan favorite. The plaza is always full.
And we have Flames and Dames coming back with their circus acts and hula hoops and bubbles and all the excitement that they bring and the interaction that they bring.
Pohl: The East Lansing Art Festival returns Saturday and Sunday, May 17 and 18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Heather Majano is the Art Festival and Art Initiatives Coordinator in East Lansing. Heather, thank you. Let's hope for good weather and enjoy the weekend.
Majano: Yes, thank you. And let's not talk about the weather again.
Pohl: You got it. With Inside the Arts, I'm Scott Pohl.
The city of East Lansing and the East Lansing Art Festival are financial supporters of WKAR.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
