Artist applications for the 31st annual Red Earth Festival, scheduled June 9-11, 2017 at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City, are now being accepted. Each year, the award-winning festival draws thousands of people to a three-day weekend celebrating Native visual art and dance.
The Red Earth Festival showcases artists representing Native tribes and nations from throughout the United States and Canada. The event drew nearly 20,000 attendees in 2016. It is recipient of numerous awards and honors including recognition as a TOP 10 Arts Festival in America by a USA TODAY/10 Best reader’s poll, recipient of a Redbud Award for “Outstanding Event” from the Oklahoma Tourism & Recreation Department and recognition as a Top 100 Event in North America by the American Bus Association. USA Today has also included the Red Earth Festival as one of “10 Great Places to Experience Native Cultures.”
Red Earth Festival art market categories include contemporary and traditional art forms including cultural items, jewelry, basketry, paintings, drawings, graphics, photography, beadwork, clothing, textiles, weaving, sculpture, and pottery.
Navajo weaver Sarah Aragon of Indian Wells, AZ received the 2016 Grand Award for Best of Show for her woven rug entitled “Riding to Red Earth. Dylan Cavin, a Choctaw painter from Norman, OK, was recipient of the 2016 Red Earth President’s Award for his painting entitled “Robed Chief,” and Chase Earles, a Caddo potter from Ada, OK, received the 2016 Kathleen Everett Upshaw Award for his piece entitled “Kahun K’an Duck Bottle.”
Artist applications for the 2017 Red Earth Festival art market can be downloaded from www.redearth.org, or obtained by calling (405) 427-5228. Booth space is limited and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis.
For more than 30 years, the 501 (c) 3 non-profit Red Earth, Inc has been dedicated to its mission to promote the rich traditions of American Indian arts and cultures through education, a premier festival, museum and fine art markets.
Red Earth is recognized as the region’s premier organization for advancing the understanding and continuation of Native American traditional and contemporary culture and arts.
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Red Earth, Inc. is an Allied Arts member agency and is funded in part by the Oklahoma Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The Oklahoma Arts Council is the official state agency for the support and development of the arts. The Council’s mission is to lead, cultivate and support a thriving arts environment, which is essential to quality of life, education and economic vitality for all Oklahomans. The Council provides more than 500 grants to over 250 organizations in communities statewide each year, organizes professional development opportunities for the state’s arts and cultural industry, and manages hundreds of works of art in the public spaces of the state Capitol. For more information, visit arts.ok.gov.
