Arts and Crafts Festival saved
• James Scott Decorative Arts Society chair Craig Briggs welcoming home the North East Arts and Crafts Festival in mid-June.
By Tony Scott,,
April 14, 2021
The North-East Arts and Crafts Festival will be held in June this year after all.
The annual event, in its 47th year, has been saved by the James Scott Decorative Arts Society, which is the committee behind the Scottsdale Mechanics Institute Hall.
The group which had organised the Festival announced four weeks ago that it could no longer muster the energy or commitment to run it.
However, the chair of the Decorative Arts Society, Craig Briggs, said it was an iconic event for the North-East and “well worth saving”.
Organisation was about six weeks behind the preferred schedule but he’s confident it can be made up in time for the June long weekend.
“More than 5000 works have been exhibited over the years and it would be sad indeed not to have this outlet for artists and crafts people, who are based throughout the State.”
He thanked the former committee for its help and mentoring in preparing for the 2021 festival.
A theme of “Coming Home” has been established recognising that the Mechanics Hall was the original home of the festival for its first 30 years.
More recently it has been hosted at the Scottsdale RSL Club.
The theme is to cover works submitted for the competition, which has a cash prize of $1000 for the exhibitor who best captures its meaning.
“There’ll also be $750 for the people’s choice winner and another $250 for a Lego and photographic section.”
“We might look at going towards a digital art exhibition in the future, but maybe not this year.”
Organisers are in the throes of contacting more than 500 past and potential artists inviting them to enter works, with everything going into the exhibition available for sale.