The 2025 revival of a 2018 creative community showcase is in the books and leaders are looking ahead to next year’s installment.
Winter Park Arts Weekend, February 20-23, offered programming at the Center for Health and Wellbeing, a big band concert and activities in Central Park, and a day of free and discounted events at local museums and galleries. The Art in the Park outdoor festival on Saturday, Feb. 22, was the first time the entire Winter Park Arts & Culture Alliance was featured in the same place at the same time.
“All 22 members participated,” said Arts & Culture Alliance Senior Advisor, Anda Arial. “There were several Board members, volunteers, employees, and friends from each of the member organizations who helped with staffing, tent set-up, and spreading the word.”
Among the participating organizations was the Winter Park History Museum, which staged a “Hands-on History” activity that featured uniquely designed vintage items. “Part of the experience was getting people to guess what certain objects were, like a hairdryer that looks like a microphone or the first version of a portable chair,” said Museum director Christy Grieger. “We also had vintage games like hula hoops and jacks, and we had a typewriter where children typed messages to friends or loved ones.”
The Saturday event also featured several performing arts groups on the Central Park Stage. Members of Central Florida Vocal Arts performed pop music favorites from The Beatles, Chappell Roan, and Abba, and musical numbers from Hamilton, Wicked, and RENT.
“Overall, the reception was fantastic,” said Central Florida Vocal Arts Marketing Director, Michaela Wright. “The audience took a hands-on approach to the festival and we had several people come by wanting to get involved with CFVA’s programming and some individuals from other local nonprofits who were interested in future partnerships and collaborations.”
Arts Weekend is rooted in the city’s Weekend of the Arts celebration that debuted in February of 2018 to raise awareness of local cultural offerings. The event ended with the start of COVID restrictions and Arial said the idea to reignite the effort came through a grant from Edyth Bush Charitable Foundation. “Part of the grant specifications were that we bring back Weekend of the Arts, which we renamed Arts Weekend,” she said. “We must support our arts locally, at the city and community level, in order to have an arts community with longevity. If you look at the communities with vibrant art scenes – Santa Fe, Redwood City, Ashville – they were grown from within.”
“Arts Weekend helped expand our reach to people that did not know about us, which was the goal,” said Grieger. “Our attendance at the museum was up on Saturday and we also stayed open on Sunday and had a small handful of people come by. We hope it offered a deeper appreciation of the city’s cultural heritage to visitors and residents.”
“Having easy access to a pooling of the local arts nonprofits and businesses in a fun way to shed light on the incredible programming the so many may not have known about,” added Wright.
The city plans to keep Arts Weekend on the 2026 schedule and Arial said lessons from this year will help streamline production, including ways to better promote the weekend and ideas for additional activities. “We had a great first year back and there is so much good to build on for next year.”
Winter Park’s next major art event will be the 66th Annual Sidewalk Art Festival, happening March 21-23.
