Throughout the year downtown East Lansing is a hub for college students and university visitors. But twice a year, due to two major festivals, the area is transformed into a nucleus of music, art, culture and a celebration of community.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the East Lansing Art Festival, taking place on Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18. A two-day arts and cultural event, the festival is free to attend and filled with live music and original works from across the country. With over 200 exhibiting artists and up to 80,000 attendees, the East Lansing Art Festival brings in over $18 million to the downtown East Lansing area each year.

“Changes in the economy don’t seem to have a huge impact on total sales,” Corinn VanWyck, program coordinator for the City of East Lansing Art Festival, said. “Obviously there’s some fluctuation [but] people still come.  They plan for it all year.”

The East Lansing Art Festival is held on the streets of downtown East Lansing, off of Grand River Avenue, between Abbot Road and MAC Avenue. A combination of a marketplace to purchase artwork and a free exhibition, the festival includes live music performances on two stages, hands-on arts and crafts activities for children and families and art exhibitions. All of which are free to the public.

With a budget of $130,000 to $140,000, the nonprofit entity rents tents, equipment and stages for the event, while relying heavily on fundraisers and sponsors. This year’s sponsors include the Ingham Regional Medical Center, Summit Community Bank and the Accident Fund Insurance Company of America.

“Being a nonprofit we try to keep our costs down whenever possible because if we’re spending it, that means we need to raise it,” VanWyck said. “The dollars don’t necessarily represent the cost of the festival because there are hundreds of volunteers; without them, it would be costlier for the city or the festival’s board to put [the festival] on. So, it’s not a cost that falls to the taxpayers or the residents because it’s handled through volunteers, donations and sponsorships.”

According to VanWyck, the festival is funded half and half by sponsorships and grants, as well as funds earned through the artists’ application and space fees.

“We also really appreciate any kind of sponsorship for goods and services because without that we couldn’t put it on,” VanWyck said. “Whenever we can get businesses to help us out, it offsets the cost in our budget that we don’t have to either fundraise for or make up for in some other way. We like to make sure we have enough budget to promote the festival.”

One promotion in particular that is new to this year’s festival is the artists’ welcome wagon. The Art Festival Board is working with downtown East Lansing businesses to promote the area to participating artists by way of a welcome packet. The packet will contain information on attractions and businesses within the area.

“We’re going to hand out [packets] to the artists, shake their hand, and say ‘we’re glad you’re here and this is what our community has to offer,’” VanWyck said. “These are artists plus their family members. They come and stay in hotels, they eat here, they shop and go see entertainment.” In the past the East Lansing Art Festival has brought more than $2.2 million to local retailers and $1.8 million at area restaurants during the festival weekend.

The festival is overseen by the East Lansing Art Festival Board of Directors, which is a volunteer body, and supported by the Arts Commission and City of East Lansing. Preparations for the festival are a yearlong process, with artists’ applications and jury process beginning as early as September of the prior year. Over 400 local and national artists applied in 2007 to exhibit for one of the 16 categories during the 2008 festival. With categories ranging from ceramics and jewelry to photography and 3-D mixed media, approximately 230 exhibitors will be chosen to exhibit in the festival.

During the festival a handful of experts who are artists themselves, gallery owners, or art educators go around and look at each exhibitor. The jury then votes and awards the different prizes to the exhibiting artists. The prizes are sponsorships received from various groups and range anywhere from $250 to $1,500.

“We do have several artists who win awards at the festival,” VanWyck said. “These are cash awards to the artists. So that’s a real draw for the higher level art.”

Another downtown East Lansing festival that is a big attraction for both area residents and worldwide artists is the Great Lakes Folk Festival. Held this year August 8–10, the festival is approximately half a mile long, stretching from the main stage on the corner of MAC and Albert avenues to Valley Court Park.

Described by Lora Helou, communications director for the Michigan State University Museum, as three days of culture, tradition and community, this festival brings in an estimated 90,000 attendees from all over the world to downtown East Lansing each year.

The museum first began producing festivals in 1987. In 1999 the museum encouraged the City of East Lansing to produce the National Folk Festival, which was an event that traveled from city to city every three years. Once that festival left in 2002 the Great Lakes Folk Festival was created to take its place and reoccur in the area year after year.

Following the same model and format of the National Folk Festival, the Great Lakes Folk Festival has multiple music and dance stages, with anywhere between 15 and 20 musical acts and 70 performances.  During the festival, attendees can hear everything from Acadian fiddle from Prince Edward Island in Canada to bluegrass, western swing, Wisconsin polka and more.

In addition to music, the festival has a variety of food vendors selling traditional Middle Eastern, Ethiopian, Hawaiian and Jamaican dishes. There is also a marketplace to purchase handmade goods, and a children’s folk activities area.

Requiring around 500 volunteers and costing approximately three quarters of a million dollars to produce, the Great Lakes Folk Festival takes almost a year to organize. The festival’s board of directors work with a community music adviser and the Smithsonian Folkways to book musical talent from all over the world.

“Very seldom do we have returning artists because we really try to bring in something that’s new and unique to the area,” Helou said.

This year the festival will be bringing in Chinese musicians as a way to acknowledge the summer Olympics in China.

Admission to the festival is free. Because artists’ fees, staging, technical setup and advertising and promotion for the festival can add up to a hefty price, the museum fundraises pretty aggressively to cover the costs, while working with various Michigan State University departments that help with underwriting. Sponsors such as SBS, Harper's Restaurant & Brewpub, and Beggar’s Banquet have also assisted in making the festival a reality year after year. In addition to the $75,000 the museum receives from the City of East Lansing, attendees donate to the Bucket Brigade throughout the event, bringing in an average of $25,000.

According to Helou, festivals such as the Great Lakes Folk Festival help us better understand our neighbors, our state, the region and the world.

“We are a festival rich community, which is fantastic,” Helou said. “It’s wonderful the way people turn out to support these events.”