When we had our last Festival, we were serving cake to our artists and patrons and celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Kaneland Community Fine Arts Festival. We had 3,000 patrons enjoying student art and professional artists as well as musical acts, dance, and drama. 2019 was a year to celebrate our success!
Flash forward to what would have been the 21st annual Kaneland Community Fine Arts Festival but instead of mounting a student art show and meeting amazing professional artists, we were spreading the word that the Festival was canceled. All over Illinois, everything stopped. No public spaces were open: no restaurants or movie theatres, no churches or schools. The year 2020 was the year of quarantine and the new normal was “stay home and mask up.”
Jump again with me to today and the world is slowly emerging. Vaccines are offered, public spaces are opening, and there is a sense of hope that we are nearing an adjustment to another new normal, but one with less separation. We’ve all been sequestered too long and we’re ready to break out and enjoy life as we’ve known it. So this year, the KAI board of directors decided to have a Festival in any manner we could. They looked at our mission of encouraging people's involvement in, appreciation of, and support for artistic endeavors and to foster the development of artistic abilities and choose to embodied the mission. While we’re not ready for a full in person Kaneland Community Fine Arts Festival, we can certainly celebrate the Arts we have created this year.
This year’s Festival is dedicated to our Art faculty of the Kaneland school district. These amazing 8 teachers have poured their hearts, their energies, and their creativity into providing an outlet for discovery and joy and art for their students. We applaud them that in a year where frustrations were high and motivation low, they pushed through and encouraged the students to create! Thank you, Emily and Erin, Suzanne and John, Kara, Carleen, Colleen, and Laurel. Your hardwork has not gone unnoticed and your showcase of student art is as wonderful as always!
We hope you take your time looking at the artwork from the Kaneland student work (over 600 pieces!) to the professional artist spotlights. This exhibit will be a permanent display on our website for you to return as much as you like. We’re thrilled you are here.
A Special Round of Applause to Those Who Made This Event Possible:
Kaneland Artist and Parents! Congratulations on being selected for the Festival!
Kaneland Art Faculty!
Kaneland Administration for their support!
Kaneland Community for sponsorship and support!
KAI Leadership for their guidance and leadership!
The following individuals who were a part of the editing process: Deanna Cates, Laura McPhee, Trisha Mills, Jen Runestad, and Zoe Paulson and the rest of the Paulson Family.