Children's Arts Festival set to kick off Friday

Think of it like a sectional tournament -- for artists.

Beginning at Arts Council of Southeast Missouri's First Friday Art Walk, from 4 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 2, the organization is set to unveil its 24th annual Children's Arts Festival.

The festival will showcase the visual and literary artwork of more than 230 third through eighth grade students from a couple dozen schools in the region. The students have studied under 19 art educators.

The kickoff event will include entertainment by the students of Jake Tropf of Shivelbine's Music Studio in Cape Girardeau, dance performances by students of Fingerprint Urban Dance Studios of Cape Girardeau under the direction of Michael "Crank" Curry and an appearance of Grumpy the Groundhog, in honor of Groundhog Day.

Vickie Bean will judge the works in several categories. The winning pieces will be part of Fine Arts Education Day at the state Capitol Rotunda and featured in several locations -- the offices of state Sens. Holly Thompson Rehder and Jason Bean at the Capitol, Cape Girardeau City Hall (44 N. Lorimier St.), Scout Hall (420 Broadway in Cape Girardeau) and Delta Area Economic Opportunity Corp. (104 W. Center St. in Sikeston), among others.

The exhibit will be at the Arts Council, 16B N. Spanish St. in Cape Girardeau. For those unable to get by there, 360-degree scans of the exhibition will be available on the council's website, capearts.org.

For more information or to help sponsoring the exhibition, contact Arts Council director Kelly Downes at director@capearts.org.

Congratulations to all those participating in the exhibition. We look forward to seeing their work and celebrating these budding artists.