This fall, the city of Rancho Mirage is putting a new spin on its annual art festival—while aiming to become more favorable to the artists who can participate.
The Rancho Mirage Festival of the Arts, formerly the Rancho Mirage Art Affaire, will be held Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 5 and 6, at the Rancho Mirage Community Park. Not only is it the first time that the festival has been held since before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s the first time the festival hasn’t required an entry fee for the 30 or so artists who are participating.
Gabe Codding, the city’s marketing director, said that decision was made to encourage new and different artists to get involved in the festival, especially those who aren’t typically found at other regional art fairs.
“We’re not looking for people who are normally on the circuit, who’ve got a trailer full of their wares, and they’re just traveling from week to week,” Codding said. “We’re actually inviting artists to come out of their studio who don’t normally exhibit.”
Participating artists include locals from the Coachella Valley and high desert, as well as other parts of Southern California, Texas and the Pacific Northwest. Two Coachella Valley artists, Kim Manfredi and Tim Shockley, are the 2022 featured artists.
Codding said the festival will hopefully become a launchpad for the artists to find new patrons, without having to invest in the upfront cost of an entrance fee.
“At the end of the day, we’re hoping they’re like, ‘Wow, I went to that show; I enjoyed a great couple days and had a lot of engaging conversations. I got five or six commissions out of it, or I sold pieces of my art, and really got my name out there,’” Codding said.
The re-launch also includes much broader programming. Music performances scheduled throughout the weekend have a jazz theme, with musicians including Brujeria Jazz, the Barry Baughn Blues Band, the Goodfellas Jazz Band, the Amanda Castro Band and pianist Deanna Bogart. The schedule also includes artistic demonstrations of drawing and glassblowing. Food and drink will be sold in a dining area from local spots including Babe’s Bar-B-Que and Brewery, Haus of Poké, Wally’s Desert Turtle and Dragon Lili Boba Bar.
For attendees, the event is free of charge, and there’s free valet parking.
“The hope is really for our residents and guests to enjoy our beautiful park and amphitheater, enjoy great music—curated music—and curated displays, and engage with the artists in hopes of them being inspired to commission their own art piece,” Codding said.
“We’re not looking for people who are normally on the circuit, who’ve got a trailer full of their wares, and they’re just traveling from week to week. We’re actually inviting artists to come out of their studio who don’t normally exhibit.”
Gabe Codding, marketing director for the city of rancho mirage
Plans to put a new spin on the festival started before the COVID-19 pandemic, but the pause on public events gave the city more time to reimagine how it would play out. In addition to the changes in the artist lineup and curation, Codding said the city wanted to better incorporate the amphitheater to add a musical element and better reflect the city’s brand.
“We tried to look for opportunities to keep this legacy event alive that people love and are passionate about, and (ask), ‘What’s kind of the next evolution of it?’” he said. “We thought we could upgrade the food and beverage offerings; we can upgrade the overall look and feel, and then we could actually invite artists who wouldn’t normally do this, who don’t normally travel around.”
Codding said it is costing the city about $100,000 to put on the festival. For a city with a $31 million annual operating budget, known for its private enclaves, opulent resorts and concentration of wealth, it seems like a small price to pay to help support the region’s artist economy.
Nationwide, public funding for the arts hasn’t kept pace with inflation—even before the historic hikes we’ve seen this year. Grantmakers in the Arts found in its 2020 report that when adjusting for inflation, total public funding for the arts dropped by 19% over the past 20 years. During 2020, when most public events were shut down, 62% of artists became unemployed, and 92% lost income, according to Americans for the Arts. The estimated total annual income lost per creative worker that year was $27,103.
So when a wealthy city takes the time and effort to find a new way forward to support the creative community, it’s worth noting—and it’s worth encouraging other cities with means to do the same.
“From our city’s perspective, being able to create an event that matches with the Rancho Mirage brand, and gives an event like this a little bit of a lift, is a great opportunity for us to give back to the community,” Codding said.
For more information on the Rancho Mirage Festival of the Arts, visit the Festival of the Arts website.