48th Annual Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival Begins March 28

Alexandria, LA – The 48th Annual Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival will be held at First United Methodist Church in Alexandria from Friday, March 28 until Sunday, April 6. This annual event includes a variety of art exhibits, guest speakers, musical entertainment and other activities to celebrate the arts.

Special events during the Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival include:

Opening Reception: March 28 at 6 p.m.
The Opening Reception features the presentation of merit awards for the competitive show and the School Art exhibit. Juror Samuel Joseph Corso, a renowned artist in stained glass design, will give a gallery talk.

Regional Art Exhibition: March 29 – April 6, from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The competitive art exhibit showcases more than 70 two and three-dimensional works from local and regional artists. A special exhibit entitled Plein Air Paintings of Southeastern Louisiana features works by Claude Ellender, Mary Monk and Louis O. Morales. The School Art exhibit displays the art of local students and their teachers. All exhibits are open daily, March 28 – April 6, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m.

Children’s Day at the Arts Festival: March 29

Diana MacKenzie from The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Massachusetts is presenting Artful Adventures, interactive opportunities for children and families to create collages, puppets and masks.

Workshops include:

Animals in Motion – 9:15 a.m. and 12: 30 p.m.

Wild Animal Masks – 10:30 a.m.

Feathered Flyers – 1:45 p.m.

Space is limited – pre-registration is required online at www.fumca.org/artsfestival.

Opening Sunday: March 30 at 11 a.m.
Cynthia Fierro Harvey, bishop of the Louisiana Conference of the United Methodist Church, is the guest speaker during the 11 a.m. worship service on Sunday, March 30.

Jazz on Jackson: April 4 at 6 p.m.
This annual event features a family-friendly outdoor coffeehouse with entertainment provided by Gordon & Gail Roach & Friends.

Art in the Garden: April 5 at 10:30 a.m.
Felder Rushing, a master gardener, horticulturist and author, is presenting Art in the Garden, followed after lunch by a guided tour of the gardens of Carl and Janet Ahrens. Pre-registration is required online at www.fumca.org/artsfestival.

All exhibits and events are held at First United Methodist Church, 2727 Jackson Street in Alexandria and are free and open to the public. Additional details, including registration forms for Children’s Day and Art in the Garden, are available online at www.fumca.org/artsfestival.

About the Tom Peyton Memorial Arts Festival

The arts festival was established in 1967 to encourage use and understanding of the arts as a means of healthy expression and to foster a wholesome, creative spirit in the community. The First Annual Festival, organized around a competitive art exhibit, was the first juried competitive show in Central Louisiana. For more than four decades, First United Methodist’s annual arts festival has presented to the community a broad variety of visual art exhibitions, special exhibits and workshops in various media as well as numerous programs of music, dance, film, literature and drama.

The festival was renamed in 1980 to honor the memory of the Rev. Tom Peyton, a former associate minister whose five-year ministry to the entire community’s arts and educational efforts was especially significant.

The core of the festival remains the juried, competitive show which retains the respect it has earned from artists throughout a widespread area.