RESOURCES:
The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original
The Ann Arbor Art Fair on Facebook
The Ann Arbor Art Fair on X (Twitter)
The Ann Arbor Art Fair on Instagram
TRANSCRIPTION:
David Fair: This is 89.1 WEMU, and it is Art Fair week! Every July, 4-500,000 people gather and walk the streets of the city, taking in art in a variety of forms and presentations. I'm David Fair, and the three different fairs that comprise the Ann Arbor Art Fair welcome folks from around the world Thursday through Saturday of this week. One of the fairs is marking its 66th year, making it the oldest, and that is appropriately noted in its title. The Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original, continues to honor its long-standing traditions while adding new and engaging items to its annual offerings. Our guest today is Angela Kline, who serves as the original's executive director. And thanks for joining us at such a busy time, Angela!
Angela Kline: Thanks for having me! I'm so excited to talk to you about all the good stuff!
David Fair: Yeah, well, how hectic are the last few days before the fair actually opens?
Angela Kline: Oh my! Well, not only do we have the Art Fair coming up, which is July 17th through the 19th, but we have Art Fair Kickoff, which is Dart for Art, which is our fundraiser for the Original. We have our youth art programs, and then Paint the Town Party. And it all happens concurrently from 5-9 p.m. because the streets close down for Art Fair, so we throw a big party!
David Fair: I'm sure that everyone recognizes that a whole lot of preparation goes into putting on an event of this size for the events, but I suspect most of us underestimate the process. How long after one art fair closes does work on the next begin?
Angela Kline: Immediately! And sometimes, you're working on the 2026 right now. You have to prep some things because we not only have all of the safety things that we need to make sure all of our attendees and artists are safe with the help of our wonderful city, but we have grant writing and we have all that stuff because we're all three nonprofits, so we have to make sure we have the funding in place to do all of fun things that we do.
David Fair: The Ann Arbor Art Fair is one of, if not the largest, juried art fairs in the country, and I think the juried part of the three fairs that make up the larger event sometimes gets overlooked. At your Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original, what is the jury process for awards?
Angela Kline: Ours, it takes the full year, so it's very expensive. We start with choosing, even our featured artists, for the next year's show. So, at the 2025 show, we'll choose the featured artists that will be at the 2026 show, so we actually start the jury process there a little bit. And then the jury, if you're applying for the show, it happens between November 1st and February 15th, we collect applications. And then, we jury that following week in February. So, it takes a solid week to jury all the applications that we receive, because we received, this year, just for our fair, I'll say, around 700, but we only have 130 or so spots that are open because we have a jury exempt group. Only 20% of the people that apply to the original get into the show.
David Fair: That is rather amazing! Now, if we put the three fairs together in total, roughly 1,000 artists participate each year. How much international participation is there this year?
Angela Kline: We have, I think, that maybe the Guild's Fair has a few international. We have a couple from Canada this year, a few artists from Canada, but that's not a huge portion of our show. We're mostly, I would say 40% or so are Midwest. And then, we have some all around the country.
David Fair: We're talking with Angela Kline on 89.1 WEMU. She's executive director of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original. A little later in the program today, we'll be talking about the WEMU/Ark Main Music Stage at the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair with its executive director, Karen Delhey. And you can add in the State Street Area Art Fair, and you get the largest juried art fair in the nation. Angela, were there any additional challenges to getting artists here this year as a result of changes in federal immigration and travel policies, even with the limited number of international participants?
Angela Kline: That was not a challenge this year. Now, we may find challenges next year, but this year, we have not had challenges in that area. Where we have had challenges politically are with the tariffs and with the grants being changed and rescinded through the NEA. And just to give you an example, I had already purchased signage for our organization. And the only place you could get this very lightweight aluminum was in Canada, and I'd already placed the order. And during that process, the 50% tariffs increase happened, and I could only use this money I had with a grant for operational infrastructure. So, you could only use the grant for something like signage, so there was almost a $4,000 tariff on that aluminum on a grant that we may no longer be able to get next year. So, that was a one-to-one of how the political system affects small nonprofits that are here to help children and help artists and things like that.
David Fair: While we're talking about changes in federal policy and priorities, we should probably touch on arts funding as a whole. The arts almost always underrecognized when it comes to funding priorities at all levels of government. Further cuts are being planned and enacted at the federal level. Now, the Ann Arbor Art Fair is free and open to the public. Where does your annual funding come from? And moving forward, is it going to be enough?
Angela Kline: That's a great question! Our funding comes from grants that are NEA and the MAC grants from the state and then other small grants that we write from around the community, community grants, and then sponsorship. So, yes, I think we are all great stewards of our reserve and how we take care of our organization. And we've weathered the pandemic and all of those things. So, yes, we will continue, but it does make it very, very difficult because our goal, and it's such a labor of love, is make opportunities for artists, make opportunities for our community and to help. So, we use every penny we have--all three of us--to help our community. And so, when we see things or hear things like grants being cut across the board, it is very painful. It is painful to see how that affects the community.
David Fair: Philanthropy is changing as well, and whether it be corporate philanthropy or individual giving, there are less donors who are participating. The amounts being gifted are larger on that front, but that's just not sustainable for the longer term. So, how are you dealing with that particular challenge?
Angela Kline: Well, I think we're dealing with it by just working a bit harder, because we have such a large footprint that we are able to have sponsors, and that keeps the cost of the space low for our artists. That's our goal. So, that's where we create more outreach in those ways than counting on other dollars.
David Fair: Our Ann Arbor Art Fair conversation with Angela Kline continues on 89.1 WEMU. She serves as executive director of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original. The Ann Arbor Art Fair begins on Thursday and runs through Saturday, but a lot of local events in between are going to keep the streets occupied. The Ann Arbor Art Fair is, without question, Angela, important to the health of the local economy. How much money does it pump into the area in a given year?
Angela Kline: From our last survey, it was $80 million in net new spending. And just to put that into context, just for the Original, and this is all public information, so you can look up our budget for the year, is around, for the Original, $350,000. Our artists make about $2.5 million. Collectively, all the artists on the footprint make about a $10 million-plus. And then, the community, all stakeholders and everyone that from the last survey was $80 million in that new spending. So, from our small, tiny nonprofit budgets, we are able to get a lot of money in the pockets of people that are creative and dreamers and doing great things for the city and our business owners and all of that. So, that makes us pretty happy!
David Fair: And along those lines, from my perspective, the Ann Arbor Art Fair is really truly part of the community identity. But I'm sure I don't need to tell you there are a good number of locals or townies that find it all too inconvenient. For those who typically leave town or hunker down at home for the Art Fair. I'm sure they're interested in attending the annual Townie Party. But what might this year's fair offer to entice them back into a more participatory mood?
Angela Kline: Well, that is a great question! You know, I often think about this in this way. And this is because, when I grew up, I was the first person to go to college in my family. My mother had no money, and she was only 18 when she had me. And so, these types of programs, free to the community, free arts education, all over the footprint of this event, were the ways that she would help to help educate me, aside from public school. And she took me to everything that she could. And so, I try to keep back in that way. I think all three of the directors try to give back in that, and it's very meaningful to them. So, if you are a community member and you're thinking about, "Oh, this is a hassle to me," please in your mind know that you are doing a great thing. I know the traffic might be frustrating, but think about all the good that your community is doing by giving access to arts education across the board. And then, I think we're Michiganders, so we're hearty people. We can deal with a little traffic inconvenience for a good thing.
David Fair: Every football Saturday, it's a problem!
Angela Kline: Exactly!
David Fair: In the years that you've been with the fair, is there an element, event or presentation that has become a personal favorite?
Angela Kline: Well, I have to say, the Youth Art Fair. I love it! We've doubled the number of kiddos in it this year. They're fourth grade through 12th grade. We had 38 students last year. We have 70 this year. They took home, last year, $12,000. They're on track to take home almost $30,000 for their college education this year. They keep every penny of their sales. And as well as our non-assumes, which is our college student program, they do the identical. And it's just so lovely to watch them be surrounded and embraced by 200-plus professional artists on our footprint and across the entire fair footprint, 1,000 artists, really embracing these young people and showing them how you can be really successful as an artist in this way.
David Fair: Well, you've got me truly excited about this year's event! I can't wait to make it down there myself! Thank you so much for the time, Angela! I appreciate it! And best of luck with this year's event!
Angela Kline: Thank you so much! I look forward to seeing you! Take care!
David Fair: This is Angela Kline, executive director of the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, The Original and our guest. Stick around a little later in the program. We'll have more on this 2025 edition of the annual event when Karen Delhey from the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair joins us. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89.1 WEMU-FM Ypsilanti. Celebrating 60 years of broadcasting from the campus of Eastern Michigan University!
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