Olaf Growald
ArtsGoggle 2019 in the Near Southside
Beloved Near Southside arts festival ArtsGoggle has served as a launchpoint for small businesses, hosted Leon Bridges on its stage, and showcased countless amateur and professional artists of all ages.
So, when the pandemic put the event on hold last year, the Near Southside community mourned the absence of the 20-year-tradition.
But ArtsGoggle is making a comeback, with nonprofit economic development group Near Southside, Inc., announcing that the event will return to Magnolia Avenue from noon to 10 p.m. on Oct. 16.
“This is one of [local businesses’] busiest days of the year, if not the biggest sales day of the year,” Megan Henderson, director of events and communications for Near Southside, Inc., says. “It's critical income to our artists — some artists will make as much at an ArtsGoggle as they make the whole rest of the year.”
The team of two that organizes ArtsGoggle — Henderson and Natalie Atkinson, events and projects manager for Near Southside, Inc. — waited until medical professionals advised them that it would be safe to hold the festival this year. The event’s infrastructure will be altered slightly, leaving more space for artists and visitors and utilizing the patios of businesses on Magnolia. With the setup made safe, visitors will be able to experience what makes ArtsGoggle unique.
“The Near Southside is really special in that it is a cultural district and the creative and design district, but we’re also the Medical District for Fort Worth,” Henderson says. “Those two things work in partnership every day in our neighborhood, where artists and creatives are side by side with medical workers and health care employees. And we wanted to do what was best for everybody.”
The festival began as a response to the Near Southside’s inability to participate in the Fort Worth Art Dealers Association’s (FWADA) Gallery Night, as the area didn’t have any formally registered galleries with FWADA. ArtsGoggle then grew from an indoor event with 12 artists and 12 local businesses to a full-day outdoor festival featuring over 1,000 local artists, live music from local bands, and food from area restaurants and food trucks.
Unlike juried art festivals like the downtown MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival, ArtsGoggle is open to every artist who wants to participate. “If you are doing something creative, and you're passionate about it, we really want you to be at ArtsGoggle,” Henderson says. “We really believe that this is the right show for the community to have a conversation with you about your work and for you to feel really proud to share your work with the community.”
Everyone from painters and photographers to poets and performance artists have all shown at past festivals. If you don’t make your own art, you can help out the artists by volunteering at the event.
“It will be the very same ArtsGoggle that you have always loved, where it's weird, wacky, wild, unexpected art, and it's probably two years worth of art to look at instead of just one,” Henderson says.
The deadline for registering as an artist, food vendor, or volunteer is Sept. 16. Learn more about ArtsGoggle and how to get involved at artsgoggle.org.
