Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival

The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is among the best-regarded, most popular arts festivals in the United States. The three-day, juried art show draws over 200 of the nation's best painters, potters, sculptors, jewelers, graphic artists, artisans, and other artists.

Live musicians hit the right notes from the Main Stage with sounds ranging from bluegrass to Cajun and blues to jazz and classical.
Performing companies, dance schools, community groups, and area folk groups have their time to shine.
Heritage Artists demonstrate traditional arts, crafts, and trades, including woodcarving, engraving, spinning, weaving, and other skills in the Heritage Arts Area.

Children become artists at the Children's Arts Festival with numerous hands-on art activities. All children's art activities are free, fun, and geared toward children toddler age and older. The Student Art Show showcases the talents of both private and public school students of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. Over 2,000 art pieces from elementary, middle, and high school students will be displayed.

Start early in the food court with breakfast cinnamon rolls and specialty coffees. Move on to various options, including TexMex, BBQ, Asian, Cajun, American, and Greek favorites, plus a raw bar and grilled sandwiches. Before you leave, check out more desserts and ice cream choices.

The Art Show:
The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is a juried art show. Each year, we receive more than 600 applications for the festival. Each applicant is required to submit images of their work with their application. Qualified jurors are shown each artist’s images anonymously, and collectively choose more than 200 artists who will be invited to exhibit their work. Best of Show, Awards of Distinction, Awards of Excellence, Awards of Honor, and Awards of Merit winners from the previous year’s festival are exempt from the jurying process.

The artists compete for a total of $25,000 in prize money in categories including ceramics, drawing, fiber/leather, glass, jewelry, mixed media, oil/acrylic, photography, printmaking/graphics, sculpture, watercolor, and wood.

Children’s Arts Festival: Saturday and Sunday 10:00 a.m - 4:00 p.m. Free
Just south of Seville Square, Bartram Park is the site of the Children’s Arts Festival with gobs of great art projects for kids to get their hands on, all provided free of charge, including face painting, clay play, a flower shop, button creations, sand art, sidewalk art, and a balloon man. There will be glitter, glue, sequins and the like for children to make things like masks, crowns, magic wands, and jewelry. The Children’s Festival is open Friday for children with special needs from selected schools and is open to everyone on Saturday and Sunday.

Student Art Show:
Also in Bartram Park is the Student Art Show which showcases the talents of both private and public school students of Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. Over 2,000 pieces of art from elementary, middle and high school students will be on display.

Music on the Mainstage
Live musicians hit the right notes on the Main Stage with sounds ranging from bluegrass to Cajun and blues to jazz and classical.

11:00 a.m: Fox and the Bear
1:00 p.m: Paul Childers