Athfest Incorporated

Programs: Athfest educates produces the annual athfest music & arts festival. Athfest showcases local, regional and national talent to athens residents and residents of surrounding communities and states. Over the past 20 years the festival has gained a dedicated fan base and we see festival goers from all over georgia and the southeast. The athens convention and visitors bureau estimates that approximately 60,000 people attend athfest annually. The festival gives more than 120 musicians an opportunity to perform live and get their music out to thousands of fans they may not have reached otherwise. Less that 10% of the bands who apply to perform at athfest are accepted to perform on the main and second stages. In addition, nearly 60 local and regional artists showcase their art in the athfest artists market. This artist market is a juried artist market and athfest takes pride in selecting high-quality artist to partcipate.

athfest educates accepts grant applications from local educators and youth development specialties working in athens, ga schools, 501(c)(3) nonprofits, community organizations, and government programs with k-8 youth in the areas of music and arts education. Athfest educates awards grants twice a year, which totals approximately 50,000/yr, to support the advancement of high-quality music and arts education programs. In the 2017-2018 academic year, our grants served over 7,000 youth in 13 local schools, and five community and government-based programs. These grants enable young people to attend live, professional musical and artistic performances and installations, participate in hands-on music and arts programs, and increase their access to, and use of, professional music and arts equipment. In addition, athfest educates proudly awards grants to permit educators and youth development specialties to attend professional development opportunities.

the ultimate mission of athfest educates is to advance music and arts education for the young people of athens. One way we achieve this goal is through the kidfest component of the athfest music & arts festival. Kidfest is a three-day celebration that showcases kid-friendly bands and gives youth an opportunity to participate in free arts-based activities approximately 3,000 youth attend kidsfest each year. Kidsfest prides itself on giving up-and-coming middle school and high school-aged musicians the stage and a chance to perform live in front of athfest festival-goers. We believe this exposure, be it for band members or their young fans, is building the basis for music appreciation and encouraging all youth to get excited about playing music. Kidsfest is free and is a draw for many of our area's low-income residents which is particularly valuable to our mission since low-income communities often do not have the financial resources needed to attend live musical performances.