KIDS ARTS FESTIVAL
The Kids Arts Festival of Tennessee is the first arts festival in the state of Tennessee that is fully designed for children and youth. Since 2014, Meaghan has worked with the Franklin Parks Department to create and sustain this hugely successful one day festival that celebrates the arts. Due to grants she has secured, the annual event has registered increased funding which allows it to remain free to attendees and to grow in scope each year with attendance reaching over 7000.
The festival features over 200 talented visual youth artists who present their juried original multi-media artwork with prizes and recognition given. Live performances including theater, dance and music offer performance opportunities for youth artists to showcase their talents and each year there are multiple areas for hands-on art making experiences at one of the many art stops.
Each art stop is designed to provide kids and their family members a hands-on artmaking experience that provides parents the opportunity to watch, and enjoy their child playing and experimenting with the artmaking process. This strengthens the importance of arts education by welcoming community members to experience art together. When families collaboratively work through the artmaking process it challenges parents to experience the learning processes that occur in these moments, that of curiosity, questioning, exploring - processes that are vital to growth and learning, no matter our age.
The festival culminates in a community-arts installation project. For this experiential learning project, Meaghan facilitates a collaborative artmaking experience between college students, kids and their family members from surrounding communities. In 2015, she facilitated the creation of a mural and in 2016, they created mosaic tiles that became part of a larger installation project at the 2017 festival that were installed throughout Williamson County. In 2018, she facilitated a collaborative mural where festival attendees were able to write what they love about art on a mural she painted with MTSU students. In 2019, she facilitated the creation of a community flag, made of festival attendees’ hands that will be used at the annual 4th of July celebration in Franklin.
