I’ve lived in Worcester for about thirteen or fourteen years, and every year in September I have attended the stART on the Street festival. Whether I walked around with family or hung out with friends, stART has been one of my favorite parts of living in Worcester.
As someone who has actively supported the festival through attending, donating, and volunteering, I was genuinely devastated when I heard that the festival would not be continuing after 2024. The festival holds so many memories for so many Worcester residents, and even has fostered its own cultural importance over the years.
In a world where it’s important to support small and local businesses, stART on the street was the perfect opportunity for these vendors to gain publicity. I’ve seen everything from paintings to earrings to custom glass blowing to American Girl doll clothes sold at stART. All of the vendors are so incredibly talented, and the amount of interest that they get from the festival is significant. With a greater switch to online selling on websites like Etsy, it’s harder to get publicity and really get that personal connection from buying from a real person. stART gives these artists an opportunity to interact with their customers and get insight and feedback they might not have gotten while selling online. And even greater than simply selling artistic goods, the festival was a real celebration of creativity in Worcester. One of my favorite parts of being at stART is hearing local bands and musicians soundtrack the festival.
While we still have similar festivals around Massachusetts like the Lowell Folk Festival, in recent years they have strayed away from art and more towards food vendors. While it’s amazing to see so many restaurants and cafes getting recognition, there is also the factor of keeping the arts alive. That’s one of the things that stART does very well. It allows the community to be active in the arts, and even gives the opportunity to be creative yourself. There are so many opportunities at the festival where you can actually go and get creative yourself. Whether it’s creating your own pin-button or doing a spirograph with the Worcester Art Museum, it gets people involved and interested in supporting the arts.
The reason that stART on the Street was so important to our Worcester community was because it fosters real human connection. For one weekend in September, the community can come together to celebrate the arts, eat good food, and interact with each other.
So this raises the question: what will become of the artist community in Worcester? We know stART on the Street was a hub for many artists to be able to share and showcase their work all in one place, so could there be something similar that these artists could sell at? Well, one option could be farmer’s markets. As far as I know, there is no local farmer’s market in Worcester. Farmer’s markets are an excellent place to sell artisan goods amongst other small businesses on a smaller scale. And while it wouldn’t be as big as the stART festival, it would still give small businesses in Worcester a chance to sell and show off their goods. Another option could be to open a space in the Worcester Public Market where small businesses could rotate in and out. This would be a good place for painters to showcase their work, assuming that their medium is more perishable. Or maybe the Worcester Art Museum could set up a gallery to spotlight local artists. Not only would this be a great opportunity to get artists well-deserved publicity, but it would also be a draw to the art museum, a win-win.
No matter what the solution is, it is important that we keep the arts alive in Worcester. Not just for the artist’s sake, but for the sake of all of us. Being exposed to art is extremely important, and it allows us to learn more about different cultures and even learn more about ourselves. stART will surely be missed and will be remembered as one of the greatest celebrations of art and creativity we’ve had in Worcester.
