Mini Fest is returning to Milwaukee on July 12 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. located at the Zócalo Food Truck Park in Walker’s Point.
The interactive, family-friendly festival began six years ago in Chicago as a way to give young children an outlet to express their creativity and imagination. Mini Fest brings in local artists and small businesses who specialize in their field to teach hands-on arts and crafts workshops throughout the day.
Mini Fest founder and creative director Sydney Walters recognized an absence of art in the lives of her own students and decided to do something about it – thus brainstorming and bringing Mini Fest to life.
“I liked the idea of a bite-sized art class where kids can use different materials and get a feel for a new passion,” Walters said.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
Mini Studio is a non-profit organization with the mission to deliver art education at an affordable cost to families. Online ticket pre-sale prices for Mini Fest start at $36 and include access to all twelve workshops and a workshop ticket book that acts as a passport to take participants from project to project. Prices of each individual workshop vary and are set by the artist.
Crafts are designed for pre-k through middle-school-aged kids and typically take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to complete. In previous years, workshops have included projects like DIY sunglasses and shrinky dink charms.
New to this year’s festival is a drawing lounge in the Zócalo private room, which will be a quieter area for kids who need a break to take a deep breath and recharge their batteries while coloring.
What sets Mini Fest apart from other festivals and kids’ art events is the hands-on creation that occurs – sending kids home with armfuls of their own handmade crafts.
“It’s a busy day,” Walters said. “Kids are making art projects all day and when they leave Mini Fest they usually have about 10-12 new projects that they either learned or practiced or built.”
One of the many priorities of Mini Fest is to build an art educator community, Walters said. Being partially volunteer based, she encourages anyone who is interested in becoming an art educator to volunteer with Mini Fest and eventually pitch their own idea to lead a workshop in coming years.
“It’s about building a community within a community and people love it so much they keep coming back so we kind of just keep growing in that aspect, but we really do cherish everyone that works with us,” Walters said. “It’s a special event for anyone who has a place for art in their family.”
Although the event is catered towards younger ages, there is no age limit for who can participate in the craft-making, Walters said.
“We have middle school kids come with their friends, we have single ladies come with their friends in their twenties and thirties – so we really don’t want to put an age on it,” Walters said. “It’s really just focused around having fun, nostalgia and making art.”
The intent for Mini Fest is to continue with the festival’s current momentum and eventually expand to other cities across the country, bridging the divide between art and affordability.
“We would love to have a little circus vehicle where we pull up with all of our art supplies,” Walters said. “That would be the dream.”
Click here to find out more about what you can expect to see at this year’s Mini Fest Milwaukee. Ticket prices increase to $38 if purchased on the day of. The first 50 participants will receive a free tote bag.
