Four years after Mini Fest started in Chicago, the hands-on arts festival is expanding its reach to Milwaukee. The kids and family festival will take place at the Zócalo Food Truck Park in Walker’s Point from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on June 30.
Mini Fest’s mission is to connect young, creative minds with small businesses and local artists through hosting arts and crafts workshops for kids.
“Mini Fest is an art-making party to get all kids interested in art, and one thing I’m really passionate about is making art available to all genders and all ages,” Mini Fest founder and creative director Sydney Walters said.
Tell us who you’d pick to be a Betty this year!
Local artists and community volunteers will host various interactive workshops that give kids the creative freedom to explore art and create memories. In past years, workshops have included projects ranging from bucket hat dyeing to pop tart decorating.
Each craft is catered to pre-k through middle school-aged kids and takes 15 to 30 minutes to complete. Each participant will receive a workshop ticket book which acts as a passport to take them from project to project. Every artist sets their own price for their workshop and takes home 70% of total ticket sales.
As a visual arts educator in Chicago, Walters saw that many kids were coming into her high school without much art experience. In response, Mini Fest was born to bridge the gap between children and art education and promote the power of creativity in the next generation.
Since their first festival in 2019, Mini Fest has drawn in more vendors, workshops and customers with each year. The more momentum they’ve built, the bigger the event has been able to grow.
“We’re growing as far as audience, but we’re also growing in terms of how else can we bring art to the community,” Walters said.
This year, Mini Fest is expanding beyond Chicago and hosting their first festival in Milwaukee. Walters is bringing eight different Mini Fest-hosted workshops to Milwaukee at the end of June to lay their roots at the new location.
“We’re bringing as much as we can to show what mini workshops look like,” Walters explained.
Along with these eight workshops, Milwaukee-based artists are also hosting their own kid-friendly classes, including stations with Back Pocket Creations, Brush Box, Balloons by Anna, and Milwaukee Magazine.
According to Walters, Mini Fest aims to make the event accessible for anyone with a creative mind. Mini Fest charges low ticket prices so every kid has the ability to participate in every craft they want.
Mini Fest also provides a platform for local artists to share their passions with young artists. The festival will provide the students and the classroom so that the art educators only have to show up and share their artistic expertise.
The craft festival will also host local vendors like Milwaukee Makers Market, Anna Ellie Art and JubiArtDesign to sell their designs.
Mini Fest runs with the help of their volunteers, including many of Walters’ high school students that come back year after year. Walters is still looking for more teenage volunteers in Milwaukee to help with the workshops. Those who sign up to volunteer will receive a t-shirt, tote and a free lunch from one of Zócalo’s food trucks.
The four-hour long event is open for kids and families of all ages. Look for Mini Fest’s ticket presale on their website starting June 15.
