GumptionFest V searches for artists for festival Sept. 11 and 12 in Sedona

GumptionFest V

• Fifth annual event takes place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 11 and 12.
• Activities last all day at several venues along Coffee Pot Drive.
• Admission is free. All art and music is supplied by donation.
• All amateur and professional artists are invited.
• To volunteer, participate or for more information, e-mail GumptionFest@gmail.com.
• After four years of promoting the grassroots arts community of Sedona and the Verde Valley, GumptionFest is looking to fill its artist ranks for the festival.

GumptionFest V searches for artists

The fifth annual GumptionFest arts festival takes place Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 11 and 12.

Led by festival founder and director Dylan Jung, the organizers are opening the search for artists, volunteers, sponsors and vendors.

The event includes activities for all ages, including art workshops and activities for young children and teenagers.

For the last four years, GumptionFest has been run as a grassroots street festival block party with a budget built on donations and goodwill.

Artists, organizers and staff aren't paid, yet the festival still has no trouble coordinating the huge volume of artists who want to contribute.

The festival simultaneously operates five venues along Coffee Pot Drive, with more than 100 artists, 40 bands and 40 solo musicians performing. Average turnout numbers about 1,200 attendees.

At the inaugural GumptionFest in 2006, the goal was to provide a full-day experience showcasing the best of the local amateur, young, underground and under-the-radar artists that call the Verde Valley home. They share the stages with local and regional professional bands and artists.

The second and third GumptionFests added an additional day to accommodate all the artists and bands who wanted to participate, while the 2009 event added a third day.

The guidelines for submission are simple: Anyone who creates art in any form is eligible.

The lineup of past years has included local musicians like Liquid Theory, Yin Yang & Zen Some, Radio Dogma, the Tarantulas, Goldmund, Dave Harvey, the Dry River Yacht Club, DJ Nate Metro and Chris Spheeris. Regional acts from Phoenix, Flagstaff and Prescott also clamor to participate.

Painters, sculptors, visual artists and photographers have art on display.
A poetry open mic also showcases the spoken word and page poets from around Northern Arizona and the Verde Valley.

For GumptionFest 5: Raiders of the Lost Art, organizers are looking for visual artists, photographers, dancers and dance troupes, musicians, bands, theater groups and poets who want to be a part of the festival for either one or two days.

Talent levels are not important: participants should range from full-time professional artists and musicians and published poets to recreational artists, part-time photographers and those who pen poems in private journals.

Youth and teen artists are also strongly encouraged to participate whether they aim to become professional artists as adults or just create art, write poetry or play music to pass the time.

Volunteers are also needed this year, so even those who don't play an instrument, paint, sculpt or write poems can help and be a part of one of the largest free arts festival in Sedona.

To participate, volunteer or contribute as a sponsor, contact GumptionFest@gmail.com or visit GumptionFest on Facebook.