Cathedral City hosts inaugural ‘Festival of the Arts’

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. (KESQ) – Cathedral City hosted its inaugural Festival of the Arts at its Community Amphitheater on Saturday.

The event started at 10:00 a.m. and was scheduled to wrap up at 5:00 p.m.

Dozens of artists displayed their art for curious crowds to browse and purchase. Organizers said for some, this may be their first opportunity to show off their craft to others.

"When you get responses from [the] crowd, from people seeing your artwork and you're able to interact with them, then [artists are] just inspired to go do more," said Craig Liebelt, the Chair of Cathedral City's Public Arts Commission. "It's inspiring for people to be able to talk to artists and it's very inspiring for them as well. So it's a win-win for everybody."

Liebelt said the event falls in line with Cathedral City's tagline of "where art lives." He pointed to the vibrant mix of mediums as a curtain of smooth jazz accompanied the exhibition, performed by Grammy-nominated artist Yve Evans. Also on display: glass art, paintings, collages, and wearable art, like clothing, accessories, and footwear adorned with prints.

Artists also took advantage of the opportunity to showcase their cultures, like Edwin Liew-Ferguson, a photographer and digital artist, who proudly displayed his most recent piece: an abstract rendering of a horse, in honor of the Year of the Horse in the Chinese zodiac calendar.

And despite being in its inaugural year, Liebelt is already planning this event for years to come. He said, "As we go in the future, we're hoping to add more: other kinds of performing arts and other kinds of arts as well, and hopefully go from a one day to a two day event."

If you missed today's event, Liebelt said not to worry. He teased ahead to other events in the coming months. More information is available on Cathedral City's Public Arts webpage, found here.