Q. Why was the Festival cancelled in 2021?
A. In the winter of 2021, a homeless encampment formed at Dunphy Park and after many months and legal considerations, the City moved the encampment to Marinship Park, the traditional location of the Festival. With the loss of Marinship Park, the Foundation did not have the time to identify and secure a suitable alternative location and therefore made the decision to cancel the 2021 event.
Although the homeless encampment is no longer at Marinship Park, the park remains closed.
Q. Who “owns” the Sausalito Art Festival?
A. The Sausalito Art Festival is produced by the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. The Foundation owns the rights to the Sausalito Art Festival and has a multi-year license with the City of Sausalito to host the Festival at Marinship Park. The Foundation is run by a Board of Trustees that is made up of Sausalito and Marin County residents.
Q. What does the Foundation do with the profit from the Festival?
A. The mission of the Sausalito Art Festival is to encourage, promote, and support the arts for the community. Proceeds from the annual Festival support Bay Area arts and community non-profits through grants, artist awards, scholarships and special projects. Through this support, the Foundation makes a significant investment in the future of its community, totaling over $1,000,000 in recent years.
Q. How are the artists chosen each year?
A. The Sausalito Art Festival is a “juried event.” Each year, artists apply to exhibit at the Festival and members of the jury use methods to rate each submission on a number of artistic attributes such as originality, creativity and technique. By combining the scores from each judge, the Executive Director then fills the show with the highest rated artists. Jury members are chosen because of their involvement in the arts with many being professional artists or other experts in the field of visual arts such as gallerists and museum curators. The jury changes from year-to-year and is comprised of 8-10 judges.
Q. Where do the artists come from?
A. Artists from all over the nation and in fact the world, apply each year to exhibit at the Festival. In 2019, artists from 12 countries and 41 states representing 12 categories of art participated in the jury process. Each year approximately 220 artists will be chosen to exhibit.
Q. Why don’t more artists from Sausalito exhibit at the Festival?
A. Although many exhibiting artists come from Sausalito, they go through the same application and jury process as artists who do not live or work in Sausalito. Each artist has an equal chance of exhibiting at the Festival by going through the same jury process, which does not take into account the residing location of an artist.
Q. Why did the Festival move from its waterfront location on the Bay Model property?
A. Three primary pieces of property are typically used to host the Festival but the Foundation does not own any of the land it uses for the Festival; the City of Sausalito owns Marinship Park; the Federal Government owns the Bay Model; and, a private family, the Berg’s, own Marinship Plaza. The Foundation has a license with the City of Sausalito to use Marinship Park and it has an informal but important relationship with the Berg’s to use Marinship Plaza.
In 2018, Bay Model management chose to not allow the Festival to set its main music stage and tent on its property. Therefore, the Festival moved the stage to the Berg property (Marinship Plaza), where it was also located in 2019. Each year, Bay Model management either allows or denies the Festival use of its property.
Q. How does the City of Sausalito benefit from the Festival?
A. The Sausalito Art Festival is a significant branding tool for the City of Sausalito, it is considered one of the best art festivals in the United States and for decades has been part of Sausalito’s rich heritage and image. Each year the Foundation spends tens-of-thousands of dollars to advertise the Festival and thus promote Sausalito as a leading artistic community. It’s doubtful that any other organization in Sausalito, including the City, spends more money annually to promote an event in Sausalito.
Additionally, the Festival attracts thousands of people to Sausalito each year and the City Government benefits directly through sales tax generated by the sale of art, and business licenses purchased by each participating artist.
Sausalito merchants benefit from the thousands of Festival visitors who stay in local hotels, shop in local stores and dine in local restaurants. In the Artist Welcome Packet, the Festival lists many categories of businesses in Sausalito where the artists and their entourage can dine, lodge and get needed supplies, thus adding to local business revenue and taxes.
The numerous food booths at the Festival are run by Sausalito non-profit organizations who raise money for their causes through their participation in the Festival. In many cases, the Festival is their largest annual fund raising event.
The Festival employs countless seasonal workers and businesses that help produce the yearly event and it uses hundreds of volunteers throughout the weekend. The residents and volunteers benefit from the friendships and traditions they form through the camaraderie developed by participating in an annual iconic event.
The Foundation uses the proceeds of the Festival to support artistic causes in Sausalito and other places, thus putting the money back into the community.
Q. What roles does the Sausalito City Government play in the Festival?
A. The Sausalito Art Festival Foundation has a multi-year license from the City of Sausalito to hold the Festival at Marinship Park every Labor Day Weekend. The Festival is produced by the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation that is responsible for all aspects of the event. However, the Foundation works closely with Sausalito Parks and Recreation, Sausalito Police and the Sausalito Fire Department on a variety of issues related to the annual event.
Q. What are the future plans for the Sausalito Art Festival?
A. In 2020, the Sausalito Art Festival Foundation embarked on a process to reimagine the Festival. The outcome was the decision to make the Festival smaller in all ways, reduce its reliance on music and refocus its emphasis on the art. The Festival was in the process of bringing the “new model” to life in 2021 before the event was canceled due to the loss of Marinship Park to a homeless encampment. The Foundation is currently in the process of identifying an alternative location to host a future event.
Q. Why is the Sausalito Art Festival considered one the best in the nation? What gives it the right to say so?
A. The Sausalito Art Festival is considered one of the best art festival in the nation by art industry organizations who rank and award festivals each year. The Sausalito Art Festival has won countless industry awards in multiple categories throughout the years and was most recently named by Sunshine Artist Magazine “200 Best Shows In America” for 10 years in a row. The Festival was ranked in the top 50 fine arts and design shows by the magazine.
Prior to the pandemic, for years the Art Fair Source Book has listed the Sausalito Art Festival as one of the Top 15 Art Festivals in the country and it has been rated #1 in many years.