Birmingham Festival of Arts

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The Birmingham Festival of Arts (originally to be called the Festival of Contemporary Music. Changed in 1998 to Birmingham International Festival, and again in 2006 to the Birmingham International Center Spotlight) is an annual cultural festival honoring a different foreign country each spring. It was founded in 1951 by the Women's Committee of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Birmingham Art Association. Numerous area arts and cultural organizations participate with performances, cooking demonstrations, craft fairs, trade fairs, parades, children's activities, art exhibits, lectures, and exchanges of goodwill marking different years' events.

Until 1995 the Festival of Arts enjoyed a privileged position with regard to city funding. Their request that year for $65,000 from the Birmingham City Council met objections from the Birmingham Regional Arts Commission which had been tasked with coordinating public funding for arts groups and had approved just under $23,000 under its formula.

The Birmingham Festival of Arts Association has evolved into the more business-oriented Birmingham International Center. The center promotes international trade and development, in part by organizing year-round cultural education and exchange opportunities.

List of festivals

Interior of Boutwell Auditorium during the 1964 Salute to Scandinavia

References

External links

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