Bellevue, WA—Although the annual Bellevue Arts Museum Arts Fair is cancelled this year due to the pandemic, the Museum is looking forward to celebrating Arts Fair weekend with a new program. From July 24 – 26 the Museum will be giving away 6,000 free craft kits for kids and families as part of Kids Fair To Go. This program will be held in lieu BAM’s popular Kids Fair event—which normally serves around 10,000 fairgoers each year.

The kits will be available for contactless pickup outside the Museum from 11am to 4pm each day. Each of the three kits available will include materials and instructions for craft activities inspired by the Museum’s current exhibitions, as well as additional learning resources that grownups can use to talk with their children about art. Participants are welcome to choose between the three kits or take all three home with them.

“With BAM being closed for the past few months, our Education team has been trying new and fun ways to engage with our young artist community,” says Education Manager Mary Kate Anselmini. “We miss being creative within the walls of the Museum with young artists and want to make sure that everyone has access to artmaking until we can reopen our doors and get crafty together.”

Kids Fair To Go is an extension of the Museum’s ongoing efforts since the start of the pandemic to provide free craft kits to students participating in Bellevue School District’s Grab-and-Go Meals program. To date, more than 2,000 kits have been picked up.

In addition to Kids Fair To Go, BAM is encouraging regular fairgoers to shop directly from their favorite artists this year. The Arts Fair 2021 exhibitor page is available on the Museum’s website as a resource for the public to check out and shop from individual artists who were planning to participate in this year’s fair. People can browse through artists from recent years as well on the 2019, 2018, and 2017 exhibitor pages. Work from several regular Arts Fair artists is also available for purchase in the Museum Store, which is now open from 11am – 5pm, Wednesday – Sunday. 

About Bellevue Arts Museum
Bellevue Arts Museum provides a public forum for the community to contemplate, appreciate, and discuss visual culture. We work with audiences, artists, makers, and designers to understand our shared experience of the world. bellevuearts.org.

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