The sixth annual Alaska World Arts Festival in Homer will begin on Sept. 13 and will run until Sept. 26.
Sally Oberstein is the director and producer for the event and shared how the event got started in Homer and some of the highlights to look for this year.
Oberstein attended the Edinburgh International Arts Festival in 2018 and had the opportunity to speak with former director of the Australian festival from 2006 until 2014, Sir Jonathan Mills, who suggested that Homer would be an ideal location for another world arts event.
The 2024 event will include storytelling, music, dance, theater, literature, comedy, film and visual arts in the form of exhibits, performances, workshops and presentations. Artists are coming from more than 20 countries in all regions of the world including Australia, China, India, Russia, Peru, Canada, several European and African countries as well as the United States and Alaska.
The first event of the festival is the welcome gala at the Homer Chamber on Friday Set. 13 from 4 to 6 p.m. Other primary highlights include Age-old Stories for Modern Families from WBUR Boston’s NPR station, Gypsy Jazz and Blistery Ballads from Paris, and stand-up comedian and storyteller Michael Palascak, who has appeared on David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Comedy Central.
Lights, Camera, Action is the festival’s first 48-hour Film Slam Jam! workshop. People are invited to come together on Sept. 20 to film a one- to seven-minute silent or sound film that will be shown at Alice’s on Sept. 23.
Another workshop event is storytelling with Circle Round Dream on Sept. 15. This will take place at Homer Council on the Arts. Chicago mural artist Kathleen Dose-Koehl, who created the Homer Spit mural on the Wildberry building, will be providing a community workshop Homer Art and Frame on Sept. 15.
A $100 festival membership can be purchased via the Alaska World Arts website and will provide access to all of the events included in the festival. Other event tickets can be purchased individually and some are free and open to the public without registration.
Full information on venues, dates and times can be found at www.alaskaworldarts.org or in the paper copy of the festival brochure available at the Homer Chamber of Commerce Visitor’s Center.
