Chattanooga Announces Second Annual Spring Arts Celebration

spark, a right brain celebration, formerly HATCH Chatt, takes place in April

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chattanooga’s arts community announced today that spark, a right brain celebration, is slated for April 11 through 21, 2013, and like last year, organizers anticipate thousands of regional attendees. This collaborative, multi-day arts festival, previously called HATCH Chatt, has issued a call for arts-related events. Programming will encompass literature, technology, history, visual arts, performing arts, music, culinary arts and more.

“For a first-year event, we were thrilled at the success we had last year”

Following last year’s great success, which drew art lovers from states throughout the southeast to more than 200 events hosted in downtown Chattanooga, spark will continue to highlight the community’s broad spectrum of quality cultural events in 2013. By exposing the region to a plethora of high-caliber, exciting, arts-focused events, spark will present and promote Chattanooga’s intrinsic creativity to citizens and visitors.

“For a first-year event, we were thrilled at the success we had last year,” said Verina Baxter, sculptor and former president of the Mid-South Sculpture Alliance. “Like 2012’s celebration, spark will be filled with a wide, diverse variety of quality programming, which will appeal to people of every background, making the arts accessible for all throughout the region. We’re also fortunate to have two prominent arts-centered anchor events, 4 Bridges and the Celebration of Southern Writers, to tie the event together.”

Kicking off spark, 4 Bridges Arts Festival, a 12-year staple in the Southeast as well as the nation, will present some of the finest original artwork made by contemporary artists from around the country on April 13 and 14. The 10 days of festivities will conclude with the Celebration of Southern Literature from April 18 through 20, which for 15 years has drawn thousands of readers and writers from all over the United States to Chattanooga to discover up-and-coming voices in Southern literature. At the end of the week, spark will culminate in a grand finale event on Sat., April 20 on the Tennessee River at Ross’ Landing.

The celebration is sponsored by Benwood Foundation; Lyndhurst Foundation; ArtsBuild; Rock City; Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel, P.C.; and the Chattanooga Convention & Visitor’s Bureau. Chattanooga Presents, spark production partner, is calling for event programming. To be considered for participation, visit www.sparkartschattanooga.com to fill out a short application.