Lakewood Center of the Arts announces 61st Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts: “Imagine That!”

Lake Oswego will come alive for the three-day Festival of the Arts at the Lakewood Center for the Arts and George Rogers Park June 21-23.

The 2024 festival is a partnership and collaboration with the nonprofit Open Hearts Big Dreams, which aims to expand art literacy around the globe.

The Festival’s theme “Imagine That!” will take the community through a diverse creative process as local artists produce a book to help spread art literacy in Ethiopia.

Seventeen artists before and during the festival will create unique artwork for the book “Ethiopian Dances.” The finished book will be one of the festival’s six exhibits this year.

“Talented artists from diverse backgrounds will weave the vibrant elements of Ethiopian dances into their creations, capturing the essence of this rich cultural heritage,” a press release stated.

Community members will have their first chance to see “Ethiopian Dances” during the Art Decked Out event at 4:30 p.m. Monday, June 3 at the Lakewood Center. The original artwork will be on view in the Dee Denton Gallery throughout the festival.

“Our goal is to inspire visitors with incredible art and showcase the transformative power of creativity and its potential to inspire the next generation of artists, thinkers, and leaders,” Jan Rimerman, curator of the Dee Denton Gallery, said in the press release.

Open Hearts Big Dreams works to expand art literacy in Ethiopia and has published more than 700 books in 11 different local languages.

“As the head of the OHBD creative team, I write some of the books myself, recruit and coach writers and illustrators, collaborate with designers, and guide the Amharic translation,” OHBD’s Jane Kurtz said in the press release. “All of our books are bilingual; they each are in English and one Ethiopian local language.”

Both Kurtz and Open Hearts Big Dreams CEO and Founder Ellenore Angelidis are attending and speaking at the Art Decked Out kick-off event and the patron preview party.

The festival will announce its highly anticipated lineup of musical performances later this spring and is currently accepting artist applications for “Art in the Park” and “My Happy Place: The 2024 Small Works Show.”