Coconut Grove Arts Festival 2024
When:
Where: 2700 S. Bayshore Dr., Miami. (Festival runs along streets of McFarlane Road, South Bayshore Drive and Pan American Drive.)
Info: year. It’s part of the community,” she said. “I run into people all the time that feel like this is their festival because this is their town.”
Artist Annie Bisone felt that energy when she showed her work at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival for the first time last year. She’s one of 45 returning artists who were invited back after receiving awards from the festival last year.
“The thing that I remember most is how engaged the audience was with my work and also excited to see something new,” Bisone said. “It felt fresh to have new eyes and conversations. It seemed like a mutual sparkle situation.”
Bisone, a Milwaukeebased fiber artist who runs Lalo Workshop, makes zero-waste, one-of-a-kind sustainable clothing made from leftover fabric scraps that otherwise would’ve been thrown away. She was happy to see that the Coconut Grove audience was so receptive to her work and her passion for slow fashion.
Before applying to the festival, she had asked fellow artists for advice on where she should go. “Coconut Grove always came up as number one,” she said. As an artist, she said she is heartened to see such a supportive event celebrate 60 years.
“It’s about the community. It’s about the collective,” she said. “It’s about like deciding that this is important, that this is necessary, that we need this in our lives. It’s life enriching. And yeah, without art, life is pretty boring.”
This story was produced with financial support from The Pérez Family Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.