Founders Club

At 12 p.m. more than 50 artists will be ready to help kids of all ages sing, dance, sculpt, paint, perform create and have fun in Downtown Schenectady on the streets outside City Hall. We haven’t clowned around and magic will be all around in our 29th year, thanks to the Contemporary Circus and Immersive Arts Center in Troy.  Their Arts-in-Education program will teach tumbling and juggling skills and introduce the art form of what the circus has become.

Joan Gould, Janet Hutchison, the late Karen B. Johnson and the late Eli I. Taub founded the first Kids Arts Festival in June 1994 as a free outdoor arts festival for families in response to devastating state aid education cuts in December 1993. 

The first Kids Arts Festival in June 1994, founded by Joan Gould, Janet Hutchison, the late Karen B. Johnson and the late Eli I. Taub, founded this festival as a free outdoor arts festival for families in response to devastating state aid education cuts in December 2013. The festival has continued each year since. Even during the 2020 pandemic summer, artists provided four one-hour segments of on-line virtual through Open Stage Media. 

All performances and activities are free thanks to the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor, the New York State Legislature and these members of our Founders Club:

And our friends at:

Want to help fund art supplies for kids?

Gifts of any size are welcome and are tax-deductible. Make checks payable to Kids Arts Festival and mail to 432 State St., Schenectady NY 12305. The sponsor of the event is 440 State Street, Inc., a 501 (c) (3) organization dba the ElectriCity Arts District.

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