While much of the activity at the Avenue of the Arts Festival (AOTA Fest) is for visitors to revel in experienced artists painting fresh murals across building facades in Fort Lauderdale, it’s also a weeklong event that encourages new artists to flourish.
Beginning Sunday, Jan. 19 through Sunday, Jan. 26, the works of more than 40 visual artists will be in the making.
“We’ve got both local and international artists that are going to be painting buildings surrounding Avenue of the Arts in Fort Lauderdale,” says Maxence Doytier, the festival’s founder and director. “Most important is the public programming and the free events.”
Doytier says there are art and business panel discussions along with master classes for up-and-coming artists.
“We’ve got an exhibition. And then we’ve got our family-friendly event to kind of wrap up, called Chalk Zone. That will be on the last two days of the festival, where we have hands-on activities for kids and families.”
All artists participating in AOTA Fest are commissioned and paid, says Doytier. Other major festival expenses include paint, materials, mechanical lifts and cleanup following the festival.
The nonprofit AOTA Fest has budgeted $200,000 for this year’s festival, which primarily runs along Avenue of the Arts (Northwest Seventh Avenue) from Broward to Sunrise boulevards in Fort Lauderdale.
Most AOTA Fest support comes from arts grants, including funds from the Broward Cultural Division, and through other sponsoring entities, including the City of Fort Lauderdale, Yellow Cab Broward, Sunbelt Rentals, Museum of Discovery and Science and Young at Art Museum in Plantation.
AOTA Fest is produced by Doytier’s Fort Lauderdale-based company, Twenty6North Productions, a for-profit artist collective and art consultation company that also produces events, and Mass District, a nonprofit group of “creatives and businesses with a vested interest in the community and economic development of Fort Lauderdale through the arts,” according to its website.
“(AOTA Fest) is free to the public and allows the artists a seven-day time frame to paint their artwork designs to completion. And it provides the public ample time to explore and meet the artists, some local and some traveling,” says its founder.
An AOTA Fest artist will also begin work this month on a new mural to be displayed on the north side of Broward County’s public parking garage in downtown Fort Lauderdale, says Doytier.
Also, some buildings with faded murals from earlier AOTA Fests will be refreshed. They’ll be whitewashed and then repainted with new murals by this year’s artists, says Doytier.
Not only will AOTA Fest artists paint new murals outside buildings along Avenue of the Arts, they will also mentor local youngsters.
“We’re also taking the festival to the school system so the kids are also getting to appreciate murals painted at their schools.”
This year, AOTA Fest will visit students at New River Learning Center in Fort Lauderdale.
“Our focus is art education. Youth enrichment and mental health advocacy,” says Doytier, 34, who grew up in Broward and attended Mirror Lake Elementary in Plantation, Seminole Middle School in Davie and South Plantation High. He has a degree in marine biology from Florida State University.
Doytier says he became passionate about visual art as a child at home. His mother, Chantal Bandoni, a Broward County Public Schools art teacher for 15 years is now the district’s visual arts instructional facilitator.
“Mom was always a big advocate for doing your homework first, and then you’re welcome to paint and get creative at the house,” says Doytier. “I feel that the arts is a great way for people to express themselves at any age. And in a time where we’re entering a digital world, it’s nice that we’re kind of going back to using paint strokes and colors to express emotion and feelings.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT :
2025 Avenue of the Arts Festival (AOTA Fest)
WHERE:
Various locations throughout greater Fort Lauderdale
WHEN:
Sunday, Jan. 19 through Sunday, Jan. 26
COST:
Most events are free; some VIP and general admission events are $20 per person, plus $3.18 fee and $1.62 tax. All events require tickets via Eventbrite
INFORMATION AND TICKETS:
www.eventbrite.com
