rancho mirage festival of arts

An Artful Awakening

Rancho Mirage Festival of the Arts fêtes its 20th anniversary with a new name and a new format. We’ll see you there Nov. 5–6 at the Rancho Mirage Community Park.

Susan Myrland Arts & Entertainment, Current Guide, Sponsored

rancho mirage festival of arts

During the evening portion of the Rancho Mirage Festival of Arts, the scene switches to the city amphitheater.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JENNIFER YOUNT

Fall is a season of reawakening in the desert. Summer’s heat recedes, leaving cool, clear mornings and pleasantly warm afternoons. Residents emerge from air-conditioned shelter, ready for engagement. Visitors and snowbirds migrate back to their favorite vacation spot, eager to spend time outdoors and see what’s new.

Against this backdrop of renewal, Rancho Mirage Festival of the Arts bursts forth. Held the first weekend of November, the event signals the opening of the Coachella Valley’s arts festival season. To commemorate its 20th year, the beloved event has been reinvented.

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As with most cultural activities, the Festival of the Arts, formerly known as Rancho Mirage Art Affaire, suspended operations in 2020 and 2021. The organizers — curator Bill Schinsky, along with the city’s marketing and events department and the Parks and Trails Commission — put the time to good use, incorporating feedback from previous participants and rethinking goals.
The 2022 vibe will feel like a museum exhibition opening but will be held outdoors, encircled by the trees and desert landscaping of Rancho Mirage Community Park. Artists will be encouraged to fill the grounds with installations and use their booths to show off the pieces that best represent their current state of mind or areas of experimentation. This year, the show is not juried, but rather, artists were selected and invited by Schinsky and the city event producers.
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Art booths will be anchored at the center of the park by an open-air dining area with service by local restaurants and breweries.

At sunset, the celebration closes and the focus shifts to the city amphitheater, where a free concert rounds out a day filled with beauty, passion, and inspiration.

The 20th annual festival takes place Nov. 5–6. For the most up-to-date event details and information, visit ranchomirageca.gov.

participating artists
Tim Shockley and Kim Manfredi are among the artists selected to display their work.
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Tim Shockley

A Coachella Valley native, sculptor Tim Shockley finds inspiration in his surrounding desert environment. His meticulously detailed works bring forth a sense of organic surrealism, combining natural elements into dreamlike juxtapositions and structural hybrids, using a variety of media, including wood, metal, and mixed-media assemblage.

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Kim Manfredi

The pandemic inspired a period of experimentation, in which painter Kim Manfredi began applying paint in a free, liberating, and abstract way. As an avid cyclist, Manfredi’s daily rides through the valley and into the mountains inform her artistic vision and provide the raw materials for new paintings. She is a founder of the Desert Open Studios Tour.