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Behind the Bridges: The Story of the 4 Bridges Arts Festival
AVA’s 4 Bridges Arts Festival™ has roots that reach back 20 years. With plenty of community support, this event has proven not only to have staying power but also to serve as a catalyst for Chattanooga’s cultural explosion. In 2001, the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) decided to reincarnate a fine arts festival in Coolidge Park, down by the Tennessee River and between the four bridges that cross it. The centerpiece of the festival, then and today, is not an exhibit but a marketplace for artists whose works are selected based on the highest quality. This concept proved to be popular, and the festival immediately began to develop a following. The loyalty of the 4 Bridges audience and patrons was powerfully demonstrated two years later, when the river flooded the park and the festival had to move to an open-air pavilion on the Southside of downtown—where there were no bridges to speak of and little public familiarity with the venue. The fans followed, and there were bigger crowds and more media coverage than ever before. 4 Bridges was catapulted onto the national scene, and the festival found a new permanent home on higher ground. Following this phenomenal year, then Mayor now Senator Bob Corker selected the festival as one of three leading initiatives focused on increasing tourism. That year’s campaign focused on the unique Patron Program, which allows patrons to purchase dollar-for-dollar monetary chips to be spent on original artwork at the 4 Bridges Arts Festival™. Fast forward to the 10th anniversary of 4 Bridges in 2010 when festival - despite the recession - hosted 18,000 attendees, 150 visual artists, and made a $1.5 million impact on the economy of Hamilton County. Today the festival also supports and develops arts leadership in the community; expands cultural tourism for Chattanooga; educates the community about the arts; and, most importantly, celebrates the importance of the community’s cultural life and sense of place.
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