By Jordan Sward

Staff writer

Over 100 venues in Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding area will showcase local artists’ work at the 11th annual Boneyard Arts Festival this weekend. For the committee responsible for organizing the festival, planning began in October.

The festival is presented by 40 North, the Champaign County Arts Council, and will run Thursday through Sunday.

Kelly White, executive director of 40 North,oversees the committees involved in planning the event. In the early stages of planning, she confirms the committee members and dates for the festival. White said 40 North usually chooses the University’s Moms Weekend.

“Since (the festival) takes place throughout the community … it gives the visitors an opportunity to explore places they might not usually go when they visit campus,” she said.

Janet Soesbe, Boneyard Arts Festival chair for the Urbana Park District, is also responsible for organizing the event.

“I assist the staff in whatever way I can,” Soesbe said in an email. “ … thinking of marketing ideas, placement of artists, development of new venues, planning the structure and timing of performances, plus I sewed 34 new Boneyard flags.”

White and Soesbe, along with Amanda Baker, programs and events coordinator of 40 North, worked with volunteers to hang posters, place yard signs, make deliveries and help with set-up and teardown.

“There are so many things that we would not be able to do without volunteers and supporters,” Soesbe said.

As for organizing the venues, each one paid a $50 fee to participate, and was allowed to host any artist’s work. Both the artist and the venue then registered with 40 North to secure their spot.

James Barham, owner of the Indi Go Artist Co-Op in Champaign, has participated in the festival for the past four years by providing a venue for artists to display their work. He is also celebrating Indi Go’s fourth anniversary this weekend.

Barham opened the co-op the weekend of the Boneyard Arts Festival in 2009 so a friend of his would have a place to showcase his work. He has kept it going ever since.

The Indi Go Artist Co-Op will host a fundraiser for Champaign-Urbana Design Organization, a musical performance by Ryan Groff of Elsinore, as well as a digital presentation titled “TOTAL ART.”

For Barham and the Indi Go staff, preparing for the festival takes months and includes a lot of meetings, planning and preparing the space.

“We have to clean, paint, scrub — get it shiny and bright again,” he said of his plans to change the space for the weekend.

Amanda McWilliams, co-owner of Furniture Lounge in Champaign, has also participated in Boneyard as a venue owner since its very beginning. McWilliams said most of the work for the festival was done this past week.

To prepare for the event, McWilliams said employees emptied the inventory from an area of the store to make an art gallery. Ten artists will showcase artwork, jewelry, clothing, glass and pottery in the store.

Soesbe said among many exhibits and performances, this year festival goers can look out for a tour of the renovated Virginia Theatre, open studios at Lincoln Hall, the signature image artist Leif Olson at 40 North, and Jeff Richards’s new glass blowing demonstration Sunday outside of Homer, Ill.

For the Boneyard Arts Festival committee, this week has been filled with finalizing last minute street-side performances, coordinating media coverage and installing the signature artist’s work in their office. But the work leads to a final product unlike any other festival in the area.

According to Soebe, the festival “gives folks the opportunity to see some spaces where real creation occurs and to get a glimpse into the processes of some very talented artists.”

Jordan can be reached at [email protected].