Dear Artwalk family,
This email/post/note really is heartbreaking to write.
After many emergency Zoom meetings, and gathering input from experts, the Birmingham Artwalk Board of Directors has made the sad – and very difficult – decision to cancel Artwalk 2020.
With the number of COVID-19 cases rising throughout Birmingham, Jefferson County, and Alabama, we do not feel right about asking the community to gather, even with all the suggested precautions.
We wish things were different. We wish we could celebrate our incredible artists with you downtown. We wish we could see you on the streets and enjoy the sounds of the performance artists who call Birmingham home. We wish we could meet up on Morris and enjoy the local beer that our friends lovingly brew and make plans to head to 2nd Avenue to gobble up the delicious food that our talented friends create. We wish we could be there as you find your next favorite piece of art from your neighbors and fellow Birminghamians.
But, we can’t.
We can not risk your health and safety, or the health and safety of our artists and event crew. We can’t be the “mask police” to make sure everyone who attends considers the health and safety of their community. We can not ask our sponsors to carry that weight and we certainly can’t ask our hundreds of volunteers who have made Artwalk happen for the last nineteen years to take that risk. And we are so sad for that.
Rest assured, we will not disappear. September 11 & 12, 2021 will be the celebration of our TWENTIETH year of Artwalk! Twenty years of highlighting local and regional artists while transforming Birmingham’s loft neighborhood into an arts district for a weekend. Can you believe it — 20 years?
We will be back in 2021 to celebrate art and Birmingham and we really hope you will join us then. We are so ready to see you all and hug your necks, but not until we, as a community, city and state, come together and recognize and appreciate what it means to be a part of a community by taking care of our neighbors and friends.
In the meantime, stay tuned as we talk amongst ourselves and with you about what we can do to highlight our incredible artist community. They need our support more than ever. We will be announcing several new and creative initiatives to keep Artwalk alive in our community, and art alive in our homes.
Thank you for understanding and please: wear a mask, stay home when you can, and support your local restaurants, artists and musicians if you are able!
See you soon!
-The Birmingham Artwalk Board of Directors & Event Crew
Tony Diliberto | Jason Irvin | Celeste Laborde | Kelly Marshall | Kerri Nichols | Patty Pilkerton | Dominic Sarno | James Sullivan
Jennifer Gowers | Denise Koch | Joy Myers
