A familiar face is returning to An Occasion for the Arts with fresh ideas.
Fred Miller, who served as artistic director from 2005 through 2007, is returning to the post for the 46th year of the two-day art and music festival this fall.
Raised in Williamsburg, Miller settled in the area with a young family in 1969, the year of the first An Occasion for the Arts. By the next festival he was involved as an associate producer.
As owner and operator of Prince George Art and Frame, Miller brings 30 years of experience in the art business as well as art history study. He said that background is imperative for an artistic director trying to build a stock of talented artists to participate in the event.
While he enjoyed his leadership stint a few years ago, Miller felt in 2007 he was becoming repetitive and needed to hand the reins to someone with a different perspective. After taking time away from the project – which ramps up planning in January and runs with a hefty volunteer effort through recap meetings in November – he was asked to return and agreed.
With fresh eyes, he conceived a new aspect of the Merchants Square festival for Sunday afternoon: a wine and beer festival. Miller noticed attendance waning during that time in previous years, and wanted a solution to keep guests engaged.
“We’ve had very good crowds on Saturday and less so on Sunday,” he said. “When the artists are out there for two days, they’d like to have people out there for two days buying art.”
He is working with Berret’s Seafood owner Tom Austin, who manages the food court area of the festival for both days, to bring in vendors for tasting and selling during the afternoon entertainment.
Miller also played a role in choosing the juror for this year’s art show, who was recently announced to be Emily Smith, the executive director of 1708 Gallery in Richmond.
Different people have judged the show over the years, and Miller was happy to find a new juror with a strong curating experience. He has not met Smith but is looking forward to working with her.
“She’s a very bright and very committed artistic person. … She was a bright new face,” Miller said.
Smith is working to review more than 200 submissions to the art show, while judges for each medium will bestow awards of merit to artists.
“We award $5,000 in cash awards to the exhibiting artists,” Miller said. “So we want to be sure that we’re getting good people in and then judging them for the awards equitably.”
This year’s An Occasion for the Arts will be Oct. 4 and 5 in Merchants Square. For more information, visit the AOFTA website.
