Worcester art festival stART on the Street to end, 2024 will be last edition
Photo | Tim Doyle
The organizers behind stART on the Street have announced the 2024 edition of the festival will be its last. The 2022 edition of the festival is pictured here.
After two decades, Worcester’s prominent arts and music festival appears to be coming to an end, as the organization behind stART on the Street has said the upcoming 2024 edition of the festival will be its last.
Creative Hub Worcester, which became involved in the festival as part of a 2022 leadership expansion, announced in an Instagram post on Wednesday the upcoming event on Sept. 15 will be its last.
stART at the Station, a spinoff of the festival held inside Union Station in early December each year, will also come to an end after the 2024 edition is held on Dec. 8, according to a Facebook post from organizers.
“This was not an easy decision to make,” the Instagram post reads, “We understand that this final chapter of stART will be received with as much emotion as it was for us to make it.”
Creative Hub Co-founder and Executive Director Laura Marotta did not immediately respond to a request for more information. The organization has been working to open its long-awaited Creative Hub Community Arts Center at the former site of the Ionic Ave Boys Club at 2 Ionic Ave.; the organization expects the center to open in 2025.
In a post to the stART on the Street Facebook page, organizers said the scale of the event's growth led to challenges which resulted in the decision to end the festival.
"Despite the festival's growth and popularity, orchestrating an event of this scale has become increasingly daunting," the Facebook post reads. "The ongoing challenge of recruiting dedicated volunteers and the substantial costs associated with hosting such a large-scale event, combined with the commitment to maintaining accessibility for vendors and attendees, were all factors that ultimately led Team stART to make this difficult decision."
Stacy Lord, stART on the Street co-founder, said in an email to WBJ issues with the City played a role in ending the festival.
"Increasing fees, conflicting regulations, and inconsistent communication from city departments have made organizing this festival increasingly difficult," Lord wrote. "Balancing these hurdles while maintaining our commitment to accessibility and support for emerging artists ultimately led us to conclude that stepping back was the right choice."
Founded in 2002, stART on the Street is held annually on the third Sunday of September on Park Avenue, seeking to be a platform for hundreds of local artists, musicians, and performers to display their talent to the local community. The event has hosted upward of 275 artists each year, according to its website.
Longtime organizer of the festival Tina Zlody stepped down from her position as director of stART on the Street in March.
Festival organizers were awarded a Key to the City of Worcester in 2012 for their efforts in providing a venue and platform for local musicians and artisans.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Creative Hub Worcester took over operations of stART on the Street in 2022. In fact, the original organizers of the festival expanded the festival's leadership to include Creative Hub Worcester. This article has been updated from a previous version to include more details on the decision to end StART on the Street and StART at the Station.
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Oh this is so disappointing!
Big, hearty thanks and congratulations to all the volunteer organizers and workers over the past 22 years of stArt on the Street and stArt in the Station for your, dedicated, tireless, and excellent service above self. Sad and bad news for Greater Worcester.
Hopefully, a new generation of similar volunteers will re-stArt both events with healthy, sustainable aid and assistance from the City of Worcester and the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. To not do so would be a gross dereliction of duty and responsibility.
Art-and-culture events are not just about fun and entertainment. They also provide a significant and amount of healthy and sustainable ways to preserve and protect their host communities' artistic, cultural, economic and educational vitality, stability, and security.
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