CHARLESTON, W.Va. — While the lineup may be a little shorter this year, Charleston’s popular festival celebrating the arts is set to return to the Capital City again with a jam-packed five day schedule full of music, theater, dance and more.

FestivALL Charleston will now embark on its 21st year with a pared back schedule of events starting Wednesday May 28 – Sunday, June 1.

However, FestivALL Events and Marketing Specialist Mallory Richards said all of the flagship events that have been a part of FestivALL since its inception will continue to be a mainstay in this year’s multi-arts festival.

“In the 21st year, we’re going back to the roots of how it all began to a more condensed weekend, but still focusing on everything that makes FestivALL what it is,” Richards said.

Richards said the scaled back weekend will still include flagship events such as the Three Things speaker series, the two-day Capitol Street Art Fair and Children’s Art Fair, Art-for-ALL, the Carriage Trail Walk and more.

One of the most classic events of FestivALL, the Capitol Street Art Fair features street performers, live music and other entertainment on stages along Capitol Street.

Richards said they are also going to be bringing back a performing arts group out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Attack Theater, who will host an interactive performance throughout the city.

She said Attack Theater’s name is very telling of what they do.

“They attack public art and perform in front of them, so this isn’t necessarily an event that will be in a theater, but it will be accessible to the public, anyone that’s passing by will be able to actually see them throughout the city,” she said.

Richards said they are partnering with Charleston’s Office of Public Art to produce a large-scale, temporary interactive art installation somewhere in the downtown area where the main event for that performance will take place.

FestivALL will also partner with Fund for the Arts as they host Charlie West Music Fest on Saturday, May 31 at the University of Charleston.

This event will feature a few different musical groups including the Bob Thompson Unit, Joslyn & the Sweet Compression, Of Good Nature, and Billboard-topping artists, Shawyze.

Fund for the Arts raises money to support 11 local arts groups.

FestivALL began in 2005 and has essentially strived to transform the Capital City into a work of art for at least a week or sometimes even longer ever since then.

The two years during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020 and 2021 were the only years where the event was not held in-person. 

Richards said since its inception, it has grown exponentially, and they now wanted to take some time to scale back and see what the future will bring for the longtime event.

“At one point we were celebrating with fifteen days, but it grew from three days to ten days to fifteen days, and now we’re just scaling back a little bit so we can regroup and get our board together, kind of restructuring there,” said Richards.

FestivALL now boasts the title of being one of the largest arts organizations of its kind in West Virginia.

Richards said they have made it their mission to create a vibrant arts scene in the Capital City and serve as a catalyst for others in the community to do the same.

She said they have also relied on the community in many ways to thrive over the years.

“FestivALL has always relied on a lot of partnerships and I feel like by building those good partnerships over the years since 2005, that has made FestivALL what it is, we have had hundreds and hundreds of partnerships since the beginning.”

According to the release, while event proposals will not be open to the public this year, the Art Fairs applications and Music & Entertainment submissions are open.

You can see the full FestivALL schedule and ongoing event updates at festivallcharleston.com/events

Art Fair Applications and Music/Entertainment Submissions can be found here. at festivallcharleston.com/applications