Center for the Arts wins FestForums innovation award for California WorldFest

“Best of the Fests” is an annual awards ceremony recognizing industry leaders and North America’s festivals in the areas of innovation, sustainability, and charitable works. It is presented by FestForums, a festival conference in Santa Barbara for food, beverage, music and film festival industry leaders.

On Monday night, FestForums presented the music festival innovation award to The Center for the Arts in Grass Valley for California WorldFest, we have learned. “Our ticketing company Vendini entered us into the FestForums conference musical festivals innovation category, and we won,” The Center’s Executive Director Julie Baker said on her Facebook page. She accepted the award on behalf of The Center’s team.

The national honor is a reminder of the innovation and growth that is revitalizing the Sierra Foothills’ performing arts scene — a regular theme of our magazine. The winners were from across the nation, including the Great American Beer Festival in Denver,  the Hip Hop Festival NYC (New York City), and the Cinema Verde International Environmental Film and Arts Festival in Florida.

FestForums awarded one winner from each festival type — music, film, and food, and beverage – in three different categories – Sustainability, Innovation, and Charity for a total of nine winners.

In addition to the expert panels and keynote speakers who shared their insights at the Fess Parker DoubleTree Resort, FestForums brought in star power from the music, film, and food worlds, including Jack Johnson, Bruce Dern, Quentin Tarantino, and Cat Cora.

Our magazine featured WorldFest on the cover last spring. California WorldFest is July 13-16, 2017, at the Nevada County Fairgrounds.

We also spoke to FestForum co-producer Laurie Kirby, who sent us a full list of the winners:

• Film Charity:  Outfest
• Film Innovation:  Hip Hop Film Festival NYC
• Film Sustainability: Cinema Verde International Environmental Film and Arts Festival

• Food & Beverage Charity: Made in the Shade
•F&B Innovation:  Great American Beer
•F&B Sustainability: Santa Barbara Earth Day Festival

•Music Charity: MerleFest
•Music Innovation:  The Center for the Arts’ California WorldFest
•Music Sustainability: Green Music

(Photo: FestForums)

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