Harding Charter Prep will host its inaugural Arts Festival on Saturday, Oct. 14, featuring members of the HCP family with a variety of talents, including students, graduates and associates.

Teachers Kelli Taylor and Michael Ferguson are spearheading the event, saying it is a way to show that Harding’s arts are not lacking.

“Our kids aren’t just homework robots, and while we may not have fine arts as part of our name, fine arts is a huge part of what we do in Charter Prep,” Ferguson said.

There are a multitude of talents spread across the HCP family, so the arts department is planning to go all out with the feature set of this festival, involving most of the students in the process.

“If you are involved in an arts class, you will be involved in some way,” Taylor said. In addition to the performances, there will be art and photography for viewing, and pieces for sale.

For music, the school orchestra, band and choir will all perform. HCP accompanist Charlotte Dumesnil will perform on the piano. Taylor plans to have small chamber ensembles perform throughout the day, as well.

Ferguson is hosting a short film festival during the day. Small groups of students will be able to submit their films to be shown to an audience, and viewers will vote on their favorites. There will be improv sessions in the drama room at different periods of the day.

Members of the Harding family will host booths, including Phillip Rowland, of Rowland Custom Woodworking; Full Face Smile art; and Ryan Parrott, head chef of Picasso Cafe, will be featured. Patrons can get their face painted by expert student artists Elina Avila and Janeth Rivera, and Kona Ice will sell snow cones.

Admission to the festival will be $3. Both teachers have said that they will want to use any funds the collect to support the arts program, but the goal isn’t to raise money. Instead, they hope to raise awareness of the flourishing arts programs at HCP.

“Seeing that it’s the first year, my practical goal is to not lose money,” Ferguson said.

Generally, the arts department gets most of its money from fundraising, donations and grants, but Taylor admitted it would be a welcome break from those activities if they could just purchase needed items.

“We could get things that we can’t get through Donor’s Choose; things that are bigger, that we can’t just ask people to give,” Taylor said.

This event is open to the public. Doors will open at 9:30am and close at 3pm.