Epcot has been dubbed the "festival park" since recently adding the Festival of the Holidays in November. They originally had had the International Food and Wine Festival during the months of August through November, and the Flower and Garden Festival from March to May. However, one festival that was recently added (and proudly coming back for another year) is the Festival of the Arts. Why does this one in particular matter? It is just an addition to the plethora of festivals on Epcot's palette, yes, but it is a hidden gem.

The festival boasts food booths with artsy food creations around the World Showcase like its predecessors, but the real show stoppers are the art booths and concert series. The Festival of the Arts has several artists selling artwork throughout the World Showcase. Sometimes, the artist will be there signing art, which is really neat because if you end up buying their art, they will sign it for you!

The concert series is the Disney on Broadway concert, where there are three different sets of artists that have starred in Disney on Broadway shows, singing the hits from past and present Disney on Broadway shows. This year, they have actors from "Newsies", "The Lion King", "Mary Poppins", and "Tarzan" showcasing their talents and delighting audiences of all ages.

Sounds pretty cool, right? Besides being at Disney, the most magical thing about this festival is that it's bringing three different art forms (culinary, visual, and theatre) to audiences who otherwise would give a passing glance to. It introduces them to the wonder of how much work goes into these art forms and why they are such an asset to society. It's important because it gets people talking. It makes them wonder where they can go see the Broadway show that they just heard the music from, or how they can support an artist that they met while strolling through the festival.

Talking about the arts and reaching out to people, who otherwise don't know about them, generates interest. Interest leads to research, and then who knows where it can go from there. If the Festival of the Arts is something that helps keep the arts alive, then I'm here for it.