4 Bridges Arts Festival 2027

Association for Visual Arts presents the 26th Annual 4 Bridges Arts Festival at First Horizon Pavilion in Chattanooga, April 16–18, 2027. This juried visual-art and fine-craft festival connects artists with art buyers, beginning with a Friday evening Preview Party and continuing with public festival days Saturday and Sunday. Artists retain all proceeds from sales. The jury selects recipients of cash prizes totaling $15,000.

Applicants must be at least 18. Collaborative teams of no more than two artists may apply; both members must attend and be available during festival hours. The application states that it does not accept applications from emerging artists. Submit through ZAPPlication only, with five digital photographs: four showing the intended exhibition work as a single cohesive body of work and one booth photograph. The booth photograph must contain no signage, branding, symbols, or other identifying attributes. Jurors review the photographs and artist’s statement. Up to two applications are permitted; artists applying in more than one medium must submit and pay for a separate application for each category. Each application carries a nonrefundable $45 fee; discounts and fee waivers may be offered to Association for Visual Arts members and the previous year's festival award winners. Notification is November 20, 2026. Selected artists must submit their booth fee and signed contract by February 28, 2027.

Eligible categories are 2-D and 3-D mixed media, basketry, ceramics, drawing, fiber/leather, furniture, glass, jewelry, metal, acrylic/oil painting, watercolor/gouache painting, printmaking, photography/digital art, sculpture, and wood. Clay or porcelain jewelry is not accepted in ceramics. Wood work must be hand-tooled, machine-worked, turned, or carved. Printmaking must use traditional techniques involving plates, stones, or screens, archival materials, and signed and numbered limited editions; artists must disclose their techniques and creative and printmaking processes. Photography/digital art must originate from the artist’s photographic negative or an artist-directed or supervised digital image process, use archival materials, and be printed in signed and numbered limited editions with technique and creative/printing processes disclosed.

Exhibited work must be original, handcrafted, and created by the applying artist or team; all work must be for sale and consistent with the application’s category, body of work, quality, and craftsmanship. No subcontracted work for another artist; work made from commercial casts/molds, kits, or patterns; copyrighted designs, imports, t-shirts, stationary, plants, velvet paintings, or commercially/factory-produced merchandise. Food products and other non-art/fine-craft items are ineligible. Artists must maintain liability insurance and participate at their own risk; AVA does not insure exhibitors’ personal property.

Reproductions of original 2D artwork may be sold only in browse bins inside the booth, with the production process disclosed and the bin labeled “reproduction of an original.” Reproductions cannot be labeled as prints, mixed with originals in the same bin, or produced in editions exceeding 350; each must be signed and numbered. Painting, drawing, and mixed-media booth-wall works must be originals. Digital Art and Printmaking works must be signed and numbered; generally the remaining reproduction policy does not apply to those categories.

Booth fees: standard 10-foot-wide by 12-foot-deep booth $550; corner booth of the same size $650; double 20-foot-wide by 12-foot-deep booth $1,100; double booth with corner $1,200. Corner and double booths are limited and assigned first-come, first-paid. Assignments become firm after March 15, 2027; swaps require show-director permission. Artists must supply their own booth displays, tables, chairs, and moving equipment; displays should represent the application photograph and accommodate crowds and weather. Tents/canopies are encouraged, not required. Electricity is available at 20 amps, 120 volts. Vehicles may not enter the pavilion.

Check-in and setup are April 16, 8 am–3 pm; be prepared to show photo ID. Booths must be ready for sales by 5 pm. Artists must attend and keep booths open for the April 16 Preview Party, 6–9 pm, and remain available during public hours April 17, 10 am–6 pm, and April 18, 10 am–5 pm. No setup during the Preview Party. No breakdown before 5 pm April 18; early departure may jeopardize participation in 2028. All booths must be removed by 9 pm April 18. Artists oversee sales, retain all sales proceeds, and must collect Tennessee sales tax of 9.25%. The jury distributes $15,000 in cash prizes at its discretion; its decisions are final. Booth-fee cancellation refunds through March 12, 2027 deduct a $50 administrative charge; later refunds, also less $50, are at the festival director’s discretion.