While frozen in for a day — and counting — news rolled in that demonstrated spring is very much in the air: A reminder that the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival is returning after a two-year hiatus and an announcement that PNC Bank would be the presenting sponsor.
Take that, Covid. (That is not a dare.)
The 2022 PNC Bank MAIN ST. Arts Festival marks the first time PNC has been the 35-year-old event’s presenting sponsor, with a deal that includes naming rights entitlement, advertising and marketing, brand activation, digital and social media, client entertainment and more. Through this effort and others planned in Fort Worth, the bank will activate its stalwart support of community engagement and advocacy for the performing, visual and cultural arts.
The sponsorship represents another significant naming rights deal for the bank’s portfolio in Fort Worth following the addition last year of the Ben Hogan Award presented by PNC Bank.
MAIN ST. is set for April 7-10.
“The opportunity for PNC Bank to serve as presenting sponsor of the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival is one we couldn’t pass up,” says Dale Klose, PNC Southwest and Mountain territory executive, in a statement. “PNC has a significant legacy of investing in the communities we serve through support of the arts, as we understand the economic, social, and civic impact a thriving arts and culture community brings to a city.
“There’s no better place to further engage our Main Street Bank approach than a thriving Fort Worth, alongside an event with a fitting Main Street name and mission, and an organization like Downtown Fort Worth, Inc.”
PNC’s MAIN ST. support also marks the first major community investment the bank has made since Klose relocated to Fort Worth to serve in his current role. In June 2021, PNC announced Klose’s move to the area to signal the company’s commitment to Fort Worth and the region as it expanded significantly across the state and nationally through its acquisition of BBVA USA. Klose is tasked with coordinating efforts with market leadership and locally based Fort Worth bankers to provide customers and clients in the nation’s 12th-largest city with access to PNC’s full range of products and capabilities, according to the statement.
This year’s festival, which spans 18 square blocks throughout downtown, will include both a variety of features from previous iterations and a handful of revamped aspects. MAIN ST.’s unique outdoor gallery will be brimming with 212 artists who were hand-selected from more than 1,000 applications to exhibit their work. Fort Worth’s largest arts festival is also the city’s largest music festival, with more than 100 local, regional and national musicians performing on four stages. In addition, attendees will experience culinary fare from a wide range of local establishments and festival favorites.
"We are so proud that PNC Bank chose the MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival as one of their key community sponsorships in Fort Worth through their support of the arts,” says Nina Petty, chairman of the Festivals and Events Committee for Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. "We are aware all businesses are still rebounding from the pandemic, and so the timing of this sponsorship is especially impactful — for MAIN ST. and for all of Downtown Fort Worth."
Ranked by the Art Fair Sourcebook as the No. 3 fine art event in the U.S., MAIN ST. attracts both local and national recognition year-after-year. The annual, free event is a three-time recipient of the “Grand Pinnacle” award and back-to-back winner of the “Zenith” award from the International Festivals and Events Association over the past several years. MAIN ST. has also received Fort Worth Magazine’s Best of Fort Worth “Readers’ Choice - Festival” award multiple times and was listed as one of InStyle’s “under-the-radar arts festivals you need to start planning for now.”
"MAIN ST. and PNC Bank are very pleased to welcome thousands back to downtown after two years of cancellations," says Larry Anfin, board chairman of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. "Our downtown restaurants, hotels, and merchants are looking forward to this important return of customers and foot traffic."
Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization formed in 1988 to complement the work of Downtown Fort Worth, Inc. by providing a funding pathway for charitable, educational, and public-purpose activities, such as community festivals, affordable residential development, park improvements, and management. Downtown Fort Worth Initiatives, Inc. produces the annual MAIN ST. Fort Worth Arts Festival and the GM Financial Parade of Lights, which have an economic impact of more than $28 million annually and attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to Downtown Fort Worth each year. For more information, visit www.DFWI.org.