On Aug. 22 and 23, the Nature Consortium will spotlight numerous artists from around the area with their 11th Annual Arts in Nature Festival at Camp Long in West Seattle.

The festival will bring in wandering performers, string quartets, dance troupes, fire performers, even an outdoor Museum of Sound, all with the goal of exposing people from all walks of life and ages to eclectic, creative art in all forms in a beautiful natural setting. The event is also a
fundraiser for Nature Consortium, which works to teach environmental lessons through the creative arts and hands-on conservation projects.

Read the schedule of events here.

Camp Long’s rustic cabins will house the Museum of Sound where artists will take up residency for the weekend creating multidisciplinary installations blending sound, auditory arts, music and visual arts inside the park's rustic cabins. Wandering musicians, characters and dancers will also infiltrate the forested landscape between the cabins.

The cabins meander through the forested outer perimeter of the park and festival goers will have the opportunity to enter and explore each cabin. Most of the cabins will have an interactive, hands-on component, allowing attendees to interact with the artists' work.

This year’s Museum of Sound artists will include Chris Ballew, Hollow Earth Radio, Gust Burns, Kristin Tollefson, Ruthie Tomlinson, and
Nature Consortium Youth Art Program participants.

This funky festival will showcase an impressive number of locally renowned performing artists, sound artists and ensembles such as: Chris Ballew - lead singer of The Presidents of the United States of America performing as Caspar Babypants, Lelavision, Musicians’ Emeritus Symphony Orchestra, The Early Music Guild, The Beaver Deceivers, Nyamuziwa Marimba Ensemble, Heimish Klezmer, The Asterisk Project, The Cabiri, Dass Dance, and many others.

There will be a wide array of modern and traditional music offerings ranging from experimental and improvised to world, classical, jazz, early and folk. Dance troupes will perform in various locations throughout the park.

Performances will be ambient and acoustic in four different performance venues throughout the park: in the Lodge, in a forested grove by the Pond, on the climbing Glacier, and in a Geodesic Sound Dome in the Meadow.

There will be an abundance of interactive and hands-on activities, such as EcoRhythm Instrument Building, Species Mask Making, Nature Printmaking and naturalist activities in the EcoArt/Family & Kids Area. Food and drink will be offered by Taco Flair and reusable plates and cups will be used along with cloth napkins.

To find out more about the Arts in Nature Festival and Nature Consortium’s other programs, go to www.naturec.org.

WHO: Nature Consortium
WHERE: Camp Long (5200 35th Ave. S.W. at Southwest Dawson Street)
WHEN: Sat. Aug. 23 (11 a.m.-9 p.m.) and Sunday, Aug. 24 (11 a.m.-6 p.m.)
COST: Suggested $5 donation per person

How to get there:
Metro Transit: For Camp Long: Metro bus route 2.
Directions to Camp Long: Take the West Seattle Bridge, stay in the left lanes for the Fauntleroy Way Southwest exit. At the first stoplight (35th Avenue Southwest), take a left. Go 6/10's of a mile up the hill and Camp Long will be on the left hand side. Very small parking lot, but unlimited parking along 35th Avenue Southwest.