Happening at Harvester - June 9-15
June 9, 2025 | Kristin
Harvester Arts is proud to serve as the official visual arts partner for the 2025 Somewhere Festival & Conference, collaborating with Midtopia and Stand Together to transform downtown Wichita into a vibrant, multidimensional celebration of music, creativity, and community.
Festival Dates: June 13–14, 2025
Location: Downtown Wichita
Block Party, Food Court + Immersive Art Spaces: Open to all ages and free to the public
With a mission rooted in collaboration, experimentation, and artist support, Harvester Arts is curating and producing immersive artistic experiences across the festival footprint. Leading a dynamic roster of more than 80 local and national creatives to bring bold, participatory artworks to life throughout the two-day event.
Harvester Arts Executive Director Kristin Beal is leading the festival’s arts strategy, working closely with Aaron Asis, Harvester’s Artist-in-Residence, to shape a cohesive and dynamic artistic vision. Known for his work activating public spaces in cities across the country including New York, Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Seattle. Asis brings a wealth of experience in creating site-specific installations that engage both artists and the public. At Somewhere Festival, he has played a vital role, collaborating with community partners and local artists to create thoughtful experiences and craft moments of surprise and delight throughout the festival footprint.
“This kind of festival is a unique opportunity to connect creative vision with community energy,” says Asis. “Every space becomes a chance to create something meaningful. Something people won’t expect, but won’t forget.”
Among the festival’s five stages is The WhereHouse (located at 226 N Emporia), a free-to-the-public, graffiti wrapped venue reimagined by Wichita-based artists Mike and Meghan Miller. Drawing on their experience creating immersive, interactive, and site-specific environments, the Millers have led a team of over 20 local creatives to transform a once-vacant building into a vivid, engaging hub filled with installations and interactive artworks.
Mina Estrada, choreographer and Harvester’s Managing Director, animates the festival with movement-based performances in collaboration with Smack Dab Dance Lab, Harvester’s resident dance company. Featuring 19 local dance artists, these activations weave performance into the visual arts in dynamic, unexpected ways across the festival grounds.
Armando Minjárez, a multidisciplinary artist, designer, and community organizer, is spearheading the creative vision for the VIP and Artist Lounge areas. Known for his Del Norte pottery line and transformative public art initiatives like The Horizontes Project which amplified marginalized voices through muralism and storytelling, Minjárez brings a rich background in placemaking and immersive design. His work will shape these lounges into artful, welcoming spaces that reflect the festival’s creative spirit while elevating the experience for performers and special guests.
The visual arts programming also features contributions from over 18 regional graffiti artists, local artists Amy Huser, Brittany Schaar, and Mason Talbott, and pop-up shipping container exhibitions by Mulberry Gallery, Connor Lang, and Hugo Zelada-Romero. It also includes work by nationally recognized creatives like Brady Black, Otis Kriegel, and textile artist Rachel Hayes.
Somewhere Festival & Conference also boasts an extraordinary musical lineup, headlined by international acts such as BigXthaPlug, Suki Waterhouse, Flying Lotus, deadmau5, and Tommy Newport, alongside dozens of artists spanning multiple genres and stages.
To learn more about Harvester Arts and the full Somewhere Festival schedule, visit www.harvesterarts.org and https://somewhere-fest.com/.
Tags: Community, Exhibitions