This Full Spectrum’s first year, and it will be one of many. The City of Covington hopes to celebrate Full Spectrum as an annual arts festival that gives platform for our myriad artist residents and professionals in the region that the wider community will recognize.

Covington has a steep history in the arts, dating back to the late 19th century when the Catholic Church first spearheaded expansive art projects throughout the city, gearing its architectural and communal efforts to celebrate the arts in practically all aspects of daily life. Now, in the Twenty-first century, Covington has retained this legacy by attracting a vast population of artists and those of the creative class, but has also recognized that a common public platform to celebrate its reflective constituency was missing.

The history of how Full Spectrum came about is the story of people listening to other peoples ideas and saying yes.

While Covington was preparing for its Fifth Annual Art Off Pike street arts festival to take place in October, Liz Wu, a musician who ran World Music Fest for the last two years in Newport’s Southgate House, approached Natalie Bowers, the Arts District Manager, to see if Covington might be a good alternative venue. Liz told Natalie that World Music Fest was looking for a larger and more children-friendly venue. Natalie immediately agreed to help Liz make arrangements here in Covington. World Music Fest, Liz told Natalie, was usually held in October.

Now Covington had two big events scheduled for October and both represented two different artistic mediums, visual art and music. This was the premise for Full Spectrum. When Natalie told Liz about the idea of having a month long arts celebration to showcase every aspect of the Arts, other events quickly took shape, and Full Spectrum was born, an idea to celebrate the arts through every weekend in the month of October.

The resultant events of this year’s Full spectrum are really a culmination of some blue sky thinking compressed with available resources. For example, Screen Test, Covington’s first film festival, was originally trying to use multiple venues across the city such as the Devou Park Amphitheater, but due to high risk weather and limited funds, we decided to have it indoors at the Carnegie. Also, we tried to offer a Haunted Art House at the Marx Gallery on Madison, but the building got sold a month later and we had no appropriate alternative venue.

We hope you will enjoy what we were able to pull together. Through Full Spectrum, you will not only see a plethora of talent, art and entertainment, but you will also see what an amazing community we truly have.