Orange County Arts Council seeks artists for OC Live! 2026 festival

Orange County artists looking for a countywide sales and exposure platform have until June 24 to register for OC Live! 2026, a July 18 festival at Sweet Clover Farm in Highland Mills. The Orange County NY Arts Council is seeking visual artists, musicians, performers, writers, makers and arts organizations from Orange County and the wider Hudson Valley, and the application closes sooner if the event reaches capacity.

The all-day showcase is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Sweet Clover Farm, a live music, event and wedding venue that also includes Spirits Lab farm distillery and tasting room. By putting the festival in Highland Mills, the council is moving arts programming into a smaller Orange County community in the Town of Woodbury rather than centering it only in larger hubs such as Newburgh, Middletown or Warwick.

The arts council says OC Live! creates a place where community members can share rich experiences and take pride in diverse cultural heritage through performances, creativity and originality. On its public materials, the council says it serves all who work, live or play within Orange County and points to a countywide arts economy that includes about 800 self-identified artists, 800 arts businesses, 4,000 arts sector employees, 400,000 county residents and more than 1 million annual county visitors. That scale is what gives the event its value for working creatives: a single day in Highland Mills can put local art in front of residents, visitors and other artists from across the region.

OC Live! also appears to be part of a recurring countywide format rather than a one-time gathering. A previous edition in Warwick brought together a live music festival, art fair, maker faire and food truck festival, and more than 150 local artists had already registered for that event. That mix matters for Orange County vendors and makers as much as for performers, because it gives them one venue where sales, public exposure and direct contact with customers can happen in the same place.

For artists who want a foothold in Orange County’s cultural market, the 2026 edition offers a practical opening: a deadline, a date, a visible location and a format built around multiple kinds of creative work. With registration already open and capacity limited, OC Live! is shaping up as one of the county’s most immediate opportunities for local arts businesses and independent creators.