COLUMBUS, Ohio — With a goal to promote women and girls identified as leaders in arts and culture, the Columbus Women and Girls’ Fest is celebrating women of color in the Columbus community. 

“Today is the celebration of women, girls and gender diverse people of color,” said Elaine Richardson, founder of Columbus Women and Girls’ Fest.

Richardson is also the board chair of the Education Foundation for Freedom and knows first-hand the importance of having safe spaces like this for women of color who want to enter the arts industry, because she is an artist herself. 

“The arts industry is male dominated and it's hard for women. It's another vulnerable industry for women and girls. And so we started our foundation in an effort to interrupt vulnerability,” Richardson said. 

Artists from all over the city came to Box Park to celebrate arts and culture. One artist in particular was live painting a mural that focuses on women empowerment. 

“The mural that I've created, Sunflower always creates a sense of community and empowerment. So that's my focus on that. That's also my favorite flower," Artist Kiara Booker said. "We have the woman too, of course, Women's and Girls' Fest that we're at today. Then I have our puzzle pieces to also kind of give a sense of unity, butterflies, also empowerment. And we have our peace symbol."

Radio host Leah Henry is hosting the event for the second year, and she said this couldn’t have come at a better time. 

“I think in a time right now where everything is politically charged, I think there's a lot of divisive conversations," she said. "Things where we can come together, and we can see the beauty and differences and then also sometimes seeing the beauty in the similarities, right, is so important at this time."

Empowering one another, the Columbus Women and Girls’ fest is proud to help expand the scope of the arts industry.