WESTFIELD — In a gesture of continued of community partnership and collaboration, PeoplesBank presented ArtWorks Westfield with a donation on June 3 that will support the annual ARTober Festival.
The donation was presented to ArtWorks Westfield founder and President Bill Westerlind and fellow board members Eric McDowell and Kathy Hillman outside of PeoplesBank’s East Main Street location.
According to Retail Banking Manager Allison Sitler, this donation falls in line with PeoplesBank’s goal of supporting local art initiatives to foster creativity, enrich the community and bring people together.
“They’ve [ArtWorks] done a lot downtown with the new green and all that so they’re just an organization out there trying to bring life, creativity, community and belonging and gathering to downtown Westfield,” Sitler said explaining why the bank decided to donate again.
The bank is donating just over $4,000 to help fund the general budget of the annual ARTober Fest event set in the fall. The event features up to 100 artists and authors on site to share their talent and creativity amongst the community.
“We had a great time at it last year, so we were excited when they approached us with the request for this year. I was blown away by the amount of artists and different types of art [when visiting last year]. It was really cool and a great turnout,” Sitler added.
Westerlind told the Westfield news ARTober Fest has become a community favorite for its celebration of the arts and is added it would be much more challenging to put on this event without support from community partners like PeoplesBank.
“It’s an outdoor art, literature, street music type festival in downtown Westfield. So, we support the community, the local economy, the small businesses, we love having all that activity downtown,” Westerlind explained of the event.
Westerlind added PeoplesBank has been “an extraordinary partner” as they first started collaborating last year when PeoplesBank made a similar donation toward ARTober Fest. He added the collaboration is a perfect match as both bodies are interested in making efforts around and for their community.
“I think we’re kind of hand in glove in terms of our philosophies. Both organizations are very intense on community engagement, community development. We’re on the same page,” Westerlind said. “They’re very much interested in seeing Westfield thrive. It’s the business, the community, its everything coming together in the city and we’re in the same boat. That’s what we’re trying to do, is to have these things happen in downtown.”
ARTober Fest 2025 will return in the fall. To learn more about the event or ArtWorks Westfield’s work in general, visit artworkswestfield.com.