Overview The Great Gulfcoast Arts Festival is a free three-day juried art show in Pensacola's Seville Square, where more than 200 painters, potters, sculptors, jewelers and other artists show their work each November. Around the show run a Children's Art Festival, a Student Art Show, a Heritage Arts area, two stages for performance and dance and a Main Stage for music, and each year the festival brings in an invited international artist. It has run since 1972, and an all-volunteer nonprofit with no paid staff produces it. On site The festival fills Seville Square Friday through Sunday. Main Stage acts run from bluegrass and Cajun to blues, jazz and classical, while performing companies, dance schools and area folk groups take the other stages. In the Heritage Arts Area, craftspeople demonstrate woodcarving, engraving, spinning and weaving. The Children's Art Festival runs free hands-on art activities for toddlers and up on Saturday and Sunday, and the Student Art Show hangs more than 2,000 pieces by elementary, middle and high school students from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. The food court opens with cinnamon rolls and coffee and runs to Tex-Mex, barbecue, Cajun, Greek, grilled sandwiches and a raw bar. The 2026 invited international artist was Mandy Bangerter, a textile artist from the Isle of Wight. Pets are not allowed. Track record Sunshine Artist magazine ranked the festival the 18th top art festival in the nation in 2024, based on artists' evaluations. A 2025 study by Downs and St. Germain Research put the festival's total economic impact at $11,128,000, with $5,223,000 in direct spending by visitors. Brand presence Sponsorship runs from Art Lover through Connoisseur, Collector and Curator to Muse, for major corporate sponsors. Sponsors' logos go on signage along a main festival street, and from the Connoisseur level up, on the festival flags that border the main art show, with the Curator level adding the flags in the gazebo area, local TV and radio and festival social media. Levels include ads and listings in the festival program, VIP parking, wristbands to the Sponsor Hospitality area, tickets to the Artist/Sponsor party and a framed limited-edition print of the festival poster signed by the artist. All sponsorship money goes to presenting the festival.