Des Moines Arts Festival® Names Twelve to the 2025 Emerging Artist Program

Award-winning program provides opportunities for emerging artists

(Des Moines, IA) – The 2025 Des Moines Arts Festival® will feature a showcase of a dozen promising visual artists in this year’s Emerging Artist Program presented by Principal. The program provides the artists with an unparalleled experience of exhibiting at the award-winning summer Festival for free. The Des Moines Arts Festival is June 27 – 29 in Western Gateway Park.

The Emerging Artist Program was launched in 2003 when G. David Hurd (dec.), Chairman and CEO of Principal Financial Group (now Principal), envisioned the next generation of artistry and artists. The program was created for Iowa residents who were enrolled in or recently graduated from a university, college, or arts school located anywhere in the country. Twenty years later, in 2023, the program was expanded to welcome individuals looking to make a new career in art at any stage of their life.

The artists were juried into the Festival through the same blind jury process held in February that selected the professional artists for this year’s Festival. The Emerging Iowa Artists will have a joint booth located on Grand Ave. near 13th St. The Emerging Artists will have individual booths located across the Festival site.    

The following artists were selected by the jury for the Emerging Artist Programs:

Emerging Iowa Artists:

Ashley Guzman, Ankeny, IA Minneapolis College of Art and Design

Lisa Ellingworth, Waverly, IA Hawkeye Community College

Luis A. Ramirez, Des Moines, IA Grand View University

Rachel Roen, Dubuque, IA Drake University

Sebastian Sanchez-Falero, Pilot Mound, IA Iowa State University 

Emerging Artists:

Alyssa Pinkerton, Fort Collins, CO

Anne E. Terpstra, Chicago, IL

Genevieve Lavalle, Des Moines, IA

Kate Marotz, Marshfield, WI

Micah Ferin, Johnston, IA

Michael J. Heule, Kansas City, MO

Neil O. Ward, Des Moines, IA