We’re just days out from the 2020 Epcot International Festival of the Arts and we are SO excited.

Lucky for us, we got a preview of some of the new and returning elements of the festival and we’re here to pass it on! Not only did we get to see some of the new food coming to the festival booths, and some of the new merchandise for the marketplaces, we also got a glimpse of what we can expect when it comes to entertainment. So grab your paintbrushes! We’re checking out the sneak peek of entertainment at the 2020 Festival of the Arts!

Performing Arts

The main event at Epcot’s Festival of the Arts is the Disney on Broadway Concert Series, and we got to see a few of the talented faces who will be performing at the America Gardens Theatre including Kissy Simmons, Alton Fitzgerald White, Heidi Blickenstaff, and Gavin Lee. You can check out the full list of the festival’s nightly free performances here!

Want to find out how you can get guaranteed seating with the Disney on Broadway Dining Package? Click here!

There’s plenty of other performing artists you’ll catch throughout this year’s fest, too! We got a special preview of Art Defying Gravity, a duo of acrobats who’ll be performing on the Joyful Stage! Their act is pure poetry in motion!

One of our festival-favorites has returned — the Action Painter! At the preview today he created a work of Figment-inspired art right before our eyes with great speed and finesse! You can catch him painting a masterpiece at various times throughout the festival over by the Joyful Stage as well.

For the FULL LIST of Festival of the Arts experiences including Living Statues, Chalk Artists, and other performers, make sure you grab a Festival Passport on your way in! Showtimes will also be listed in the passport as well as posted throughout the festival’s various performance locations.

Visual Arts

Now, it wouldn’t be Festival of the Arts without a ton of tributes to visual arts. And this festival is not only an opportunity to see behind the process of making art, but you can also participate in making some art for yourself! For instance, the Animation Academy will be returning this year to teach you how to draw some of your favorite Disney characters. This year it’s being held in the America Gardens Theater and can accommodate 300 guests at a time. The level of difficulty progresses throughout the day, so if you’re a beginner, make sure you attend one of the day’s earlier classes, FYI!

Read more about the complimentary seminars at this year’s Festival of the Art here!

The Artful Photo Ops will also be returning to the fest. These are a series of interactive photo ops you’ll find around World Showcase. This year will feature two new Artful Photo Ops themed after works by Vincent Van Gogh!

And of course, we’re pumped for the return of Figment’s Brush with the Masters Scavenger Hunt, and we got to see the new map you’ll be able to purchase at various gift shops and marketplace booths!

Your littles will have a blast searching for Figment hidden among some famous works of art! They’ll even learn a little thing or two about art history! And once you complete your palette map, you can redeem it for a prize!

The preview also included a sneak peek at one of the new Paint-by-Number mural designs for this year’s fest.

The free, interactive experience is in a new location this year over where the former Mouse Gear gift shop used to be.

There will be five new mural designs in total with the last design being Figment ushering in Epcot’s Flower and Garden which starts on March 4th. Guests are invited to paint a square of the mural and will receive a special postcard as a thank-you gift!

A new Spin Art Experience will also be happening over by the Japan pavilion!

You’ll be able to select four colors of paint, and then watch as your masterpiece is spun to life before your very eyes! The cost of this experience is $19 which includes the unframed canvas, or you can upgrade to a framed canvas for $25. Each work of spin art takes about 15 minutes to dry, but you can leave and come back later to retrieve your painting instead of carrying it around while it’s still wet!

There’s also a new Handimals experience this year where your kids can create colorful works of art using their own hand and fingerprints! You can choose which colors, animals, and themes you’d like! There are even options to create works of art as a family to remember your Disney World vacation by! Prices vary based on how many people will be participating!

And check out the Interactive Glass Art Studio the Arribas Brothers will be hosting! You’ll be able to design your very own glass keepsake by fusing glass pieces together to create interesting patterns and textures. The cost of this experience varies, but to us, it looks like a lot of fun!

AND we saw a demonstration of one of the Professional Workshops offered at this year’s Festival of the Arts — an Ink & Paint Animation class taught by a real Disney Ink and Paint artist! These special hands-on activities aren’t included with your admission, but they’re a great way to engage with the Arts!

We even got to wear special animator gloves which made us feel so OFFICIAL!

Learn more about the other premium Artist workshops and demonstrations offered at this year’s Festival of the Arts here!

Featured Artists

Lastly, we FINALLY got to preview some of the spectacular works of art that will be available for purchase at Epcot’s Festival of the Arts! We saw some pieces on display featuring some of our favorite Disney artists including Gabby Zapata, Kevin-John, and MORE!

You’ll find various works for sale at The Art of Disney as well as the several marketplace tents throughout the festival!

Click here for everything there is to learn about 2020 Epcot International Festival of the Arts!

We’ll be reporting live from the Festival of the Arts once it starts January 17th. The festival runs through February 24th, 2020, so you’ll have plenty of time to create and explore!

In the meantime, make sure you explore and familiarize yourself with this year’s food booths and menus HERE!

What entertainment are you most looking forward to at Festival of the Arts? Let us know in the comments!

Disclosure: In nearly all circumstances, Disney Food Blog writers and photographers pay full price for their own travel, hotel, food, beverage, and event tickets. We do this because it’s important to us as journalists to ensure not only that we give you unbiased opinions, but also that you can trust us to do so since we’re paying our own way. On rare occasions, when we are invited by a company to attend a preview as media, and when we choose to accept that invitation, we will always make you, our readers, aware of that situation. Today, we were invited by Disney World to attend their media preview of the 2020 Epcot International Festival of the Arts. Note that when we attend events as media we are 1) Not required to review that event/food on any of our channels, and 2) Not required to review that event/food favorably. You can always count on DFB to give you a 100% unbiased and honest review of any event that we attend, food that we eat, or beverage that we drink. You can see more in our Disclosure Policy. Thank you for reading. — AJ