FIU Interior Design to host 24th Annual Festival of the Trees

Per tradition, the department will help kick off the holiday season with its fundraising event Nov. 18 at Coverings Etc. in Miami.

’Tis that time of the year again, and it’s that time of the year for FIU, too – the time to celebrate.

Trees from the 23rd Annual Festival of the Trees, held in Miami on Nov. 12, 2009.

The university’s Interior Design Department in FIU’s College of Architecture + The Arts has been helping the community get in the holiday spirit for 24 years, showcasing the creativity and ingenuity of the local, national and international designers, and FIU students and alumni, who participate in its annual Festival of the Trees.

The event – a celebration of shapes and colors – invites creative minds to dream up eye-catching, beautiful representations of the holidays using one of the most iconic symbols of the season: the tree.

Sponsored and underwritten by leading design firms, the trees will be auctioned off at the end of the evening to raise funds for the department, so be sure to be there – this is a one-night-only kind of event.

The opening of the 24^th Festival of the Trees will be held Thursday, Nov. 18, at 6:30 p.m., at Coverings Etc. (7610 N.E. 4th Court, Miami).

Tickets are $55 (a group rate for 10 people is $400) and may be purchased online, key Miami spots (visit the festival’s website for more information) or through the Interior Design Department (305-348-6914). Net proceeds from the festival’s opening and tree auction fund student scholarships, field trips, guest speakers, visiting designers and other educational enhancements.

Take a look at the 2009 Festival of the Trees.

This year, the festival’s theme is “DOING THE RIGHT THING – better design, better world, better lives.” Tree entries should demonstrate that positive change through design can make a difference in the world. They must embrace the holiday spirit, but do not have to conform to the shape of a traditional tree. Entries will be judged in the categories of most responsible, most inspired, most global and most humanitarian.