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An arts festival or art fair is a festival that focuses on the visual arts, but which may also focus on other arts.

Arts festivals in the visual arts are exhibitions. Artists' participation in the most important such exhibitions (such as the Venice Biennale) is by invitation, and these exhibitions are organised by internationally recognized curators chosen by a committee of peers. These international exhibitions must be distinguished from art fairs, market-oriented gatherings of art dealers and their wares, which have recently emerged as among the most important art-world venues for contemporary art in the present-day super-heated art market.

Leading arts festivals include the Edinburgh Festival in Edinburgh, which is the largest arts festival on Earth, Adelaide Festival of Arts in Adelaide and Festival d'Avignon in Avignon.^[1]

There are also several international art fairs that exhibit artwork from mainstream galleries. The Scope Art Fair, Pulse Art Fair, and Bridge Art Fair are examples.

In Germany you can find the Festspiele Balver Höhle. In Bavaria the Klosterhofspiele Langenzenn is another festival.