<p>Phyllis Morris sifted through some bracelets as she waited for her mother to finish paying for a colorful woven bag.</p><p>Flush with new purchases of her own, Morris still had more browsing to do Wednesday at the vendors market of the annual National Black Arts Festival.</p><p>"Prices are great," she said, shifting her bundle of shopping bags filled with statues, art prints and pocketbooks from one hand to the other.</p><p>The 53-year-old office manager from New York said her family planned their trip to Atlanta around the unique festival _ the largest of its kind in the nation. The outdoor market at Underground Atlanta in downtown was one of their first stops.</p><p>"That's why we came here," Morris said. "I've never been to a black arts festival."</p><p>From concert venues to playhouses to shopping plazas, the city was bustling this week with the sights, sounds and statements of the National Black Arts Festival, which runs through Sunday.</p><p>The 10-day arts celebration, which began as a biennial event in 1988, drew about 800,000 to its programs featuring black writers, musicians, actors and visual artists last year, and organizers were hoping to hit the million mark this time around.</p><p>"Our artists market and our vendors market have been extremely well attended," said Judith Montier, the festival's marketing director. "A couple things have been light for us because it's a process of educating people and encouraging them to step out and try something new."</p><p>Montier said organizers often have struggled over whether to feature more mainstream acts to boost attendance and revenue. But while they welcome the big names, she said, they're committed to keeping the spotlight on lesser known artists, including Cuban-born classical conductor Tania Leon and a lineup of underground black female rockers in concert this week.</p><p>"We still want to keep the integrity of what we're doing, which is really kind of stretching people," Montier said. "We have different interpretations of what is sexy, and we want to be able to show that intellectualism and study and thinking can be sexy too."</p><p>That's long been a goal of organizers, who are continually reshaping the event to expose visitors to new artistic experiences.</p><p>This year, they experimented with a new speaker series that featured Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and female CEOs "letting everyone know that you don't have to be an artist to be creative," Montier said.</p><p>And attendees such as Iya Isoke have appreciated the artistic diversity. Isoke said she moved from Pennsylvania to Atlanta a couple years ago because of the city's arts scene.</p><p>"A lot of people I know in different cities all know about coming to Atlanta for two things: the Black Arts Festival and the Jazz Festival," Isoke said, as she listened to a spoken word performance on the mainstage at Underground Atlanta.</p><p>The 37-year-old marketing coordinator said she also planned to spend her day off browsing through the market, which drew only light crowds Wednesday.</p><p>"I always check out the vendors because it's the only time I can get African art and jewelry," she said.</p><p>The festival's executive director, Stephanie Hughley, said she's hoping to generate even more interest next year by containing many of the programs in one large venue such as downtown's Centennial Olympic Park.</p><p>Hughley said she envisions "one gated environment where people can come in and have a multidisciplinary, multi-layered cultural experience."</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2865778)</p>
