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Jolie Pollard, Executive Director - Placencia BTIA
"People come to Placencia for beautiful beaches, our amazing diverse food, our warm and friendly people and to be a part of a very close knit and friendly community. And now they're coming for art."

Janelle Chanona reporting
For the last decade, February in Placencia village means art: in every size, shape, sound and sense of the word.

Aline Habib, Volunteer Organizer
"At the Placencia Sidewalk Arts and Music Festival, we have products ranging from recycled plastic bracelets, to glass blowing, handmade glass, traditional painting, abstract paintings, tattoo art, jewellery, baskets, woodcarvings, traditional and more modern art."

"It's a nice feeling for an artist to come and see so many people appreciating and falling in love with what they do."

Kelvin Baizar, Artist
"I don't have a gallery, I don't have any place to really exhibit my work so this opportunity really grants me that chance to really show what I actually have because really and truly nobody know that I actually do painting, they are just getting used to it. Hopefully a couple years from now, I'll be as famous as I want to be."

Ernest Garcia, Artist
"Besides this event, there's not much other ways artists get exposed and you know, get known and sell their stuff. Seeing all the new artists actually inspired me to motivate myself to bring out some new stuff for next year so it's really, really encouraging."

Ingrid Cayetano, Artist
"It's good to be outdoors with the art to interact with the people because you have them right there. They are not forced to buy, they just having fun. Walking around, watching your art. You still can find sales too. You explain your work to them, it's really more enjoyable to me."

Khadija Assales, Artist
"First I was doing it as a hobby and then when I realized I could sell it, I figured out why not and now I'm doing it full time and it's fun, it's not really work, it's more like fun and I get to make money having fun."

Pat Freeman, Glass Blower
"I think this festival has been absolutely great for exposure for me. It's been very slow for me getting started so I think this is going to be a great take off, like I'm finally over the initial hump of arriving here and now things are starting to smooth out nicely."

The annual event has become a major revenue earner for both artists...and the peninsula.

Jolie Pollard, Executive Director - Placencia BTIA
"We are trying to attract people into the village to not only support our event but also to spend time in the hotels, in the restaurants, in the gift shops so if you look around you when these events are going on, the village is full, the bars are full, people are making a lot of money so it's very important to us."

And the festival continues to evolve. In 2013, Belizean music, in various forms, joined art at centre stage.

Pen Cayetano, Artist
"The music is a part of the whole process and the culture. And the music is very important to it. It would be a silent without the music so now we have a little bit of noise and showcasing the Belizean music and the culture add on more to this kind of event."

Aline Habib, Volunteer Organizer
"We have some amazing local artists who perform and who could potentially go international if you get encouraging them so that's why we incorporated so much music and that's why we are trying to find sponsors as well to try to sponsor these musicians so that they can keep on playing and buy new equipment and keep perfecting their art."

No matter how you define art, the Placencia Art and Music Festival is a colourful chance to explore what speaks to you.

Ingrid Cayetano, Artist
"Art is life for me, I just love it, I have to do it. I can't live without. Yeah, I do art every day."

Kelvin Baizar
"What art bring to me is a form of development. I believe I supposed to create a purpose in life and to express that purpose, art actually gives me that opportunity."

Pat Freeman
"Art is the creation of anything. Art can be a poem, it can be something you recite; doesn't have to be anything physical. Anything you create out of your mind, imagination with your hands or something spoken. It can be really anything--as long as you put a little creativity into it."

Bob the Poet
"Just remember one thing always. Wise humans live in the moment of their beginnings while the fools of this earth are always beginning. My name is Bob and one of them fools and I'm glad to meet you."

Reporting from Placencia Village for 7News, I am Janelle Chanona.

According to the Placencia BTIA, efforts are already underway to offer a more diverse and innovative selection of artwork at next year's event. Interested artists can contact the Placencia BTIA at director@placencia.com or 523-4045.