By KRWG News
Santa Fe, New Mexico – SANTA FE, N.M. (KRWG) Santa Fe's annual International Folk Art Market opens this weekend.
The market, which brings in artists from some 50 countries as far flung as Oman and Rwanda, kicks off Friday night and runs through Sunday. The market is the largest of its kind in the world and this year will feature more than 150 artists.
The market is a non-profit event designed to empower the artists to help preserve cultural traditions while raising themselves and their communities out of poverty. Organizers say 70 new artists will be participating this year, some of them coming from countries where the average income is less than $3 day.
Last year, the market generated more than $2 million in sales, 90 percent of which went home with the artists.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. KRWG